Lindsey Hernandez grew up in Imperial Courts, one of Watts’ largest public housing complexes.

Some nights, the 17-year-old woke up to the sound of gunfire, sometimes to news that someone had died. But what she remembers most is the warmth: neighbors who hugged her when she shared good news, elders who prayed over her, and the feeling of being deeply cared for.

“I feel like people just focus on that (the violence),” she said, “and it’s not just that.”

Sixty years after the Watts Riots (sometimes referred to as Watts Uprising or Watts Rebellion), young people like Hernandez are still navigating a community shaped by the legacy of injustice, and by their own determination to refine it.

Hernandez, whose family moved to Watts when she was 2 , said she didn’t know much about the 1965 unres

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