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The riots of 1992 in Los Angeles was a devastating situation which affected the community. Anna Deavere Smith was determined to tell the story about the LA Riots, in her book Twilight: Los Angeles, from the point of view of individuals who were affected. Anna Deavere Smith interviewed many individuals asking about how they experienced the 1992 LA Riots.
I agree and disagree with many of these individuals but as I understand more on the events that occurred in Los Angeles in 1992, I will write letters to four individuals relating to them and letting them know if I agree or disagree with their actions. The four individuals I decided to write to were: the former gang member, Josie Morales, the anonymous juror, and Elvira Evers. Every individuals faced the Riots
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As generations come and go, the idea of respect is slowly being forgotten. I disagree in the way you would try to get respect from opposing gang members. How would one gain any respect, trying to look for trouble whether it was day or night? I believe this was not the way to gain respect, respect is earned and not forced upon by fear. I may not understand your choice in looking for respect because I cannot relate to your situation but I believe your intentions meant well.
In your interview, your favorite song caught my attention. It is interesting how your actions show you’re a machismo yet your music display how big-hearted you truly are. If I were in your situation, I don’t think I would have acted the same. I believe I would try to create a change and show the elders and youth how important respect truly is. The side of you that you choose not show should actually be the one you embrace. To see things in a different perspective.
Sincerely,
Shyanne Parker
Here’s A Nobody
Josie Morales
Uncalled Witness to Rodney King Beating
“Indelible
Jaya Balendra and Sue Clothier slash the wound once created by the Cronulla Riots back open through their documentary. Through this doco they show us a different side of the Australian identity.
Civil Rights Digital Library. "Watts Riots." Watts Riots. The Digital Library of Georgia, 20 Nov.
Consolidated with authentic research, Twilight provides an important examination of the hidden reasons for the Los Angeles riots. A more drawn out chronicled see additionally uncovers the bigger class strains and the gigantic change of ethnic structure of Los Angeles from 1970 to 1990 that added to the atmosphere that could deliver such a huge scale riot.
Gilbert, Ben W. Ten blocks from the White House: Anatomy of the Washington Riots of 1968. FA Praeger, 1968.
One of the main topics of both stories involves racial tension within a community, focusing specifically on the tension between white and black Americans. Many of the people that Anna Smith interviewed had something to say about the race of Rodney King or how the white cops controlled the power of the city. With racial tensions boiling in the ghettos of Los Angeles between the white policemen and the black communities, violence became all too common in the community. By the 2000’s, the time setting for Crash, violence from the police became less prominent, but still evident.
The beating of Rodney King from the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991 and the Los Angeles riots resulting from the verdict of the police officers on April 29 through May 5, 1992 are events that will never be forgotten. They both evolve around one incident, but there are two sides of ethical deviance: the LAPD and the citizens involved in the L.A. riots. The incident on March 3, 1991 is an event, which the public across the nation has never witnessed. If it weren’t for the random videotaping of the beating that night, society would never know what truly happened to Rodney King. What was even more disturbing is the mentality the LAPD displayed to the public and the details of how this mentality of policing led up to this particular incident. This type of ethical deviance is something the public has not seen since the civil rights era. Little did Chief Gates, the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, and the LAPD know what the consequences of their actions would lead to. Moving forward in time to the verdict of those police officers being acquitted of the charges, the public sentiment spiraled into an outrage. The disbelief and shock of the citizens of Los Angeles sparked a mammoth rioting that lasted for six days. The riots led to 53 deaths and the destruction of many building. This is a true but disturbing story uncovering the ethical deviance from the LAPD and the L.A. riots. The two perspectives are from the Rodney King incident are the LAPD and the L.A. riots.
What were the causes of the prison riots in the 1990`s and how effective was the government response?
This incident would have produced nothing more than another report for resisting arrest had a bystander, George Holliday, not videotaped the altercation. Holliday then released the footage to the media. LAPD Officers Lawrence Powell, Stacey Koon, Timothy Wind and Theodore Brisino were indicted and charged with assaulting King. Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg ordered a change of venue to suburban Simi Valley, which is a predominantly white suburb of Los Angeles. All officers were subsequently acquitted by a jury comprised of 10 whites, one Hispanic and one Asian, and the African American community responded in a manner far worse than the Watts Riots of 1965. ?While the King beating was tragic, it was just the trigger that released the rage of a community in economic strife and a police department in serious dec...
