Tommy Jacquette, one of the few people left in the city whose commitment to the betterment of Watts predated the ground-shaking 1965 riots, lost his battle with cancer when he died in his home with his family Monday night. He was 65.

Jacquette, who was born and raised in the Imperial Courts housing project in Watts, turned that seminal uprising against African-Americans’ deprivation into a celebration of Black pride when he joined with other like-minded youths and organized a Watts Festival in 1966 to mark a people’s triumphant rising from the ashes of the previous August.

Even before the riots, Jacquette was a 21-year-old activist in the Black Power movement and a student of such leaders as Malcolm X. As a result of that affiliation, Jacquette developed aspirations of bringing positive social and economic change to the Black community, particularly his own — Watts.

Just as I vividly recall the Watts Riots itself, I recall the fervor and enthusiasm of Jacquette in pulling together that first Watts Festival. Oh, it was a wonderful thing. It lasted for several days and featured a Miss Watts beauty pageant, a first-rate jazz festival, dozens of African-American cultural exhibits and activities for all age groups. Everybody came and it was a resounding success.

Jacquette was in charge of the festival and he planned and executed everything perfectly, except he forgot about one thing: We were collecting money from the festival goers and he hadn’t thought to obtain a cash register or a till or anything to put it in. So he obtained the key to a vacant back room of the only building still standing on 103rd Street and we just kept throwing all the money on the floor in that room! 

The next year, the event was officially named the Watts Summer Festival with Jacquette as its executive director, a title he has held ever since, making him the head of the longest running African-American cultural festival in the nation.

In addition to his leadership of the Watts Summer Festival, Jacquette was a mainstay of the Watts Christmas Parade, an active member of the Watts Gang Task Force and the Watts Willowbrook Chamber of Commerce, a founder of the Mothers of Watts, the Watts Health Foundation and active in the Sons of Watts.

He was an outreach worker for the Watts-based Westminster Neighborhood Association, and “was considered to be a walking historian on the Watts community,” said Councilwoman Janice Hahn, when she asked the City Council to adjourn its meeting Wednesday in Jacquette’s memory.

“The passing of Tommy Jacquette is a great loss, not only to his family and friends, but also to the community and to our people as a whole,” said Cal State Long Beach professor Maulana Karenga, who considered himself a friend and comrade of Jacquette. “Emerging as a youth leader in the freedom struggles of the 60s, he has left an important legacy of committed social activism and institution-building, consistent service to our people and constant struggle for social justice. His legacy is a large and lasting one and we will honor him best by continuing the work and struggle to which he gave his life.”

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas asked the Board of Supervisors to adjourn its Tuesday meeting in Jacquette’s memory and Reps. Linda Sanchez and Maxine Waters issued statements on Jacquette’s death.

Waters, who often helped Jacquette receive funding to keep the Watts Summer Festival operating for more than 40 years, noted that Jacquette was “daring, fearless and bold, helping us to gain the courage to openly discuss and deal with race, discrimination and inequality in a way that few had been able to before.”

Jacquette, the eldest of six children born in Los Angeles to Raymond Jacquette and Addie Young, is survived by his mother, two daughters, four sons, one brother, two sisters, 20 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are pending.