On Reactions to the L.A. Riots

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On Reactions to the L.A. Riots

Out of all the opinions presented by Smith, the only one that makes sense--in a way that had it been implemented earlier the violence could possibly have been prevented--is H. Ross Perot's. But before I address why his is the best view on the matter, I will first show why the other opinions are, for each its own reasons, not good enough.

Pat Buchanan's opinion was that the L.A. riots were caused by ineffective police squads. He said that they didn't know how to use force. Well, pardon me, Mr. Buchanan, but what was the "cause" of the riots in the first place? It was due to excessive force used by police against a black man, for the sole reason that he was black. So, Buchanan's approach seems silly. Rioting can't be prevented by making force more brutal--only by regulating it more capably. The only way to prevent riots is to make sure that police know when force is or is not warranted, and to increase the severity in punishment of police officers who are unnecessarily rough. Increasing violence on the part of officers of the law does not and will not prevent rioting, nor will it cut the incidence of violent crime by any significant factor. Contrarily, it will only give people more reason to feel as if their concerns are not being appreciated. If black men everywhere are assaulted as if their presence were some sort of security threat, then how could it be thought that there would be less incidence of riots? Unless Buchanan had in mind a program of illegal entry and arrest of civilians in their homes as a deterrent to crime, much as is done under the system of British policework, such a plan would only increase the incidence of rioting in response to it.

So Buchanan's approach is out.

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...ans with no time limit and with little or no interest. Through the granting of such loans, people will further be able to see that the government really does care about their well being. And thus, they will support government policies more. Such a plan is capable of changing community conditions towards the better, and through such actions reduces the risk of rioting as an expression of frustration. Because, when you get down to it, that's really what the L.A. riots were about. Black people were responding to a growing concern that their interests were not important to anybody, and when they failed to make this clear in court after a black man was severely beaten, they felt that they had no other options left open to them--no way of productively expressing their dissatisfaction--so they decided to do it destructively.

And with destruction comes greater despair.

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