2 decades ago, the city of Los Angeles has seen its greatest chaos ever.
The chaos was in response to the Not Guily verdict on 3 of the police officers who were involved in beating Rodney King!
Rodney King was an African-American male who was driving drunk on March 1991. He was not co-operating with police, and he was brought down. What happened after was video-taped and shown worldwide.
image from George Holliday's videocamer
Rodney King beaten by police
Rodney King was already down on the ground, when 4 cops continued to beat him with night-sticks. He was hit in the head with a foot and a baton when he was NO LONGER RESISTING ARREST!
Because Rodney King was African-American and the 4 cops who beat him were European-Americans, this came with additional controversies that usually don't get discussed if the cops gave brutal beatdown to a suspect of their own race.
While Rodney King was not the perfect role model, the video-taped beat-down gave many African-Americans bad memories of not only Jim Crow (and all the police brutality used against the civil rights movement) but the other negative experiences they had with European-Americans in power!
Even decades after the civil rights movement, many African-Americans felt like they were treated in a rude manner by European-American cops.
And in Los Angeles, the police were trained to be very aggressive! That city had many gangs, and the cops were trained to never back down.
And in that type of job, it is easy to become paranoid, and easy to snap at anyone who doesn't automatically submit to your authority!
And with that, many African-Americans and Latinos felt that the LAPD was a "white, Anglo" occupying force, just like how the Spanish occuppied Mexico, like how the Europeans occupied South Africa, or like how Israelis occupied the West Bank.
It was an atmosphere that was ready to explode.
And explode it did on April 29, 1992!
The trial (which took place in a mostly European-American community of Simi Valley) was expected to return a guilty verdict on the 4 cops accussed of beating Rodney King.
However, at the trial, the defense attorneys emphasized Rodney King's misbehavior before the beating. So 3 of the cops got a Not Guilty verdict. The other cop, Lawrence Powell, who gave the most severe hits towards Rodney King, had a hung jury.
The people in South Central Los Angeles ( a low-income community with large numbers of Latinos and African-Americans) were outraged!
The cops got away with it! If that's how it's going to be, then the mentality was No Justice, No Peace!
While many church members wanted a peaceful response,
others in the community didn't want to hear it.
They wanted war!
They started breaking things, and damaging property. They wanted retaliation against anyone who was "white".
The cops tried to intervene! However, the police were outnumbered and THE POLICE BACKED DOWN! They left South Central! [so much for "
let the police protect us"]
All this was being recorded LIVE on TV! And it encouraged more chaos throughout the city!
Many in the crowd were throwing rocks and other objects at cars passing by!
The most infamous one was when a group of African-American rioters pulled a European-American truck driver (Reginald Denny) out of his truck, beat him up and throw a big rock at his head!
http://bigalblog.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/big-als-take-on-oakland-riots-la-riots-and-media-dont-let-history-repeat-itself/
Reginald Denny getting attacked
It was seen as "retaliation against the white man", even though Reginald Denny had NOTHING to do with corrupt LAPD officers that people were supposed to be protesting against.
However, it wasn't only "white people" that were getting attacked by violent mobs.
There were attacks on Latino and Asian immigrants as well!
Even though some Latino immigrants were attacked, that didn't stop Latinos from various parts of the city to join in the chaos,damage property and loot stores. By the end of the riots, the Latinos were the majority of the rioters, outnumbering the African-American rioters.
But the Asians really got victimized throughout the riots.
While the riots were "supposed to be about" Rodney King, the LAPD, and "the white power structure", a lot of it got taken out on the Asians in the areas, especially the Koreans.
The Koreans had plenty of stores throughout South Central LA. Many Korean store owners had trouble relating to their African-American and Latino customers. Many of those customers felt they were being profilled and treated rudely by the Koreans, who treated them as they were "shoplifting". And Korean culture (unlike American culture) doesn't emphasize smiling to strangers. Koreans also didn't believe in putting objects in other people's hands. This reminded African-American customers of Jim Crow laws (which prevented African-Americans from using the same facilities as European-Americans) They already fought against that, and they weren't going to let another group do that to them again!
