John Anderson -- I was there in 1965, though 10 years older than you. The memories of that first night and the following night will never leave me. We lived on a hill overlooking the city, and I could only think of Dresden or Hiroshima.

The next night, my family went to an Ella Fitzgerald concert, but she was too brokenhearted to finish the show. My father, always a bit of a daredevil, decided we would drive home on the Harbor Fwy, which runs through Watts. I remember fire everywhere and machine gun nests or tanks at every overpass. I also remember listening on the radio as a policeman was burnt alive in his own squad car.

On the anniversary of the riot, the people of Watts put on their first Watts Festival. Because I have some of my father in me, I went. I believe mine was the only white face there. I enjoyed it -- the music, the art, and the people, though they were shy of me. I was only confronted once, by three big fellows who, I guess, just wanted me to know that this was their turf, not mine. It was a good day -- the people were really trying to change the energy toward Watts, and my only disappointment was the failure of white LA to support them.

I also had a very close friend who lived in Watts. She was a saint. She and her husband could not have children, so she took in and raised all the children in her extended family who were having a tough time in their homes. I remember one hilarious afternoon when the four children tried to teach me and my brother, the two white boys, how to dance. They failed.

These two experiences had an enormous effect on me. Overnight, I went from the oldest child in a comfortable, Republican family with all the beliefs one would expect to a young man who could feel the circumstances of other, different people and cared.

That broadening has continued, and even grown, since then. Partly that was due to the fact that I've spent a good part of my life involved in the worlds of jazz and basketball. But there was something about those summer nights in 1965 and 1966 that taught me that people are multi-faceted and cannot be reduced to their "race".