'Bridging the Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race'

L.A. has a long history of strong-armed policing, but even though problems persist, the LAPD has come a long way. In the 1950s, the city was mostly white and largely conservative, and still a bit of a provincial backwater. The police chief was William H. Parker, who ran an often brutal and racist police force. The mayor in the 1960s was Sam Yorty, who refused to accept federal funds to improve the poorer parts of the city. That, along with police brutality created the anger that would ultimately explode in 1965 in Watts. But change was already happening. Two years before the riots, three black men were elected to the all-white city council. One of them, Tom Bradley, would go on to become mayor. His story - which is really the story of modern Los Angeles - is told in a new documentary. We hear from the director and Bradley’s daughter.