1992 Los Angeles Riots

The 1992 Los Angeles riots, also known as the '''Rodney King uprising''' or the '''Rodney King riots''', was sparked on April 29 , 1992 when a mostly white jury acquitted four police officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King , after he committed felony evading, leading police on a 110 to 115 MPH freeway pursuit. Thousands of people in Los Angeles , mainly young black and Latino males, joined in what has often been characterized as a Race Riot , involving mass law-breaking, including Looting , Arson and Murder . In all 50 to 60 people were killed during the riots.

UNDERLYING CAUSES

In addition to the immediate trigger of the Rodney King verdict, there were many other factors cited as reasons for the unrest, including: the extremely high unemployment among residents of South Los Angeles , which had been hit very hard by the Nation-wide Recession ; a long-standing perception that the LAPD engaged in Racial Profiling and used excessive force, supported by the Christopher Commission , an investigation led by Warren Christopher (who two years later would become Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton ); and specific anger over the light sentence given to a Korean shop-owner for the shooting of Latasha Harlins , a young African-American woman. Additionally, in the time between the public revelation of King's beating and the trial verdict, the two largest L.A. street Gang s, the Crips and the Bloods , agreed to a truce with each other, and began working together to make political demands of the police and the LA political establishment.

Racial tensions

Commentators on the eruption of violence emphasize tensions arising from the changing demographics of South Los Angeles as building factors to the riots. The racial makeup of historically black neighborhoods changed as Hispanics took up residency and Koreans bought formerly black owned liquor and small grocery stores. According to census data, in the historically black areas affected by the riots, the Hispanic population increased 119% over the decade leading up to the violence. Economic competition between races in the labor force and in small enterprise provoked more racial animosity; in particular, the 1980s saw downtown Los Angeles' businesses fire most of their black-dominated janitorial staffs and replace them with Latino immigrants earning half the wages paid to their unionized black predecessors. The fracture between Korean-owned businesses and the black residents they served was also especially pronounced. The black community complained of poor treatment by store owners and inflated prices.

Latasha Harlins shooting

Acrimony between Koreans and blacks peaked in a video documented incident involving a 49 year old Korean woman, Soon Ja Du , shooting Latasha Harlins , a 15 year old African-American girl. The incident occurred on March 16 , 1991 , which shortly followed the Rodney King beating. Du confronted Harlins over a $1.79 bottle of orange juice sticking outside of her backpack. The security video recording of the incident shows Du initiating physical contact by tugging at Harlins' sweater during a verbal exchange before Harlins countered by punching her four times in the face, hard enough to knock her to the floor. Du responded by throwing a stool at Harlins. As Harlins walked away, Du fatally shot her in the back of her head.

Rodney King trial

On March 3 , 1991 African-American Rodney King , on parole from prison on a robbery conviction, led police on a 110-115 MPH pursuit, refusing to pull over in response to the red lights and sirens behind him. Finally, after driving through several red lights and boulevard stops, he pulled over in the Lake View Terrace district by Los Angeles Police assisted by other law enforcement. King, who had a record of drunk driving and was believed to be under the influence of PCP , resisted arrest and was tasered, tackled, and beaten with nightsticks by four LAPD officers (three whites and one Hispanic ). He is also alleged to have lunged for the weapon of one of the police officers on site, although that event, supposedly being early in the altercation, was not caught on the infamous taping. In a later interview, King admitted that, being on parole, he feared apprehension and being returned to prison for parole violations.

The incident, minus the first few minutes, was captured on video by a private citizen, and it became an international media sensation and a touchpoint for minority activists in Los Angeles and the United States. Eventually the Los Angeles district attorney charged the four with the use of excessive force in the beating. Due to the media coverage of the beating, the trial received a Change Of Venue to a newly constructed courthouse in predominantly white Simi Valley , a Ventura County city. Contrary to popular belief, however, no Simi Valley residents served on the jury, which had been empaneled in Los Angeles County; the jury was, however, drawn from the nearby San Fernando Valley , a predominantly white and Latino area. On April 29 , 1992 , the jury returned an acquittal on all but one count.

THE RIOTS

The riots, beginning in the evening after the verdict, peaked in intensity over the next two days, but would ultimately continue for several days. Continuous television coverage, especially by helicopter news crews, riveted the country and shocked viewers around the world as parts of the city went up in flames, stores were openly looted, innocent bystanders were beaten, and rioters shot at police. A curfew and deployment of California National Guard troops began to control the situation; eventually Federal troops would be sent to the city to quell disorder.

Estimates of the number of lives lost during the unrest vary between 50 and 60, with as many as 2,000 persons injured. Estimates of the material damage done vary between about $800 million and $1 billion. Approximately 3,600 fires were set, destroying 1,100 buildings, with fire calls coming once every minute at some points. About 10,000 people were arrested; about 44% were Hispanic , 42% African-American , 9% white, and 2% other. These numbers are proportional to the number of residents in the areas of Los Angeles where the events occurred, although they are not proportional to the racial make-up of Los Angeles as a whole. Stores owned by Korean and other Asian immigrants were widely targeted, although stores owned by whites and blacks were also targeted. Despite the Race Riot image the event retains, much of the looting and violence was done by young men, black, Hispanic and white, and much of the looting was opportunistic theft of Luxury goods. Criminals used the chaos to their own benefit, and street gangs settled scores with each other and with the police.

Smaller, concomitant unrest occurred in other United States cities, especially Las Vegas , Atlanta , and San Francisco , but also including Oakland , New York , Seattle , Chicago , Phoenix , Madison, Wisconsin , and even the Canadian city of Toronto .

First day (Wednesday, April 29)

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1992 Los Angeles Riots