In 1966 I was at the first Watts Festival-- my husband led a boy scout troup in Watts that was in the parade. He and I were the only whites within 15 miles that day. There was a little tent set up on the vacant lot at 103rd & Central (the location of the start of the first Watts revolt). The Black Panther Party had a little booth set up, with a large hand printed sign. Now, the Black Panthers were assumed to be a grass-roots organization of radical black power advocates, and armed 'terrorists' by the mainstream. I was only 19, and conparitively naive, but not stupid. The sign said, "Demand public transportation, hospitals, jobs, etc..... and if you don't get it, _BOYCOTT THE POLLS_" Now, the thing that the establishment most fears is the poor vote being an imformed vote. So it followed in my young mind that this was NOT what a group wanting equality would promote. I assumed that there were many foxes in that henhouse, and from that day I have been a total skeptic, believing nothing I am told and half of what I see with my own eyes.