Summary: Riots in Los Angeles. How the Koreans Saved Los Angeles March 3, 1991 Los Angeles

The city was clouded with the smoke of fires. Shots rang out in the streets. More than five and a half thousand buildings and structures blazed. Cars on fire choke. The streets were littered with pieces of broken glass. Passenger airliners did not dare to approach the huge metropolis because of thick smoke and shots from the ground: drugged rioters, seizing rifled weapons, fired at everything that moves. Gangs of blacks and Hispanics engaged in a shootout with shopkeepers. The Koreans especially fought for their own. And someone fled in a panic, throwing property at the mercy of the raging crowd. People of all ages and skin colors enthusiastically robbed supermarkets, taking armfuls of goods out of them. Many drove up to rob in cars. Trunks and cabs stuffed household appliances and electronics, food and auto parts, perfumes and weapons. The police at the beginning of the riots simply retreated and hardly intervened in what was happening. Calls were heard in the streets for colored people to rise up against white domination.

No, this is not a retelling of the content of a Hollywood thriller about the near future of the United States. Not a work of art. This is a description of the actual riots that rocked Los Angeles, California, April 29-May 2, 1992.

April 29 of this year marked the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the uprising of blacks and Hispanics in Los Angeles. It lasted 8 days. About 140 people were killed during the uprising. The city's Korean community managed to contain it, and only then the FBI and the National Guard completed the job.

Indiana University historian P. Gilge, in his book "Unrest in America" ​​(1997), estimates the number of riots and riots in the United States since the 1600s at approximately 4000. In his opinion, "... without understanding the impact of the riots, we will not be able to fully comprehend the history of the American people ... "

Indeed, how many cases of persecution of various minorities does the history of the United States know? Starting with violence against Indians, Negroes, Mexican migrants, Asians, and so on increasing ... The Black Riot in Los Angeles is another example that even in modern American society there is a problem of racial conflicts. In addition, the disastrous socio-economic situation of the lower strata of the population, caused by economic crisis.

The Colored Revolt of 1992 was caused by two events. First, on April 29, 1992, a jury acquitted 3 police officers (another received only a symbolic penalty) accused of beating a Negro Rodney King. Four police officers tried to detain King and two of his comrades on March 3, 1991. If his friends immediately obeyed the demand of the police, got out of the car and meekly lay down on the ground, hands clasped behind their heads, then King resisted. Later, he justified his behavior by saying that he was on parole (he was in jail for robbery), and was afraid that he would be put back behind bars. The police ended up beating him severely, breaking his nose and leg.

The second event - in the same days, the court actually acquitted an American of Korean origin, Sunn Ya Du, who shot 15-year-old black woman Latasha Harlins in her own store while trying to rob it. The court gave Sunn Ya Du only 5 years probation.

It is worth adding that the jury that considered the Rodney King case consisted of 10 whites, 1 Hispanic and 1 Chinese.

All this combined gave Negroes a reason to declare that "white America" ​​is still racist. They were particularly hated by the Koreans and the Chinese, whom the Negroes declared "traitors to the colored world" and servants of the "white killers."

The first hours of the performance of the Negroes were peaceful in nature - their political asset, including several Baptist pastors, went out into the street with posters:

But in the evening Negro youth appeared on the streets. She began to stone whites and Asians. These photos show what this barbarity looks like:

America does not like to remember these events. After all, they did not happen sometime, but immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union. Then, when the rulers of the United States were reveling in victory, when the American market-capitalist system was declared best achievement humanity. But it turned out that in the United States itself there are millions of beggars ready to destroy and break. That the rule of conservative marketers, which lasted from 1981, managed to get many Americans to the very liver.

(Negroes beat a Korean they come across)

The systematic arson of commercial enterprises began. In total, more than 5,500 buildings burned down. People fired at police officers and at police and journalistic helicopters. 17 government buildings were destroyed. The premises of the Los Angeles Times were also attacked and partially looted. A huge cloud of smoke from the fires covered the city.

Flights departing from Los Angeles International Airport were canceled and arriving planes were forced to change course due to smoke and sniper fire. Following the cultural capital of the nation, spontaneous uprisings spread to several dozen cities in the United States.

As Willie Brown, a well-known Democratic representative in the California State Legislature, told the San Francisco Examiner:
"For the first time in American history most of the demonstrations, as well as most of the violence and crime, especially looting, were multiracial in nature, involving everyone - blacks, whites, Asians and Latin America».

At the very beginning of the riots, the police were outnumbered and quickly retreated. Troops did not appear until the unrest subsided. Some rioters with megaphones tried to turn the performance into a war against the rich. “We should burn their quarters, not ours. We should go to Hollywood and Beverly Hills,” one man shouted through a bullhorn (London Independent, May 2, 1992.). Burnt shops just two blocks from the homes of the wealthy show how close the riots came to the lair of the ruling class.

Houses and shops were lit up at night. The epicenter of the uprising was the South Central Los Angeles area. Looking ahead, let's say that during the uprising, about 5.5 thousand buildings were burned. Negroes also broke into residential buildings where whites lived - raped, robbed them.

A day later, on the evening of April 30, the uprising began in the central neighborhoods of Los Angeles, inhabited by Hispanics. The city was on fire. These photos show the fires in Los Angeles:

The rebellion began among blacks, but soon spread to the Latin neighborhoods of South and Central Los Angeles and Pico Union, and then to the unemployed whites in the area from Hollywood in the north to Long Beach in the south and Venice in the west. East Los Angeles was spared only because of the mass concentration of forces of order there. Everyone went outside. There was an unprecedented sense of togetherness.

