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They came to Watts from all over the world to listen to the prophets.
"To light up Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York, it takes billions and billions of watts . . to light up Los Angeles, it only took one. . . . I remember Watts," poet Otis O'Solomon chanted to the beat of a bongo. His partners, Anthony Hamilton Amde and Richard Dedeaux, echoed the words to the jazzy rhythm.
Their audience, a group of international journalists and foreign dignitaries, listened attentively as the trio of poets known as the Watts Prophets told the tale of the past, present and future of their community in their unique style.
"The poem, `I Remember Watts,' spans two rebellions," Dedeaux said the next day at a performance in Long Beach. "The more things change, the more they remain the same. But there's hope in everything. Something good has to come out of it. . . . Look at us."
That's precisely what the Los Angeles Tourism Industry Development Council wanted-for outsiders to look at the cultural treasures of South-Central and its surrounding communities.
The visit to the Watts Towers and its arts center Tuesday was part...