On July 4, I walked through a black neighborhood south of 18th Street in 90035. I noticed firecrackers going off and several police cars in the area.<\/p>\n
Little did I know that in Watts about 700 black youths threw firecrackers at about 300 police and firemen.<\/p>\n
The story merited only two benign paragraphs in the LA Times.<\/p>\n
Colin Flaherty writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n In Watts, Calif., a crowd of dozens of black people setting off fireworks at the Nickerson Gardens public housing project did not take kindly to police and firemen who showed up to stop it.<\/p>\n During the incident, the suspects allegedly tossed rocks, bottles and live fireworks at Los Angeles police officers, according to City News Service.<\/p>\n On Twitter, both sides were represented:<\/p>\n A fireman said, \u201cCops in riot gear and the locals shooting fireworks at the cops pretty funny until u drive through it. \u2026 Eh.\u201d<\/p>\n But one of the residents of Watts thought it was funny:<\/p>\n \u201cNiggas in the niccersons had the riot squad out there \u2026 throwin fireworks n roccs at police lmfao yall did that fasho,\u201d said @HerFavDrugg.<\/p>\n Several officers were hit by fireworks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On July 4, I walked through a black neighborhood south of 18th Street in 90035. I noticed firecrackers going off and several police cars in the area. Little did I know that in Watts about 700 black youths threw firecrackers … Continue reading