Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. 55 Years After Riots, Los Angeles' Watts Neighborhood Still Bears Scars Associated Press LOS ANGELES - There were no fires this time in Watts. There was no looting, no shooting and no National Guard troops patrolling. Protesters filled the streets around the country in late May and June following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, demanding an end to police brutality. There was violence and looting in some places, including Los Angeles, but not in LA's Watts neighborhood, forever linked to an uprising that broke out in the segregated community 55 years ago and became known as the Watts riots. Demonstrators made a point not to go into Watts or other poor neighborhoods this time. Watts has never fully recovered from fires that leveled hundreds of buildings or the violence that killed 34 people -- two-thirds of whom were shot by police or National Guard troops. Those who lived through those frightening days and those who grew up in its aftermath are keenly aware of that past and the lessons it taught. "People have learned from the history to say we're not going to burn our community," said state Assemblyman Mike Gipson, who was born in Watts a year after the turmoil. "We realize our community is not going to be built again." Watts has changed from an exclusively Black neighborhood in the 1960s to one that's majority Latino. It remains poor, with high unemployment. The uprising started Aug. 11, 1965, in a nearby neighborhood after the drunken driving arrest of a young Black man by a white California Highway Patrol officer. The violence reflected pent-up anger over an abusive police force, a problem that has ebbed but not entirely faded, according to those who live here. Improvements over the years include a more diverse Los Angeles Police Department that better reflects the city's population. One of Watts' major public housing developments, Jordan Downs, is being rebuilt with a nearby retail shopping complex. A government commission that studied the cause of the rebellion called for better police-community relations and more low-income housing, along with better schools, more job training, more efficient public transportation and better health care. While some gains have been made, those who live here say the area has a long way to go to overcome decades of neglect. Black residents, people born here and those who work to make life better in Watts spoke to The Associated Press about the challenges they faced and those that remain. Donny Joubert remembers the chaos of 1965 through the eyes of a 5-year-old. Smoke filled the air and adults wept in front of a black-and-white TV tuned to images of their community burning and widespread looting. When he saw National Guard troops walking outside, Joubert thought his plastic toy soldiers had come to life. "What really shocked me was I look up and I see the same guys I was holding were walking through the development with guns on their shoulders," Joubert said. Like some young men in the area, Joubert joined a gang and ended up in jail. But at 20, and with a young daughter, he got a second chance. Through a program founded by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California he eventually got a job at the Los Angeles Housing Authority, where he's now a grounds supervisor. He's also vice president of the Watts Gang Task Force, which meets weekly with police. If there are reports of an abusive officer -- someone roughing people up or prone to stopping cars without cause -- they tell the captain. The officer may get transferred, though Joubert is concerned that just moves the problem to another neighborhood. He wants to see more done to prosecute police for brutality and fatal shootings. Only two officers in Los Angeles County have been prosecuted for on-duty killings in the past 20 years, a period in which close to 900 people, mostly Black and Latino, have been killed by law enforcement. "It's been a crooked system when it came to us. They always had a system to keep us locked up, to keep a knee in our neck," Joubert said. "Every dirty cop that took a Black life, that took a Latino life without cause, we want them in prison because that's what they did to us." Residents of Watts are still living with collateral damage from 1965, said the Rev. Marcus Murchinson, who preaches at the Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church and also runs a charter high school, drug rehab clinics and offers health care. Many of the businesses that burned were never rebuilt. A corridor of Black-owned restaurants, clothing stores and bars never rebounded. The area has long been termed a "food desert" because of a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables and a plethora of fast food restaurants and convenience and liquor stores stocked with booze, junk food and cigarettes. It took 20 years for a supermarket to be built after the uprising. "It was almost an act of punishment when they burned down the grocery store," Murchinson said of the time it took to get a new one. Murchinson, 36, who didn't grow up in Watts, said the community has survived uprisings in 1965 and 1992 following the acquittal of the officers who beat Rodney King. But surviving is not enough. "The spirit of the people of Watts has not changed. They are still resilient. They are still vibrant," he said. "They have the root of survival. That is a good and bad thing. When you have the testimony of surviving, you sometimes think that is success and think surviving equates to thriving, and it doesn't." He said residents still suffer from years of systemic racism in policing, banking and housing. Multiple generations of the same families continue to live in public housing projects and only a small percentage get off government assistance and achieve the dream of owning a home. "What project is going on there?" he asked. "The project seems to be to warehouse people and make them comfortable, not competent." Lavarn Young, 81, who moved to Watts from Texas in 1946, said she's seen a lot of good change since the uprising. Freeways built nearby make it easier to get around, there's a light rail stop in the heart of Watts and shopping centers eventually replaced businesses that burned down in 1965. But she said gangs have made the neighborhood more dangerous than it was a half-century ago, even if crime is not as bad as during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and early '90s. Young, who was horse race bookie and later worked in special education in schools, lives in her parents' house, which is lined with family photos. One of her sons lives in the house behind her. He gets by on disability pay after a bullet lodged in his brain when he was shot in the eye. He survived two other shootings, as well. Young has 15 grandchildren and lots of nephews and nieces who are in and out of the house. She doesn't ask if they are in gangs. "You don't have to be in a gang, but you're associated with it," she said. "If you're in a Blood hood, you're a Blood. If you're in a Crip hood, you're a Crip. It depends where you were born." Fences now separate homes on the streets where children once played on one another's lawns, and bars cover many windows. "Now, you hardly know your neighbors," she said. .