Children with painted faces darted between booths. Bass from the stage thumped down West 108th Street, where neighbors stopped to chat, collect flyers or sway to the music in the warm summer air.
Faith groups, civic organizations and public service providers lined the residential block—offering everything from mental health resources to traffic stop safety tips and movie nights in the park.
Nearby, uniformed Los Angeles Police Department officers mingled with residents, answered questions and chatted with young trainees in the department’s cadet program.
For a few hours Tuesday afternoon, the South Los Angeles neighborhood turned into a block party — part of National Night Out, a nationwide event designed to strengthen ties between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
This year’s gathering in Watts on Aug. 5 carried deeper meaning for some residents and organizers, falling just days before the 60th anniversary of the 1965 Watts Riots on Aug. 11.
Deputy Chief Ruby Flores, who oversees the department’s Community Safety Partnership Bureau, said National Night Out is about building lasting relationships and trust — especially in historically under-resourced neighborhoods like Watts.
“By connecting with officers in a relaxed, family-friendly environment, residents can voice concerns, ask questions, and get to know the women and men behind the badge,” she said in a statement. “These positive interactions help foster mutual respect, enhance public safety, and empower the community to play an active role in neighborhood safety.”
For Cheryl Tate, a Watts resident who was 4 during the 1965 uprising, those memories have never faded — even as the community has changed around her.
“I still remember the National Guard driving down the street,” said Tate, who grew up just blocks from the flashpoint near Avalon Boulevard and Imperial Highway. “ It was uncomfortable because I’ve never seen anybody drive down my street with guns. They were in the back and they were fully locked and loaded … something like that never leaves your memory.”
In the decades since, Tate said she’s seen slow progress, and values events like National Night Out, which she stopped by on Tuesday, for helping rebuild trust between law enforcement and the community.
“I think there’s like a separation what’s going on— because of what’s going on in the world and the government stuff, we’re not so trusting,” she said. “An event like this really helps because it lets the public know that, yes, the police are human too, and they’re just doing what they’re supposed to do…they’re becoming…more humane.”
The Rev. James Jones Jr.––known affectionately in the community as Pastor J.J.—also witnessed the 1965 unrest as a child and has spent decades working to heal its long shadow.
He was 9 years old during the Watts Riots—the moment, he said, when he first learned what the word “looting” meant.
“It was just basically turmoil, turmoil all around,” Jones recalled. “To be honest with you, I had more fear—not for myself, but for family, friends and the community.”
Today, Jones is a key figure in Watts, mentoring young people through his faith-based group Gangsters for Christ and helping shape local public safety strategies as part of the Southeast Clergy Council.
“After the riots and what have you went on, that’s when the (police’s) relationships with the community became an ‘us versus them’ type mentality,” Jones said. “ Even up until just a few years ago, before we even started Community Safety Partnership, it was a time when a child would not be caught talking to a police officer—period.”
Jones has worked closely with the LAPD’s Community Safety Partnership (CSP) Bureau since its inception in 2011 and believes the model offers a roadmap for repairing trust.
“I watched us nurture those relationships—and that was on both sides,” he said.
In earlier years, he said, many officers approached the job without prioritizing the human side of policing. It took sustained effort to shift that mentality, and to reach a point where officers could enter the community with a mindset to help, not hurt.
That culture change, he added, was driven in large part by community-led efforts. Jones also pointed to Watts Gang Task Force, a grassroot coalition formed in 2005 to reduce violence and build relationships between rival gangs, police and the community, as a key force behind the development of the Community Safety Partnership model, alongside the Southeast LAPD.
“I want to see the CSP model established by Watts Gang Task Force and Southeast LAPD be exemplified in Watts and communities throughout the nation,” he said.
It’s that long-term investment in trust and collaboration, he said, that make events like National Night Out meaningful.
Jones comes every year, not just to support the event, but to connect with neighbors, officers, and youth, and to keep that spirit of shared responsibility alive.
For Kathy Cash, a U.S. army veteran and commander for American Legion Jackie Robinson Post 252, rebuilding trust remains vital in a community still shaped by disinvestment and the trauma of past unrest.
“We destroyed our own community, and in destroying our own community, we had to start from nothing,” she said. “And when you feel like you have nothing, then you start from nothing—that’s just like a double whammy.”
But Cash sees hope in the new generation’s growing determination to drive change.
“We have a louder voice and we can do more than we used to do,” she said. “ When we advocate for ourselves, we’re able to get to the table and ask for what we want. If we don’t get it, we get to go back and ask again, keep making noise until we get what we want.”