LOS ANGELES -- The scars are visible in Watts. There are problems many who live in the once-segregated Los Angeles neighborhood want to change, but there are things that have gotten better, too.
It's been 55 years since an uprising that came to be known as the Watts riots devastated the Black community. Fire, destruction and violence ravaged buildings, livelihoods and people's lives.
While some of the systemic problems Black people pointed to in 1965 persist, they say -- racist policing, unemployment -- and gangs have taken hold, many have seen improvements in ties with officers, better transportation and shopping, and the work some do to give back to the community.
Neighbors play cards, celebrate milestones and worship in a place that's made some gains but where challenges remain.
Benjamin Jackson III, 10, walks past a mural depicting George Floyd in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, June 9, 2020. There were no fires this time in Watts. There was no looting, no shooting and no National Guard troops patrolling the streets. When protesters around the country began demanding racial justice over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, there may have been mentions of Watts and faint echoes of the riots that broke out in the Los Angeles neighborhood 55 years ago. But they didn't happen there. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Lorinda Lacy, 45, stands outside her party store painted with a mural depicting Martin Luther King Jr. in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, June 30, 2020. Lacy moved out of Watts 20 years ago because she didn't want her daughters to grow up with the trauma she experienced as a girl. She said she eventually became "immune" to the violence after stepping over bodies on the way to school and finding out who had been killed the night before or who had their house shot up. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Volunteer Kevin Hunt stands against a wall bearing the names of tenants, who died while living in the Nickerson Gardens housing project, in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A man walks into a grocery store Tuesday, June 30, 2020, in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. There were no fires this time in Watts. There was no looting, no shooting and no National Guard troops patrolling the streets. When protesters around the country began demanding racial justice over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, there may have been mentions of Watts and faint echoes of the riots that broke out in the Los Angeles neighborhood 55 years ago. But they didn't happen there. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Laundry hangs on a clothesline outside an apartment building at the Jordan Downs housing project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Monday, June 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Eric Frierson, 37, gets an haircut from Kenneth Cox, 32, outside an apartment building at the Imperial Courts housing project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. Frierson laments losing focus on becoming a good athlete and falling prey to the "distractions," such as the violence he witnessed or the signs of it. "If you don't see it, you see the aftermath," he said. "You come outside and see the sidewalk stained with blood. It doesn't go anywhere. Every time you go by it, you see it." (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Emmett Palmer, right sprays sunscreen on Iron Grim, 6, as tenants gather for a birthday party at the Nickerson Gardens housing project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Lavarn Young, 81, reads her bible in the living room of her home as framed photos of herself, far left, and relatives adorn a wall Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. Young, who moved to Watts from Texas in 1946, said she's seen a lot of good change since the 1965 rebellion. But she said gangs had made the neighborhood more dangerous than it was a half century ago. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Kyaira Shaw gets a kiss from her boyfriend, Camari Baseer, left, while posing for photos at her 18th birthday party in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Tenants play dominoes outside an apartment building at the Imperial Courts housing project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Soaked in water, Shapaula Moody, 29, center, laughs with her neighbors while cooling off at her son's birthday party at the Nickerson Gardens housing project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Think Watts Foundation's Sheldon Lewis, facing camera, hugs volunteer Tanya Dorsey after attending a community event held to give out free food to tenants living in the Nickerson Gardens housing project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Holding an infrared thermometer, usher Frank Scott prays during a Sunday service at Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church on Sunday, June 21, 2020, in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Aiden Figueroa, foreground, watches as James Posey III, far right, and Aiden's brother, Darius play basketball in the backyard of their home in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Monday, June 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Three boys pass time in an empty playground at the Nickerson Gardens housing project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Watts has long been associated with deadly and destructive rioting in 1965. This summer when widespread mostly peaceful protests for racial justice across the U.S. have been accompanied at times by vandalism and other crimes, Watts has been peaceful. One lawmaker says the residents learned long ago that it didn't pay to burn their own neighborhood. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Mario Perez, 32, left, sits on a chair while his wife, Jocelyn, gets her hair bleached at an outdoor hair salon in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. Watts has changed demographically from an exclusively Black neighborhood in the '60s to one that's majority Latino. But it remains a poor neighborhood with high unemployment. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Edwin Talavera walks with a ball as he heads back to home after playing soccer with his sister, Samantha, right, in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Thursday, June 11, 2020. Watts has changed demographically from an exclusively Black neighborhood in the '60s to one that's majority Latino. But it remains a poor neighborhood with high unemployment. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Noel Mata walks past a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe made by his parents in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. Watts has changed demographically from an exclusively Black neighborhood in the '60s to one that's majority Latino. But it remains a poor neighborhood with high unemployment. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Donny Joubert, left, vice president of Watts Gang Task Force, puts on a face mask while waiting for volunteers to arrive before a community event as he is joined by Kevin Hunt, foreground, and Hank Henderson at the Nickerson Gardens housing project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Donny Joubert remembers the chaos of 1965 through the eyes of a 5-year-old. Smoke filled the air, adults wept in front of a black and white TV to images of their community burning and widespread looting and Joubert thought his little plastic army soldiers had come to life. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)