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Dolores
Sheen She was two hours late to our meeting, but she was squeezing me into her already tight schedule. Dolores Sheen was about to hold one of two press conferences about a new endeavor Sheenway School was embarking on. Yet she managed to make me feel like I was the most important person she was going to see that day. And just a few hours before, Dolores was painting a classroom. Hey, somebody had to do it. "Aunt Dolores", as she is known to her 120 students, is head mistress, publicist, spokesperson, fund-raiser, executive director, part-time cook and coordinator of Sheenway School and Cultural Center in Watts, which is located in south central Los Angeles, California. In 1970, the black community in Watts finally lost its patience and its temper. People were tired of feeling as if they were second class citizens. The community was deprived of the same opportunities white people had everyday in neighborhoods that were just a stone's throw away. After the police arrested a black man for a minor traffic violation, the combination of the arrest, a very hot summer day, and people at the end of their rope caused an explosion of anger. Stores, homes, and businesses were looted and burned to the ground. Police fought with people in the streets. Many on both sides were injured and killed. When the riots ended days later, Watts was practically destroyed. This was the original Los Angeles riot.
* This is not the complete essay. The above is excerpted from an essay
featured in Our Common Ground by Bruce Caines. |
