The August 1965 uprising in Watts reverberated across urban America, inspiring a mood of insurgency among some and stirring up a larger debate about its root causes and implications.
In May 1966, a state advisory commission of the United States Civil Rights Commission held hearings in Oakland to assess public sentiment on police-community relations. Several Flatlands contributors including John George, Curtis Baker and Robert Treuhaft gave testimony, much of it critical, on their experiences with the Oakland Police Department. “Oakland is an American brothel,” George declared, “because in this city Negroes see every day the prostitution of the fundamental principles of American democracy.”
Included as a sidebar below the main article are a series of statements from senior Oakland police officials, collected by Treuhaft, which stand in ironic contrast to the detailed and damning testimonies recorded above it.