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It's the evening of August 11th, 1965, in the predominantly black neighborhood of Watts in Southern Los Angeles.

One of the area's young residents, Ronald Fry, sprints down the street toward his family home.

As he approaches, his mother, Reena, abandons her dinner preparations and heads to the front door, ready to confront her son.

He and his step-brother, Marquette, borrowed her car this afternoon to go have a few beers and they promised to return it more than half an hour ago.

But as the front door swings open, Reena's repairman gets stuck in her throat.

Ronald appears visibly shaken and it's clear something's wrong.

Her stomach sinks as he explains that Marquette has just been pulled over two blocks away from their home.

A white police officer accused him of drunk driving and Marquette failed the sobriety test.

Since Ronald doesn't have a valid driver's license, the officer is threatening to tow the car unless Reena comes to claim it and drive it safely home.

Immediately, Reena tosses her apron aside and follows Ronald back to the scene.

She and her sons are black and knows interactions with the police sometimes don't go well.

When she arrives, a crowd of their neighbors is already gathered around Reena's car.

At first, everything seems fine.

Marquette and the officers are even joking and laughing together.

But everything changes as Marquette's mother closes in.

As she publicly chides him for driving drunk, Marquette smiles fades.

He passionately maintains his sobriety, but the officer informs Reena that he did fail a field sobriety test.

Feeling accosted on both sides, Marquette's tone shifts and he proclaims that they'll have to kill him before he goes to jail.

One of the officers responds with aggressive racial slurs.

When Reena protests, he uses offensive language toward her as well.

This in Rage's Marquette, and as the officer's attempt to handcuff him, he resists arrest.

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