Before setting fire to stores, people took fire hoses to protect their homes from the spreading fires. The old people were evacuated, it was a family affair. Cars full of people showed up at the knitting factory, loaded up and drove away. Massive looting continued for two days. The police were nowhere to be seen. Products consumer goods redistributed, otherwise some people would not have got anything.

As for the beating of truck driver Reginald Denny, the men who attacked him shortly before defended a fifteen-year-old boy from police beating him. This, of course, was not reported in the means mass media. In an article dated the first of May, Harry Cleaver wrote: “Remarkable in regard to the dynamics of the uprising was the defeat of the means of suppression. When the verdict was announced on the evening of Wednesday, April 29, all self-respecting "community leaders" in Los Angeles, including the black police chief Major Bradley, tried to prevent a clash by channeling people's outrage into a controlled channel. Meetings were organized in churches where impassioned pleas were mixed with equally passionate indignant speeches designed to provide a helpless, purifying outlet for emotions.

At the largest such gathering, broadcast on local television, a desperate mayor went too far, pleading for complete inaction. Just as good trade unions working with employers make it their main task to make agreements and keep the peace among the workers, community leaders see it as their main goal to maintain order.

They didn't succeed. The May Day edition of The New York Times, a newspaper that considers itself a spokesman for the U.S. ruling class, noted with dismay that “in some neighborhoods, a wild street party atmosphere prevails, blacks, whites, Hispanics and Asians united in a carnival of looting. . As countless policemen watched in silence, people of all ages, men and women, some with small children in their arms, entered and left the supermarkets, large bags in their hands and armfuls of shoes, bottles, radios, vegetables, wigs, auto parts and weapons. Some patiently stood in line, waiting for their time to come.”

The liberal-entrepreneurial humor magazine Spy wrote that people who drove up to the supermarket in a large parking lot deliberately opened the doors for the disabled. An anarchist one-day newspaper in Minneapolis that borrowed its design from USA Today and was called L.A. Today (Tomorrow… The World)” (“Today Los Angeles, tomorrow… the whole world”) wrote: “Los Angeles is celebrating…” An eyewitness who was in Los Angeles exclaimed: “These people do not look like robbers. They are exactly the winners of the quiz show.

The United States is a monstrously racist society. Fifty years of total mass disinformation has destroyed the class consciousness of the poor and successfully divided the working class along the lines of race. That is why some participants in the riot expressed their hatred for the constant robbery of the poor in racial terms. The media buried the analysis of the causes of the uprising under a pile of superficial remarks about racism in the United States.

By limiting the riots to the issue of racial relations between "whites" as such and "blacks" as such, the media tried to hide the multiracial nature of the riots and present them as the exclusive expression of "black crime". White workers and the poor, no matter how poor and how they are exploited, and no matter how they resisted the police and trade relations, are united in this propaganda scheme with rich whites only on the basis of skin color.

It must be emphasized here that we are not liberals or racists: we do not pity the looted or burned enterprises, the owners of whatever race and nationality they belonged to, but the fact that the participants in the unrest chose some targets and left others untouched, mistakenly looking at their oppressors with race point of view.

But the main goal of the rebels was robbery. Hundreds of shops and even houses were looted. They took out everything, up to diapers (you can see it in the first photo above). In total, the goods were taken out in the amount of up to 100 million dollars. The total material damage from the uprising amounted to about 1.2 billion dollars:

On May 2, 5,000 Los Angeles police officers, 1,950 sheriffs and their deputies, 2,300 patrol officers, 9,975 National Guardsmen, 3,300 military and marines in armored cars, and 1,000 FBI agents and border guards entered the city to restore order and secure shops. Hundreds of people were injured. Most of those who died during the clashes were killed precisely during the suppression of the uprising and were not participants in the riots.

Those killed were mostly bystanders who became victims of the police. So, in Compton, two natives of Samoa were killed during arrest, when they were already dutifully on their knees. The police also tried in every possible way to end the truce between the various gangs. They wanted the residents of Central and South Los Angeles to start shooting at each other.

The Revolutionary Worker wrote that an old woman told young people, nodding at the police, "You need to stop killing each other and start killing these fuckers." More than 11,000 people were arrested in Los Angeles. These were the largest mass arrests in the history of the United States. Insurance companies, assessing the damage caused by the uprising in Los Angeles, called it the fifth largest natural disaster throughout US history.

In the most radical and consistent episodes of class warfare, there have always been and always will be instances of the thoughtless use of violence. (This is not a class war at all - the poor have rebelled in response to racial oppression and policies aimed at mass creation of social outcasts. - P-O)

The recent riots also involved not angels, but living people of flesh and blood, with all the vices and limitations imposed on them by horrendous poverty and exploitation, reflecting the everyday violence of this early society with all its horrors and hoaxes.

None of them can count on a fair trial, but even if they could, we must nevertheless adhere to a strategy of unconditional support for all hostages taken by the state during the May Day events.

Max Enger

The first two days - April 29-30 - the police practically did not intervene in the riot. The maximum that was enough for the local police was to protect the place of the uprising so that it would not spread to other quarters where wealthy whites lived, as well as to the business part of the city. In fact, for two days, a third of Los Angeles was in the hands of the rebel colored people. Moreover, the blacks even tried to storm the headquarters of the Los Angeles police, but the guards withstood the siege. The crowd also smashed the editorial office of the well-known newspaper Los Angeles Times, justifying this by saying that it is a "stronghold of white lies."

Whites fled in fear from the captured quarters and from the surrounding ones. Only the Asians remained. They were the first to repulse the blacks and Latinos. The Koreans were especially distinguished. They rallied into about 10-12 mobile groups, each of 10-15 people, and began to methodically shoot the colored people. The rest of the Koreans stood guard over houses, shops and other buildings. In fact, it was the Koreans who then saved the city, preventing the uprising from spreading to other quarters and holding back the brutal crowds of people of color:

After the uprising, young people who were previously unable to walk down the neighboring street because it was under the control of a hostile group can now do so. One Los Angeles resident told us that after the riots, as a woman, she feels safer on the street. Welfare-receiving mothers of many children from four districts have banded together to fight against impending cuts in benefits.