And in a case that resembled this year's Trayvon Martin case, a Korean store owner confronted an African-American teenage girl Latasha Harlins about "
stealing the orange juice", Harlins just basically gave in and said "
I'm going to pay for it".
Instead of just accepting the payment and moving on,
Soon Ja-Du kept yelling "you were stealing" and pulled Harlins hair. Harlins fought back. Soon Ja-Du shot Harlins in the head!
photo from wikipedia
Latasha Harlins
That incident was videotaped!
Other African-Americans already complained about Soon Ja Du before the incident. She was seen as rude and racist!
And to make matters worse, Soon Ja Du was found guilty BUT
GOT NO JAIL TIME! The judge was so worried about "this little Korean lady's saftey in the prison". What about Latasha Harlins' safety?
It felt as that judged valued Asian life over African-American life!
LA Times
Soon Ja Du
got NO JAIL TIME for killing Latasha Harlins
Things were about to get worse!
Rapper Ice Cube made a song titled back in 1991 "Black Korea", in which he complained about Korean store owners and threatened to "
burn your stores right down to a crisp".
In the 1992 riots, that's exactly what happened. While many stores in general got looted, the Korean-owned stores got it even worse, they got burned down and their employees brutally attacked!
The police weren't around. As I mentioned earlier, the police backed down.
So the Korean store owners had their shotguns in case more looters came to start trouble! The Koreans weren't afraid to stand their ground! After all, no one was going to help them, so they helped themselves!
This was shown LIVE on TV! This showed that
#1 - THE POLICE WILL NOT ALWAYS BE AROUND TO HELP YOU WHEN YOU NEED THEM THE MOST
#2 - In these emergencies, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN
#3- It's good to have a few weapons ready
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Life since the LA riots
In the last 2 decades, certain things changed while others stayed the same!
South Central LA is a still a poverty-stricken area, though the gang violence isn't as extreme as it used to be!
Also, South Central LA, which once had an African-American majority, is now mostly populated by Latinos (mostly Mexicans and Central Americans).
Crenshaw & Leimert Park are still mostly African-American communities, but Watts, Compton and Inglewood are now mostly Latino!
Like the Trayvon Martin case in Florida, there has been some violence between African-American and Latinos in South Central, ranging from fights in schools to racial hate crimes.
However, the majority people in both groups are not involved in those rivalries.
(Just like here in Hawaii -- there had been incidents between Polynesians, Filipinos, Micronesians and Vietnamese, but not everyone in those groups get involved. In fact, some even make friends [and even babies] across ethnic lines)
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As for the LAPD, the department that was being seen as "
too aggressive" before the LA Riots, was then as "
too passive" during the LA riots. The cops were so tough when they outnumber suspects were all of a sudden going soft and escaped when they got outnumbered by angry crowds during the first few hours of the LA riots. This made things as the criminals knew no one could stop them, except for a few property owners brave enough to get their shotguns and shoot looters!
And you would think the LAPD chief, Darryl Gates, who was known as the "take no crap" guy would be on top of this! But instead of taking leadership, he went off to a rich-part of town for a previously scheduled political fundraiser
ON THE NIGHT WHEN THE CITY WAS BURNING! Gates went from "hero to zero" and resigned in disgrace!
LA Times
Darryl Gates
negligent LAPD chief during the riots
There was the Rampart scandal a few years after the riots, in which cops were accussed of planting evidence and abusing suspects. Unlike the Rodney King case, however, it wasn't just "whites oppressing non-whites" since African-American and Latino cops were also involved!
However, since then, LAPD has been through many changes. There has been less emphasis on aggressive, military style policing. There also has been more emphasis on recruiting women and minorities to the police force!
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How likely is the next riot
It's been 2 decades since the LA riots occurred! That means a whole new generation has grown up with no memory of that event.
It would be hard for the younger generation to fully comprehend the social atmosphere of that time!
Back in 1992, racial minorities were still in a state of rebellion against "white society". They still felt like they weren't treated as equals even decades after Jim Crow was over.
However, in 2012, the US has a president with African ancestry - Barack Obama!
