The Los Angeles Riots

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The Los Angeles Riots

Though sparked by the Rodney King verdict, there were many other causes of the riots that erupted on the streets of Los Angeles on April 29, 1992. The Los Angeles riots in 1992 were devastating. The obvious issue portrayed through the media was black versus white. If you did not live in Los Angeles or California chances are you did not hear full coverage of the story, you heard a simple cut and dry portrayal of the events in South Central. If you heard one thing about the riots, it was that there was a man named Rodney King and he was a black male beaten with excessive force by four white Los Angeles police officers on Los Angeles concrete. The media portrayed the riots as black rage on the streets due to the not guilty verdict of the four Los Angeles policemen that were facing excessive force charges. The not guilty verdict may have been the initial cause, but the riots were not about Rodney King, they were about greater issues. Some of these issues were black versus white, blacks and Hispanics versus the police, blacks versus Koreans, and poor versus rich. The riots were do to all the underlying festering rage that had been building up in the residents of Los Angeles and the disbelief that police even when caught on tape, could get away with such brutality.

Los Angeles was just waiting for an event like the Rodney King verdict to explode. All that was needed was that one spark to ignite the anger in the citizens of South Central and cause the area to explode. South Central had been dealing with significant underlying racial and economic problems in the years since similar riots in Watts in '65. In 1965, steps taken to remedy the racial tension in the city were begun. In an effort to prevent ...

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...emic Universe http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/ 12/8/99

Mydans, Seth The Riot's Ashes/A special report.; Separateness Grows in a Scarred Los Angeles The New York Times Company The York Times November 15, 1992, Sunday, Late Edition-Final, Section 1; Page 1; Column 2; National Desk

1990 US Census Data, http://venus.census.gov/cdrom/lookup/944873050

Pope, Lisa Riot report finds Watts similarities The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company The Houston Chronicle October 23, 1992, Friday, 2 STAR Edition Section A pg. 20

Smith, Anna Deavere Twilight Anchor Books Doubleday; New York, New York

Understanding the riots-Six months later; Money and Power/ making it in the inner city; The Times Poll: The Economy and our lives The Times Mirror Company, Los Angeles Times November 18, 1992, Wednesday, Home Edition, Special Section; Part JJ; Page 7; Column 3

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