When these women picket the welfare offices, ruling class knows that more than a hundred thousand rioters are behind them. According to conservative estimates, this is the number of poor people in and around Los Angeles who have acquired the collective experience of arson, robbery and clashes with the police, the experience of the intelligent use of collective violence as a weapon of political struggle.

The number of participants in the uprising, obviously, was still approaching a six-figure figure. This can be judged at least by the fact that more than 11 thousand people were arrested (5,000 blacks, 5,500 Hispanics and 600 whites). The vast majority of the rebels and robbers managed to get away unpunished. The significance of the Los Angeles uprising is perhaps best measured by comparison with the San Francisco riot, the second largest riot in the country (or maybe third if you count the armed clashes in Las Vegas). If the San Francisco riot had happened on its own, independent of the events in Los Angeles, it would have been the largest in California since the sixties.

On April 30, more than a hundred stores were looted in San Francisco in the central Market Street area. Many expensive shops in the financial center of the city were defeated, the rebels invaded the lair of the wealthy Nob Hill and beat up a fair amount of luxury cars. In one of the luxury hotels, a group of young people, chanting "Death to the rich!", broke all the windows.

Max Enger

(Cop interrogates a wounded Korean who killed three colored raiders)

Only by the evening of May 1, 9,900 national guardsmen, 3,300 military and marines in armored cars, as well as 1,000 FBI agents and 1,000 border guards were pulled into Los Angeles. These security forces cleared the city until May 3. But in fact, the uprising was suppressed only on May 6.

The security forces did not stand on ceremony with the colored people. According to various sources, they killed from 50 to 143 people (there was no autopsy of most of the corpses, and it remains unclear who killed whom). About 1,100 people received gunshot wounds. Quite often, as witnesses later testified, the security forces killed the unarmed - "for warning" others. On several occasions, for example, they shot Negroes who were searched by them and forced to their knees. Either the security forces shot at the arms and legs of those caught (hence the large number of non-lethally wounded).

The civilian militia, made up of whites, completed the job. The police assisted the security forces in finding and detaining colored people. Later, she took part in the removal of rubble, the search for corpses, the provision of assistance to the victims, and other volunteering.

More than 11,000 rioters were arrested. Of these, Negroes made up 5,500 people, Hispanics - 5,000 people, whites only 600 people. There were no Asians at all. About 500 of the detainees are still serving sentences in prisons - they received from 25 years to life imprisonment.

(Asian woman thanks national guardsmen for saving her)

In the spring of 1992, a real apocalypse broke out in respectable Los Angeles. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans committed a large-scale pogrom in the city, expressing in this way a protest against discrimination against the black population.

Hell in the city of angels

In the fine days of May 1992, the sky over Los Angeles was clouded with the smoke of raging fires - thousands of buildings and cars blazed like that. Spontaneous clashes arose on the streets, accompanied by the sound of broken glass, shooting and the screams of people.

These stoned and drugged rioters, taking rifles, fired at everything that moves, simultaneously destroying shops and offices along the way. Someone tried to protect their property, and someone fled in a panic, leaving everything at the mercy of the raging crowd.

People of all ages and nationalities with some devilish frenzy robbed supermarkets, carrying armfuls of everything that fell under their hands. The most enterprising ones filled trunks and car interiors with household appliances, electronics, spare parts, weapons, perfumes, and food.

At first, the police did not interfere in the looting of the city: several thousand law enforcement officers were simply powerless to stop the rampant elements. Even passenger airliners did not dare to approach the huge metropolis plunged into chaos, flying around the seething city.

This is not the first such incident in Los Angeles. In August 1965, in Watts, a suburb of Los Angeles, six days of rioting killed 34 people, injured more than a thousand, and caused $40 million worth of property damage.

With all the differences, both events have the same roots: the protest of the black population against discrimination by the authorities and the police. Los Angeles, which found itself in the middle of the 20th century on the path of the mass exodus of the US colored population from the disadvantaged south to the free north, became perhaps the most "African American" city in the country.

So, if in 1940 about 63 thousand representatives of the black diaspora lived in Los Angeles, by 1970 its number exceeded 760 thousand people. A spark was enough to ignite this huge mass of indignant people.

By race

At the turn of the 1980-90s southern part the center of Los Angeles (South Central Los Angeles), where the bulk of the black population lived, was most affected by the economic crisis, it was here that the highest unemployment rate was recorded. Consequently - high level crime and regular police raids.

Representatives of the African American community were convinced that the arrest and use of force by the police of the city is guided solely by racial grounds. Of particular outrage among the black population of Los Angeles was the conviction of a Korean-American woman who, on March 16, 1991, shot a 15-year-old black girl in her own store. Despite the fact that the jury found Sun Ya Du guilty of premeditated murder, the judge gave her an extremely lenient sentence of 5 years of probation.

However, the drop that overwhelmed the patience of the black population of Los Angeles was the verdict of the court against four police officers who severely beat the black American Rodney King. Three of them escaped any punishment altogether.

On March 3, 1991, after an 8-mile chase, a police patrol stopped Rodney King's car with three other African Americans in it. Police officer Stacey Kuhn ordered four assistants - Powell, Windu, Briseno and Solano to handcuff King. However, the latter put up quite aggressive resistance to law enforcement officers, in particular, hitting one of them in the chest. The police were forced to use a stun gun, but when this method did not calm the violator, the security forces switched to more decisive actions and simply began to beat King with batons and legs.