It's hard to rebel against "white society" if your president is black, along with the US already having black/brown mayors, CEOs, secretary of states, attorney generals, and pop icons loved worldwide!
And a whole generation of Americans of all races have grown up under the supervision of non-white teachers, security guards, principals and bosses.
Inter-racial dating and marriages have increased nationwide, and the US is becoming a much more diverse society with more Latinos, Asians, Middle Easterners, and others being part of the social fabric.
These days, it's hard to scream "fight the power" like Public Enemy was known for back in the late 1980s. Ice-T, once famous for his "cop killer" song is now known as playing a cop on "Law & Order". And Ice Cube (who once said "f--- the police" and threaten to burn Korean stores) is now more famous for acting in children's movies and other mainstream films.
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However, there is still pockets of resentment against Latino and Muslim immigration. If there is more restrictive laws that permit officers to question people's immigration status, obviously, some cops WILL go over the line and use that as an excuse to intimidate those of Latino or Muslim ancestry. These things can add up, and those feeling like they've been picked on by society could rebel with anger. Just like LA 1992.
And as this year's Trayvon Martin case has shown, many African-Americans feel as they have been profiled and treated as "suspicious" just for walking and existing.
Also, as I have mentioned, there has been some gang rivalries split along racial lines.
And many European-Americans feel resentful about being blamed for slavery, segregation and a whole bunch of ills that occurred way before our current young adults were even born!
However, society in general has matured within the last 2 decades. There is a strong anti-racism movement out there! Those who made rude racial jokes get severe backlash everytime! People are more careful now in respecting other cultures. Even after 9/11, anti-Muslim bigots are usually laughed at instead of respected by the general pop culture!
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And notice that since then, in the past 2 decades, there has NOT been large-scale racial riots in the USA! (the exception being Cincinnati in 2001)
Notice that cities once famous for 1960s riots (Detroit, Philly, Newark, Chicago, New York) or even 1980's riots (Miami) DID NOT HAVE a large-scale riot in DECADES!
Meanwhile, pretty much every European city has had large scales within the last decade!
Some of those riots are racial riots (ie Amsterdam 2004, Paris 2005, London 2011, ), while others are related to political issues (ie Athens, Madrid, etc).
In Europe rioters loot with impunity whenever police aren't around.
But after the 1992 LA riots, most Americans have learned from the well-armed Koreans store owners!
The lesson is "
if you loot, we shoot".
You destroy stores,
DON'T BE SURPRISED if the owners are ready for battle, ready to shoot you down!
Criminals may be mean, but they're not stupid! They know better than to start trouble with someone ready to shoot back! That's why Americans haven't been rioting lately. It's just useless destroying stuff when property owners have the right to shoot you! That's what "stand your ground" is. Police won't always be around to save you, and when they aren't you're on your own!
So-called "progressives" need to learn this instead of hating on "stand your ground" laws!
origin of photo unknown
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Where was I when I first heard of the LA riots
Back in those days, people first hear of events from TV news. Nowadays, it's from Facebook and Twitter!
At the time, I was a 5th grader. While I was still a kid, I was already informed about current events, history and geography.
It was about 3:30pm (Hawaii time), when my uncle from LA called! It was probably a 1/2 hour after I came home from school.
My uncle mentioned about fires, and he said "
you're not watching the news?" It was 3pm Hawaii time, I usually watched the evening news at 5pm. Still too early!
(remember, this was before the Internet became a popular thing in people's homes)
My older brother came home not long after, and I mentioned about my uncle's phone call. My brother already heard about the riot going on.
And all night, and the days after, that's all you see on TV --- buildings burning, stuff being destroyed! All you heard was "no justice, no peace".
This was talked about on TV, news magazines, documentaries, rap CDs, for months and years after it occurred! It was seen as a sign of "America still had a long way to go on race relations"!
It's now 2 decades later, and it seems most of society has forgotten about it! While it is good to "move on with life", I still think it's important to remember the tragedies of the past and learn from them.
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Good References
Check out the book "Official Negligence" by Lou Cannon. That book discussed the events leading up to and occurring during the LA riots!
