Wikipedia says "The Watts riots were blamed principally on unemployment, although a later investigation also highlighted police racism." How did historians so quickly lose track of what caused hundreds of people to riot?

by DNASnatcher

The Watts riots were a huge event, and they didn't happen that long ago. There are still a lot of people alive that were preset for the actual riots. So if the above quote from Wikipedia is true, why did we so quickly lose track of role that police racism played in sparking the riots?

Edit: Anybody care to say something constructive in addition to their downvote?

thebeautifulstruggle

Mass mobilizations and riots are complex. While one event might trigger a riot, there might be a whole range of underlying causes creating fuel for the social eruption. One person might join the riot because they are really pissed off about police violence and another because they're generally frustrated from being unemployed and uses the riot as an excuse to vent.