It was later revealed that King's blood contained traces of alcohol and marijuana, although this did not relieve the police of responsibility. All this action was captured on camera by an Argentinean George Holliday who lived nearby. The footage of the incident subsequently spread throughout the American media.

Color bacchanalia

Already on the evening of April 29, after the acquittal, thousands of angry crowds of "blacks", and with them "Latinos" poured into the streets of Los Angeles. Stones flew, gunshots rang out, fires flared up. The rioters set fire to 17 government buildings.

According to eyewitnesses, what happened was more like civil war and all this is literally a stone's throw from the dream factory - Hollywood and the fashionable Beverly Hills district. Calls for an uprising of the "colored" against the domination of the "whites" sounded more and more actively on the streets, the most aggressively inclined through a megaphone urged the crowd to go "to Hollywood and Beverly Hills to rob the rich."

But one of the first to suffer was not a snickering bourgeois, but 33-year-old trucker Reginald Denny. A crowd of rioters pulled him out of the cab and beat him almost half to death - he could neither walk nor speak. The police at this time only circled over the scene of the incident, and broadcast everything live on TV. They were ordered not to interfere.

Korean Americans, especially store owners, got a lot: it was revenge for unfair decision trial for the murder of a black girl by a Korean woman.

Very quickly, the riot swept the African American and Latin neighborhoods of south and central Los Angeles, the authorities managed to keep the east of the city. The movement of public transport was suspended in the city, and rail and air traffic was also disrupted. Sports and cultural events were postponed to a later date. Following the city of dreams, the uprisings spread to several dozen more US cities.

The next day, riots spread to San Francisco. Over a hundred stores were looted there. As prominent Democratic Party spokesman Willie Brown told the San Francisco Examiner, “For the first time in American history, most demonstrations, and much of the violence and crime, especially looting, were multiracial, involving everyone—black, white, people from Asia and Latin America.

denouement

On the morning of May 1, at the request of California Governor Pete Wilson, special vehicles with guards left for the city, but only 1,700 police officers had to cope with the riot before they arrived. On the evening of the same day, President George W. Bush addressed the people, reassuring everyone and assuring that justice would prevail.

Only on the fourth day of unrest reinforcements entered the city: about 10,000 guards, 1,950 sheriffs and their deputies, 3,300 military and marines, 7,300 police officers and 1,000 FBI agents. Mass raids and arrests began, the 15 most active rebels were destroyed by the forces of law and order. The uprising was put down.

The US Department of Justice has launched a federal investigation into the beating of Rodney King. Later, the federal authorities of the United States against the police were charged with violating civil rights. The process lasted a week, after which a verdict was handed down, according to which all four police officers involved in the beating of Rodney King were fired from the ranks of the Los Angeles police.

According to the results of the six-day Los Angeles riot, according to official figures, 55 people were killed, more than 2,000 were injured, over 5,500 buildings burned down and damaged, which amounted to a total damage of more than $ 1 billion. Insurance companies rated this damage as the fifth-worst natural disaster in US history. The arrests were the largest in the history of the state - more than 11 thousand people, including 5 thousand African Americans and 5.5 thousand Hispanics. The total number of participants in the uprising was approaching a million people.

Curiously, Rodney King received a $3.8 million settlement from the LAPD. With some of these funds, he opened the Alta-Pazz Recording Company label, where he began to record rap. Subsequently, King did not settle down, and still had problems with American justice.

Causes of riots

Several circumstances and facts from the period of the early 90s of the XX century can be cited as the causes of the riots. Among them:

• extremely high unemployment in South Central Los Angeles caused by the economic crisis;
• a strong public belief that the LAPD selects people on a national basis and uses excessive force when making arrests;
• the beating of an African-American Rodney King by white police;
• the particular annoyance of the African-American population of Los Angeles over the conviction of an American-Korean woman who shot and killed 15-year-old African-American girl Latasha Harlins on March 16, 1991 in her own store.

Detention of Rodney King

On March 3, 1991, after an 8-mile chase, a police patrol stopped Rodney King's car, in which, in addition to King, there were two more African Americans - Byrant Allen (Byrant Allen) and Freddie Helms (Freddie Helms). The first five police officers to be at the scene were Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Rolando Solano. Patrolman Tim Singer ordered King and two of his passengers to get out of the car and lie face down on the ground. The passengers obeyed the order and were arrested, while King remained in the car. When he finally left the cabin, he began to behave rather eccentrically: he giggled, stamped his feet on the ground and pointed with his hand at a police helicopter circling over the place of detention. He then began to tuck his hand into his belt, which led Patrol Officer Melanie Singer to believe that King was about to draw his . Then Melanie Singer took out her gun and pointed it at King, ordering him to lie down on the ground. King complied. The officer approached King, her gun still on him, preparing to handcuff him. At this point, LAPD Sgt. Stacey Kuhn ordered Melanie Singer to sheath her gun because, according to training, cops should not approach a detainee with a pistol out of its holster. Sergeant Kuhn decided that Melanie Singer's actions posed a threat to the safety of King, Kuhn herself, and the rest of the officers. Kuhn then ordered the other four police department officers - Powell, Windu, Briceno and Solano - to handcuff King. As soon as the police tried to do this, King began to actively resist - he jumped to his feet, throwing Powell and Briceno off his back. Further, according to the case, King hit Briseno in the chest. Seeing this, Kun ordered all the officers to step back. Officers later confirmed that King acted as if he were under the influence of phencyclidine, a synthetic narcotic drug developed as an anesthetic for veterinary medicine, however, the results of a toxicological examination showed that there was no phencyclidine in King's blood. Sergeant Kuhn then used a stun gun on King. King groaned and immediately fell to the ground, but then got back on his feet. Then Kun fired her stun gun again, and King fell again. However, he began to rise again, lunging towards Powell, who hit him with a police baton, knocking King to the ground. At this time, what was happening began to record on a video camera a citizen of Argentina, George Holliday, who lived not far from the intersection near which King was beaten (the recording begins from the moment when King makes a lunge towards Powell). Holliday later made the video available to the media.

