By CHICO C NORWOOD

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Tommy Jacquette, the longtime executive director of the Watts Summer Festival, died Nov. 16 at his home in Los Angeles following a battle with cancer. He was 64.

Funeral arrangements were pending at presstime.

For 43 years, Jacquette was the driving force behind the festival, which began about one year after the 1965 Watts Rebellion.

Jacquette, who was a close friend of Marquette Frye, the young man whose arrest sparked the rebellion, said he was a part of that revolt that left 34 dead, more than 1,000 injured, about 4,000 arrested and millions of dollars in property damage. 

“We as a people were being violated across the board,” Jacquette said in a 2007 interview with the L.A. Watts Times. 

A Los Angeles native, Jacquette grew up in the Imperial Courts housing development.

“I actually participated in the revolt of ’65, not as an onlooker but as a participant. I grew up with Marquette Frye, and I heard about what happened,” he said in a 2005 L.A. Times article.

Although credited with being one of the festival’s founders, Jacquette said in a Los Angeles Sentinel interview that the Westminster Neighborhood Association held the first festival and the Jordan High School Alumnae assumed responsibility afterward.

He said he became director in 1968.

The festival, known as the granddaddy of all festivals to some, grew to become a sense of pride for the residents of Watts. In its heyday, it drew such top-named performers as Red Foxx, Isaac Hayes, the Staples Singers, Quincy Jones and several others.

In 1974, the festival was the recipient of the National Jaycees “100 Top Community Organizations in the United States” and received a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts.

In a prepared statement, Congresswoman Maxine Waters described Jacquette as her friend and a “daring, fearless and bold” advocate for the community who helped “us gain the courage to openly discuss and deal with race, discrimination and inequality in a way that few had been able to before.”

“Tommy created the Festival to honor and celebrate our roots, our talents and our culture, and it subsequently helped to spark African-American festivals across the country,” Waters said. “Even in years when he struggled to get funding for the Festival, when traditional donors such as the business community and others wouldn’t contribute, he … was able to put on a Festival, using the resources he had and his amazing life skills, largely stemming from being a self-made man.”

Jacquette was on the board of directors of several community and civic organizations, including Wattstar Theater and Education Center and the Watts-Willowbrook Chamber of Commerce.

He was also the chair of the Watts-Willowbrook Christmas Parade, and he was a fixture at the Watts Gang Task Force meetings spearheaded by L.A City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who called Jacquette’s death a huge loss for not only Watts but all of Los Angeles.

“…He was an indispensable member of the Watts Gang Task Force and a true historian of the community,” she said in a press statement.

Congresswoman Laura Richardson said in a statement that: “Tommy Jacquette will forever be remembered and beloved for his unyielding passion for the African American community in Watts and throughout the nation. His loss leaves an enormous void.”

Loreta Garcia, a Watts Summer Festival board member and spokesperson, said the death of Jacquette is detrimental emotionally but the festival will continue.

“We are continuing Tommy’s legacy,” she said. “He has left a legacy that we are bound by and we will carry forward.”

Plans are underway for a public memorial and Dr. Maulana Karenga of The Us Organization is scheduled to officiate.

Garcia said the family has requested that donations in memory of Jacquette be made to the Watts Summer Festival Inc., 944 W. 53rd St. Los Angeles, CA 90037.