*Time, as has often been proposed by Albert Einstein and like-minded academics, is an illusion. Indeed, when it comes to American society and race matters, time rarely seems to move at all. This Sunday (02-13-22), Inglewood, California will be host to one of the biggest sports spectacles in the world, Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium.
But, in the distant past Inglewood was notoriously known as Ingle-Watts during the height of gangland violence, while recent history shows the Los Angeles suburb as hip and young thanks to shows like Issa Rae’s “Insecure.”
But its distant Black history is often unknown to all but those who actively seek out this valuable information. As was most of Southern California during the early part of the 20th century, Inglewood’s lifeblood was agriculture, and the cogs were African descended individuals who left the south during the early stages of the Great Migration.
True to form, the local Ku Klux Klan presence meant that racism was institutionalized, with signs that read “Caucasian-only.”
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The KKK of the day was not just anti-Black and anti-Semitic, but anti-European, too. Even going so far as to raid the house of a Spanish immigrant family, ransacking their home and likely sexually assaulting two teenage daughters.
Over 100 Klan members were reportedly involved in this terror attack. Los Angeles County DA Thomas Woolwine’s actions would result in a state and federal investigation that forced Klansmen to testify.
A raid at the Klan’s Los Angeles headquarters on 7th and Broadway resulted in a trove of racist paraphernalia, robes, hoods, membership cards and dues receipts, exposing hundreds of men as Klan members during a time when people seemed to care about it.
But there’s more. A 1922 edition of The Times that I found through a service I have through my library card includes a quote from then-Sheriff William Traeger about the raid.
“I regret that in Los Angeles County, in this day of civilization, that any number of men should bind themselves together for the purpose of committing an affront to law, order and decency, such as occurred at Inglewood,” then-Sheriff William Traeger said. “If I can ascertain that any peace officer, over whom I have control, is a member of a secret organization, which countenances such procedure, or is present at any meeting at which such conduct is planned, and still retains his membership, I shall dismiss him immediately from public service.”
However, it was later revealed that the “good” sheriff and Police Chief Louis D. Oaks were also Klan members. (Police and white supremacy go incredibly deep.)
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