Powell and three other officers took turns beating King with batons for a minute and a half.

King at the time was on parole on robbery charges and had already been charged with assault, battery and robbery. Therefore, as he later explained in court his unwillingness to obey the demands of the patrol, he was afraid of returning to prison.

In total, the police hit King 56 times with batons. He was hospitalized with a fractured facial bone, a broken leg, multiple bruises, and lacerations.

Trial of the police

The Los Angeles District Attorney charged four officers with excessive violence. The first judge in the case was replaced, and the second judge changed the venue and jury, citing media claims that the jury needed to be challenged. Simi Valley, in neighboring Ventura County, was chosen as the new site of consideration. The court consisted of the inhabitants of this district. The racial composition of the jury was as follows: 10 whites, 1 Hispanic and 1 Asian. The prosecutor was Terry White, an African American.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley said:

"The jury's verdict won't hide from us what we saw on that videotape. The people who beat Rodney King don't deserve to wear LAPD uniforms."

Mass riots

Demonstrations to acquit police juries quickly turned into a riot. Systematic arsons of buildings began - more than 5,500 buildings burned down. People shot at the police and journalists. Several government buildings were vandalized, and the Los Angeles Times newspaper was attacked.

Planes were canceled from the Los Angeles airport, as the city was shrouded in thick smoke.

The blacks were the first to start the riots, but then they spread to the Latin neighborhoods of Los Angeles in the south and central area cities. Large police forces were concentrated in the eastern part of the city, and therefore the uprising did not reach it. 400 people tried to storm the police headquarters. The riots in Los Angeles continued for another 2 days.

The next day, the unrest spread to San Francisco. Over a hundred stores were looted there.

Notes

Links

• The L.A. Riots: 15 Years after Rodney King from Time.com
• Military operations during the 1992 Los Angeles riots - by a participating guardsman
• Lessons in command and control from the L.A. riots - Parameters, journal of the Army War College
• Flawed Emergency Response during the L.A. riots-professional article
• The L.A. 53 - full listing of 53 known deaths during the riots, from the L.A. Weekly
• L.A.'s darkest days Christian Science Monitor retrospective and interviews with victims and participants
• Charting The Hours of Chaos - a Los Angeles Times article
• The LA Riots 1992 - An anarchist perspective focusing on riots, characterizes riots as political uprising.
• The Rebellion in Los Angeles - analysis of the LA riots as a proletarian revolt, by libertarian Marxist journal Aufheben.

AT 1992 Los Angeles riots, or 1992 Los Angeles Uprising(also known as Sa-i-gu in Korean) was a series of civil unrest that occurred in Los Angeles in April and May 1992. An uprising began in South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after a jury acquitted four members of that Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) listen)) for using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King, which was videotaped and widely seen on television broadcasts.

Following the announcement of the verdict, thousands of people rioted for six days throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Widespread looting, assault, arson, and murder occurred during the riots, and property damage estimates were over $1 billion. With the local police overwhelmed in managing the situation, California Governor Pete Wilson sent in the California National Guard, and President George W. Bush deployed 7 - 1st Infantry Division and 1st Marine Division.

Consequently, order and peace was restored throughout Los Angeles County, but 63 people were killed, 2,383 people were injured, over 12,000 arrests. LAPD Police Chief Daryl Gates, who had already announced his resignation in time for the riots, has been linked to for the most part guilt.

Background

While viewing the tape of the beating, LAPD Police Chief Daryl Gates said:

“I looked at the screen, not believing my eyes. me again. Then played the one minute-50 second tape over and over again until I viewed it 25 times. And yet I couldn't believe what I was looking at. To see my officers engage in what seemed to be excessive use of force, perhaps criminally excessive, to see them beat a man with batons 56 times, to see a sergeant on stage who did nothing to seize control, was something that I never dreamed, I would have witnessed."

Prior to the release of the Rodney King tape, leaders of minority communities in Los Angeles repeatedly complained about harassment and excessive use of force by LAPD officers. An independent commission (the Christopher Commission) formed after the tape's release concluded that a "significant number" of LAPD officers "reuse excessive force against the public and persistently disregard the Department's written directives on force" and that bias related to race, gender, and sexual orientation regularly contributing factors in the use of excessive force. The commission's report called for the replacement of both chief Daryl Gates and the civilian police commission.

Costs and Trial

Day 1 - Wednesday, April 29

Before the verdicts

A week before Rodney King's verdicts were reached, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates set aside $1 million for possible police overtime. However, on the last day of the trial, two-thirds of the LAPD patrol captains were from the city in Ventura, California on the first day of the three-day training seminar.

At 1 p.m. April 29, Judge Stanley Weisberg announced that the jury had reached its verdict, which would read for two hours. This was done to allow journalists, but also the police and other emergency services, time to prepare for the result, as unrest was feared if the officers were acquitted. LAPD activated its emergency operations center medical care, which the Webster Commission described as "the doors were open, the lights were on, and the coffee pot was plugged in", but takes no other preparatory action. In particular, people designated to staff that the center did not meet until 4:45 pm In addition, no action was taken to save additional personnel for the LAPD's 3 p.m. shift change, as the risk of problems was deemed low.

Sentences announced

The acquittals of the four accused Los Angeles Police Department officers arrived at 3:15 pm local time. By 3:45 p.m., a crowd of over 300 people showed up at the Los Angeles County Courthouse protesting the verdicts.

