Los Angeles riots of 1992
The Los Angeles riots of 1992, a significant event in U.S. history, erupted in response to the acquittal of four LAPD officers involved in the beating of Rodney King, an African American man. The incident, which was captured on video in March 1991, revealed a brutal assault that many viewed as emblematic of widespread police brutality against minority communities. Following the verdict on April 29, 1992, anger and frustration boiled over, leading to violence in South Central Los Angeles and beyond. The initial altercation involved local gang members and escalated into widespread looting, arson, and confrontations with law enforcement. Over the course of several days, the riots resulted in more than fifty deaths, over twelve thousand arrests, and extensive property damage estimated at $1 billion.
The events not only highlighted long-standing racial tensions but also raised questions about economic disparities and social justice in America. In the aftermath, reforms were initiated within the LAPD, and Rodney King won a civil suit against the city, further igniting discussions about race relations and policing practices in the United States. The riots marked a pivotal moment in the ongoing struggle for civil rights and equality, resonating with communities across the nation.
Los Angeles riots of 1992
Significance: The acquittal of four police officers charged with police brutality sparked the worst violence in the city’s history from April 29 to May 1, 1992.
Before the Rodney King beating on March 3, 1991, many in the Los Angeles community believed that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) had demonstrated a pattern of excessive force, particularly against minority groups. One significant example was Operation Hammer, begun in 1989, during which the LAPD allegedly rounded up African Americans and Hispanics without probable cause that they had committed a crime, simply because of the way the suspects looked and because the police wanted to avert the threat of gang violence. As a result, the chief of the LAPD, Daryl Gates, was despised by many in the African American community. The videotape of Rodney King’s beating by members of the LAPD, therefore, came as no surprise to the African American community of Los Angeles. It merely confirmed what they already thought: that police brutality and use of excessive force against minorities was a common practice.
The Beating of Rodney King
The videotape, recorded by private citizen George Holliday in the morning hours of March 3, 1991, contained eighty-one seconds of footage. The footage that was seen throughout the United States was of King, a six-foot, three-inch African American weighing 225 pounds, prone on the ground, sustaining blows to his head, neck, kidney area, and legs from four policemen, who were kicking and smashing at him with their truncheons. Not in full view on the videotape were nineteen other police officers surrounding the four who were administering the beating. Also not in view were the onlookers who were pleading that the beating stop. The police paid no attention to them. As a result of the beating, King sustained eleven fractures to his skull, a crushed cheekbone, a broken ankle, internal injuries, a burn on his chest, and some brain damage.
Television viewers also did not see what preceded the beating. During the evening, King had consumed the equivalent of a case of beer. His blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. He was on parole at the time and ran the risk of landing back in jail if he were caught speeding. Police, led by Stacey Koon, started chasing King as he sped through the streets of Los Angeles. The chase escalated to one hundred miles per hour at one point, before the police were able to stop King and force him out of his car. Nor did television viewers see King fighting with the police, even standing up after being stunned twice with a Taser gun. People saw only the prone body of an African American man being assaulted repeatedly by white police officers.
The Trial
Four of the officers, including Koon, were charged with the beating at the end of March 1991, in Los Angeles. Their attorneys moved for a change of venue for the trial, which was granted. The trial was held in the spring of 1992 in Simi Valley, a suburban town an hour’s drive north of Los Angeles. The town was the home for a large proportion of LAPD officers and retirees and was dominated by law-and-order conservatives. Six men and six women, none of whom was African American, made up the jury. According to those who were present, the prosecution presented a weak and diffuse case. The defense, however, was strong. It played the videotape in slow motion over and over until its effect became trivialized. The defense also emphasized how King presented a threat to the police. Koon testified about King’s “hulk-like strength and how he groaned like a wounded animal,” conjuring up for the jury the image of police representing the “thin blue line” that protects the forces of civilization from the savagery represented by King. To those who had likely settled in Simi Valley to get away from the alleged evils and crime of the inner city, the message resounded. After thirty-two hours of deliberation, on April 29, 1992, the jury acquitted the four officers. The verdict was announced on television at 2:50 p.m.
The Riots
At 4:00 p.m., in the South Central Los Angeles district near Florence and Normandie Boulevards, five African American gang members went to get some malt liquor at the Payless Liquor Store. They started to take it without paying, and the owner’s son tried to stop them. One of the gang members smashed the son on the head with a bottle and allegedly said, “This is for Rodney King.” Other gang members hurled the bottles they held through the store windows, while the owner pressed the alarm for the police. When two officers came, the suspects were not there.
At 5:30, at the corner of Florence and Normandie, eight black men wielding baseball bats started breaking the car windows of passing motorists. Eighteen police cars and thirty-five officers from the LAPD sped to the area. They arrested three suspects but left at 5:45. In the next hour, the crowd attacking cars grew to two hundred people. One of the victims was Reginald Denny, a white truck driver, who was pulled from his truck and beaten by African Americans, including Damien Williams, with a fire extinguisher. The police from the 77th district of the LAPD still stayed away. Chief Gates had left police headquarters at 6:30 to attend a fund-raising event in the affluent suburb of Brentwood.
By 7:30, the crowd at Florence and Normandie had started lighting fires. An hour later, the LAPD finally returned to the area and began to disperse the crowd. By that time, the fires, rioting, and looting had spread to other parts of the city. The riots continued for two more days; local news coverage flooded the airwaves with helicopter views of hundreds of fires throughout the city and normally law-abiding citizens looting goods from stores. On Friday, May 1, 1992, Rodney King appeared on television with the plea, “Can’t we all get along?” When the riots ended that day in Los Angeles, more than fifty people had died, more than twelve thousand people had been arrested, and the property damage was estimated to be $1 billion. Throughout the nation, uprisings had started in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, New York, Omaha, and Seattle.
The riots in Los Angeles following the King trial caused more damage and spread across a wider area than those of the 1960s. Gates subsequently was replaced by an African American chief of police, Koon and a fellow officer were convicted of violating King’s civil rights in federal court, Williams was acquitted of most of the charges in the beating of Denny, and King won a civil suit against the city of Los Angeles. These actions reinforced the perception of many that the criminal justice system treats whites and African Americans differently, whereas others argued that the riots were less the result of racial tensions than of a widening gap between “haves” and “have-nots” in US society.
Bibliography
Cannon, Lou. "Rodney King Remembered." National Review 9 July 2012: 22–25. Print.
King, Rodney, and Lawrence J. Spagnola. The Riot within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption. New York: HarperOne, 2012. Print.
“Los Angeles, April 29, 1992, and Beyond: The Law, Issues, and Perspectives." Southern California Law Review 66 (1993). Print.
Monroe, Sylvester. "South Central: 20 Years Since . . ." Ebony May 2012: 132–40. Print.
Rissman, Rebecca. Rodney King and the L. A. Riots. Minneapolis: ABDO, 2014. Print.
"Symposium—The Urban Crisis: The Kerner Commission Report Revisited." North Carolina Law Review 71 (1993). Print.