In the Los Angeles Times a feature article “The forgotten victim from Florence and Normandie,” the author, Steve Lopez, explains the main discussion of his article which is about his curiosity on finding what happen to Fidel Lopez, a victim who was brutally beaten nearly to death. This has been broadcast on television around the Los Angeles area at the 1992 Los Angeles riot, also known as the “LA Riots.” Author, Steve Lopez, writes this article about Fidel Lopez to give readers a reason to not forget others, just how the media forgot about Fidel, demonstrating “why I couldn’t find a single story about him after 1993” (Lopez, pg. 2) said author Steve Lopez. Most of Fidel views were nothing but as what he stated in the article as “bright lights”
On the night of August 11, 1965 the Watts community of Los Angeles County went up in flames. A riot broke out and lasted until the seventeenth of August. After residents witnessed a Los Angeles police officer using excessive force while arresting an African American male. Along with this male, the police officers also arrested his brother and mother. Twenty-seven years later in 1992 a riot known as both the Rodney King riots and the LA riots broke out. Both share the similar circumstances as to why the riots started. Before each riot there was some kind of tension between police officers and the African American people of Los Angeles. In both cases African Americans were still dealing with high unemployment rates, substandard housing, and inadequate schools. Add these three problems with policemen having a heavy hand and a riot will happen. Many of the primary sources I will you in this analysis for the Watts and the LA riots can be found in newspaper articles written at the time of these events. First-hand accounts from people living during the riots are also used.
On the morning of March 3rd, 1991 an African-American man led police on a high-speed chase through the city of Los Angeles. Approximately eight miles later police swarmed around the car and confronted the driver, who went by the name Rodney King. During the confrontation, officers tortured King until the point he was forced to seek medical care. A case was opened and the police officers were acquitted. This angered many people, specifically Blacks and led to the historical “L.A. Riots’’ , where they felt race had something to do with the case.
Rodney King is a name that many associate police brutality with and the outrage it can cause to a community. It was on March 3, 1991 when 25 year old Rodney King, who was on parole at the time, had been driving around in Los Angeles with some friends and reports say driving drunk had failed to initially pull over after driving at high rates of speed. He was finally pulled over and King resisted arrest and was initially subdued by a taser and that’s when things got ugly and ugly fast. King was beat with nightsticks over fifty times and one of the officers began to kick King in the head repeatedly and unknown to the officers and King, the arrest was being videotaped. King suffered brain damage, eleven skull fractures and other physical and emotional damage. The officer in the case was initially found not guilty of all criminal charges. This caused a major backlash is the community and a riot has ensued in South Central Los Angeles. The rioters, whom were mostly you black males began to set fires to buildings and cars, looted stores and assaulted innocent people coming through the neighborhood. Those horrendous assaults were also caught on film by local television stations as they filmed the riots from their helicopters. King won a civil lawsuit and was awarded 3.8 million dollars. This was an epic moment in US history as it shed light on what and when it is necessary to use force and what type of force is deemed appropriate and inappropriate for the police. Did the LA officers have the right to do what they did or were they completely out of line. Depending on who you ask, you will get a different
While the L.A. riots were far larger, and the effects are still being felt, I still feel that the Watts riots had more of an impact. I had known about the riots previously, as I had been interested and looked into it on my own, but I had not looked into the economic at the time. Seeing that there were not any real economic effects from the riot, and in-fact some things may have gotten even worse, changes how I think of riots reported on in the media. Although there has been little in empirical studies done on the impact of the Watts riots, which is odd due to their importance in recent American history, especially now, it is clear that the riots started a trend of misguided racial tension that continues to this day, one that has prolonged the suffering and disenfranchisement of Blacks in the United States. While I do not believe another riot is the answer, researching this riot has shown me that while the riots can be considered important, the reality is that their effects on society are quite minimal, and only the political discussion of the riots is what has lasted to today. The failure of any real reform since then of the treatment of Blacks in general, let alone in the criminal justice world, shows to me a real lack of justice in the United
Shakur identified three stages of establishing respect on the street: 1) building a reputation through violence, 2) building name recognition in relation to a gang so the member’s name and his gang become synonymous, and 3) establishing an active work ethic, i.e., daily and routine participation in violence (as cited by Richardson)
Los Angeles was engulfed in rioting following the Rodney King trial and now in modern times we have protestors marching the streets for the Black Lives Matter movement to give a voice to the men and women like Eric Gardner and Sandra Bland.