At the same time, at about 4:15-4:20 pm, a group of people approached Pay-Less Liquor and Delhi on Florentine Avenue just west of Normandie in South Central. A member of the gang said in an interview that the group "just decided they weren't going to pay for what they were getting." The store owner's son was hit with a bottle of beer, and two other young men smashed the glass of the store's front door. Two officers from the 77th Street Department of the Los Angeles Police Department responded to this incident and, finding that the instigators had already left, completed the report.

Mayor Bradley says

Korean Americans noted that law enforcement had abandoned Koreatown, and the police did not report to the scene. In contrast, official lines of defense were set up for wealthy white neighborhoods and independent cities, such as Beverly Hills and West Hollywood respectively. Subsequently, they organized their own Armed Security teams, made up of store owners who protected their businesses from encroachment. The open firefights were televised, including an incident in which Korean shopkeepers armed with M1 carbines, Ruger Mini-14s, pump action and handguns exchanged gunfire with a group of armed marauders, and forced them to retreat. After Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy LaSorda criticized the rioters for setting his neighborhood on fire, he received a death threat and was taken to the LAPD academy for protection. The company's 670 MPs were redeployed to reinforce police patrols and guard the Korean Cultural Center and the embassy after the events in Koreatown.

Day 4 - Saturday, May 2

These federal military forces took 24 hours to deploy to Huntington Park, about the same time it took for the National Guardsmen. This led to total strength troops at 13.500. Federal troops and national guards, with direct support from local police, to restore order; they have made a significant contribution to the containment and cessation of violence. With most of the violence under control, 30,000 people attended an 11 am peaceful rally in Koreatown to support local merchants and racial healing.

Day 5 - Sunday, May 3

Mayor Bradley assured the public that the crisis was more or less under control as the area became quiet. Later in the night, the Army National Guard shot and killed a motorist who tried to crush them on the barrier. In another case, the LAPD and the Marines intervened in an internal dispute in Compton, in which a suspect was holding his wife and children hostage. As the officers approached, the suspect fired two shotgun rounds through the door, injuring several officers. One of the officers called out to the Marines, "Cover me" as they were in training law enforcement to be ready to shoot if necessary. However, in accordance with their military training, the Marines adopted the wording as providing cover while using firepower, resulting in a total of 200 circles being sprayed into the house. It is noteworthy that not a single suspect was injured, nor the women and children in the house.

aftermath

Although Mayor Bradley lifted the curfew, signaling the official end of the riots, sporadic violence and crime continued for days afterward. Schools, banks and businesses reopened. Confederate troops did not lighten up until 9 May The Army National Guard remained until 14 May Some National Guards remained as late as 27 May.

Korean Americans during the riots

Many Korean Americans in Los Angeles refer to the event as Sa-i-gu, meaning "four-two-nine" in Korean (4.29 혁명), referring to April 29, 1992, which was the day the riots began. The week of unrest following the acquittal of LAPD officers of the beating of Rodney King was considered a major turning point for the development of a separate Korean American identity and community. Over 2,300 mom-and-pop stores run by Korean business owners were damaged through looting and looting during the riots, sustaining some $400 million in damages.

Media coverage articulated looting and destruction as a result of growing social and economic tensions between Korean American and African American communities.

Korean Americans have responded in a variety of ways, including forming activist organizations such as the Korean American Victims Association and stepping up efforts to build cooperative ties with other ethnic groups through groups such as the Korean American Coalition. During the riots, many Korean immigrants from the area rushed to Koreatown, after Korean language radio stations called for volunteers to defend against the rioters. Many of them were armed, with various makeshift weapons, shotguns and semi-automatic rifles.

According to Edward Park 1992 the violence spurred new wave political activity among Korean Americans, but also to divide them into two camps. Liberals sought to unite with other minorities in Los Angeles in order to fight against racial oppression and scapegoats. The Conservatives emphasized law and order and generally favored the economic and social policies of the Republican Party. Conservatives tend to emphasize political differences between Koreans and other minorities, in particular, African Americans.

An article from the Los Angeles Times on June 18, 1991, highlights the growing violence before the riots began. “Other recent incidents include the May 25 shooting of two employees at a liquor store near 35th Street and Central Avenue. The victim, a recent immigrant from Korea, was killed after complying with the robbery requirements of the assailant, who was described by police as African-American. Last Thursday, an African-American man suspected of committing a robbery at an auto parts store on Manchester Avenue was fatally shot by his accomplice who accidentally fired a shotgun round while fighting a Korean-American store owner. "This violence is anxiety too," said the owner of the Park store. "But who is crying for these victims?"

On March 16, 1991, a year before the Los Angeles riots, storekeeper Ja Du soon physically confronted black ninth grader Latasha Harlins, grabbing her sweater and backpack, when she suspected she was trying to steal a bottle of orange juice from Empire Liquor, the Du family-owned store in Compton. Latasha hit Du in an attempt to get Du to release her arm and coat. Subsequently, Latasha turned to leave, and Du shot her in the back of the head, killing her. (The security tape showed the girl, already dead, clutching $2 in her hand when investigators arrived.) Du was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and forced to pay a $500 fine, but was not sentenced to jail any time. Relations between the African American and Korean communities deteriorated significantly after this, and the former became increasingly distrustful of the criminal justice system. Racial tensions have been simmering for years between these groups. Many African Americans were angry towards the growing community of Korean migrants in South Central Los Angeles earning a living in their communities, and felt disrespected and humiliated by many Korean traders. Cultural differences and the language barrier further fueled tensions. Probation Du received for the murder of Latasha Harlins, combined with the acquittal of four LAPD officers in Rodney King's trial, resulted in the ensuing Los Angeles riots, with much anger directed at the Koreans.

Television coverage of two Korean merchants firing pistols repeatedly at wandering marauders has been widely seen and controversial. The New York Times said "that the image seemed to talk about a race war, and vigilantes taking the law into their own hands." Merchants react to the footage of Mr. Parke's wife and her sister looters, who converged on the mall where the shops were located.

Due to their low social status and language barrier with immigrants, Korean Americans received very little, if any, help or protection from police authorities. David Joo, gun store manager, said: “I want to make it clear that we don't open fire first. At the time, four police cars were there. Someone started shooting at us. The LAPD escaped in half a second. I have never seen such a fast escape. I was very disappointed." Carl Rhyu, also a member of the armed Korean response, said: "If it were your own business, and your own property, are you ready to entrust someone else? We're glad the National Guard is here. They are. good backup. But when our stores weren't burning we called the police every five minutes, no answer."

At a mall a few miles north of Koreatown, Jay Man, who said he and others fired five hundred shots into the ground and air, said, “We have lost our faith in the police. Where were you when we needed you?" Koreatown was spun off from South Central Los Angeles, but despite this, it was the most heavily damaged in the riots.

Preparations

One of the largest armed camps in Koreatown Los Angeles was in the California Market. On the first night after the officers' verdicts were returned, Richard Ree, the owner of the market, set up about 20 armed officers in the parking lot. A year after the riots, fewer than one in four damaged or destroyed businesses have been reopened, according to a survey conducted by the Korean-American Interagency Council. According to Los Angeles Times polling eleven months after the riots, nearly 40 percent of Korean Americans said they were thinking about leaving for Los Angeles.

Before the verdict was issued in Rodney King's new 1993 federal civil rights trial against four employees, Korean store owners prepared for the worst. Gun sales have gone up, many people of Korean descent, some flea market dealers have removed merchandise from the shelf, and they've fortified display cases with extra plexiglass and bars. Throughout the region, merchants prepared to defend themselves. College student Elizabeth Hwang spoke about attacks on her parents' convenience store in 1992, she said during the 1993 trial, they were armed with a Glock 17 pistol, a Beretta, and a shotgun and they planned to barricade themselves in their store to fight looters .

Some Koreans formed armed militia groups following the 1992 riots. Speaking shortly before the 1993 verdict, Yoon Kim, leader of the Korea Young Adult Team in Los Angeles, who purchased five AK-47s, said, “We made a mistake last year. This time we won't. I don't know why Koreans are always a special target for African Americans, but if they're going to attack our community, then we'll pay them back."

Post-riots

Korean Americans not only faced physical damage to their stores and public neighborhoods, but they also suffered emotional, psychological, and economic despair. About 2,300 Korean-owned stores in southern California were looted or burned, accounting for 45 percent of all damage caused by the riot. According to the Asian and Pacific American Counseling and Prevention Center, 730 Koreans were treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, which included symptoms such as insomnia, feelings of helplessness, and muscle pain. In reaction, many Korean Americans worked to create political and social rights.

The LA riots led to the development of new national agendas and organization. A week after the riots, in the largest Asian-American protest ever held in the city, about 30,000 mostly-Korean and Korean-American demonstrators marched through the streets of Koreatown, Los Angeles, calling for peace and condemning police violence. This cultural movement was dedicated to protecting the political rights of Koreans, ethnic heritage, and political representation. New leaders emerged in the community, and second-generation children spoke out on behalf of the community. Korean Americans began to have different occupation goals, from shopkeepers to political leaders. Korean Americans worked to get government assistance to rebuild their damaged areas. Countless communities and support groups have been formed to further fuel Korean political representation and understanding. After suffering from isolation, they worked to gain new understanding and connection. The representative voice that was created is still present in South Central Los Angeles, as events such as the riots helped shape identity, perception, and political and social representation.

Korean American newspapers

Articles submitted from the Korean American side stated that “Korean American merchants appear to be the target of looters during Los Angeles. The riots, according to an FBI official who led federal law enforcement efforts during the riots." The Korean American newspaper focused on the 1992 riots with Korean Americans being the focus of the violence. The first articles from late April and early May were about stories depicting the loss of life and the damage done to the Los Angeles Korean community. Interviews with Koreatown vendors such as Chung Li attracted readers' sympathy. Chung Lee, a model example of a good trader, watched helplessly as his shop was burned down. “I worked hard for this store. Now I have nothing,” Lee said.

american newspapers

While several articles included minorities involved while citing damages or victims' names, few actually included them as a significant part of the fight. American news coverage is mainly focused on the oppression of African American citizens, especially at the hands of whites. One story framed the race riots as "a time when the wrath of blacks was focused on whites." They acknowledged that racism and stereotyped attitudes contributed to the riots, articles from American newspapers made LA riots about black and white people trying to coexist rather than include all of the minorities involved.

racism

While some news articles have compared the LA riots to the Watts riots of the 1960s, many have focused on tensions between blacks and whites in America, drawing on a history as far back as slavery and deep-seated racial differences.

ethnic strife

Korean Americans and their stores throughout Korea City in Los Angeles were the hardest hit by the riots, with an estimated $400 million in damages. Despite statements that were not intentionally targeted by Koreatown during the riots, on Sunday, more than 1,600 Korean American-owned stores were completely destroyed. Latin property stores and African American property stores were destroyed during the riots. Because many ethnic groups were affected, the 1992 LA riots were later called the 'Riots'. America First MULTI-ETHNIC»

The main criticism of mainstream media coverage was the pitting of Koreans and Blacks against each other and the framing of the LA riots already being fueled by the Black Korean conflict. As Dai Sil director Kim-Gibson, who created the 1993 documentary "Sa-I-Gu", described, "The Black-Korean conflict was one symptom, but it's certainly not the cause of the rebellion. The reason for the riot was the Black-White conflict that had existed in this country since the inception of this country."

aftermath

Burnt buildings in Los Angeles

The riots ended after numerous forces of the California National Guard, 7th infantry division and the 1st Marine Division were brought in to reinforce the local police force. A total of 55 people were killed during the riots and more than 2,000 people were injured.

After the unrest subsided, the inquiry was commissioned by the City Police Commission, led by William Webster (Special Counsel), and Hubert Williams (Deputy Special Counsel, President of the Police Foundation). The results of the investigation A City in Crisis: Report of the Special Counsel to the Board of Police Commissioners on Civil Unrest in Los Angeles, also colloquially known as webster report or webster commissions, was released on October 21, 1992.

A select committee of the California legislature also studied the riots, producing a report entitled Rebuild is not enough. The committee concluded that the city's internal conditions of poverty, racial segregation, lack of education and employment, policing, and unequal consumer services created the main causes of the riots. He also noted that the decline in manufacturing jobs in the American economy and the growing ethnic diversity of Los Angeles have contributed to the city's problems. Another official report City in crisis, was initiated by the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners; this made many of the same observations in the Acting Select Committee on the growth of urban popular discontent. In their study, Farrell and Johnson found similar factors that included the diversification of the LA population, tensions between successful Korean businesses and other minorities, the use of excessive force against minorities by the LAPD, and the laissez-faire effect of business on urban employment opportunities.

The rioters are believed to have been sparked by racial tensions, but they are thought to be one of numerous factors. Urban sociologist Joel Kotkin said, "This was not a race riot, it was a class riot." Many ethnic groups participated in the riots, not just African Americans. Newsweek reported that "Hispanics and even some squirrels, men, women, and children mixed with African Americans." “When residents who lived near Florence and Normandie were asked why they believed riots had taken place in their vicinity, they replied that the perceived racist attitudes they had felt throughout their lives, and sympathized bitterly with the rebels felt. Residents who had representative jobs, homes, and material items still felt like second-class citizens poll,. Newsweek asked if black people accused of crimes were treated more harshly or more leniently than other ethnic groups, 75% of black people answered "more harshly" compared to 46% of white people,

In his public speeches during the riots, Jesse Jackson, leader of the civil rights movement, sympathized with the anger of African Americans about the verdicts in King's Court, and noted the root causes of the violations. He repeatedly stressed the persisting nature of racism, police brutality, and economic desperation suffered by the city's interior residents.

Several prominent writers have expressed a similar "culture of poverty" argument. Writers in Newsweek, for example, distinguished between the actions of the rebels in 1992 with those of the urban coups in the 1960s, arguing, "[w]here the looting in watts was desperate, angry, so the mood of that time was closer to manic fiestas, TV - show game with every marauder winner."

Politicians

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton said the violence resulted from the collapse of economic opportunities and social institutions in the downtown area. He also scolded both major political parties for trying to solve urban problems, especially the Republican administration for his leadership of "more than a decade of urban decline" generated by their spending cuts. He argued that the King's verdicts could not be avenged on " wild behavior» «lawless vandals». He also stated that people "rob because... [t]hey don't share our values, and their children are growing up in an alien culture of ours, no family, no neighbors, no church, no support." While Los Angeles was largely unaffected by the urban decay of the nation's other metropolitan areas since the 1960s, racial tensions have been present since the late 1970s, becoming more violent as the 1980s progressed.

Democrat Maxine Waters, African-American Congressional Representative for South Central Los Angeles, said that the events in Los Angeles represented a "rebellion" or "rebellion", caused by the underlying reality of poverty and desperation that exists in the inner city. This state of affairs, she argued, was caused by a government that was all but abandoned by the poor and was unable to help offset the loss of local jobs, as well as the institutional discrimination faced by racial minorities, especially at the hands of the police and financial institutions.

On the other hand, President Bush said the riots were "purely criminal." While he acknowledged that King's verdicts were clearly unfair, he said that "we just can't put up with violence as a way to change the system... Mob The cruelty, the complete loss of respect for human life was sickeningly sad... That we seen last night and at night in Los Angeles is not about civil rights. This is not about the great cause of equality that all Americans should stand up for. this is not a protest message. it was the atrocity of the mob, pure and simple."

Vice President Dan Quayle blamed the violence on "Poverty of Values" - "I believe that the illegal social anarchy that we have seen is directly related to the disintegration of family structure, personal responsibility and social order in too many areas of our society" Similarly, the White House a spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater, argued that "many of the root problems that led to the internal difficulties of the cities were started in the 60s and 70s and ... they failed ... [N]ow we pay the price. "

Writers for former Congressman Ron Paul framing riots under similar conditions in the June 1992 edition Rhone Paul Political Bulletin, exhibited in a special issue focusing on "racial terrorism." "Order has only been restored in Los Angeles", reading bulletin "When it's time for African Americans to pick up their Social Security checks three days after the riots started... What if the check never arrived?" There is no doubt that blacks have fully privatized the welfare state through further looting. But they were repaid and the violence subsided."

Rodney King

In the aftermath of the riots, public pressure set for reconsideration officials. Federal civil rights violation costs were brought against them. As the first anniversary of the acquittal approached, the city anxiously awaited the decision of the federal jury.

The decision was read out in court on Saturday, April 17, 1993 at 7 am Officer Lawrence Powell and Sergeant Stacy Kuhn were found guilty, while officers Theodore Briseno and Timothy Windrow were acquitted. Mindful of criticism of the sensational reporting after the first trial and during the riots, the media preferred a more sober cover. The police are fully mobilized with personnel on 12 hour shifts, escort patrols, helicopter scouts, street barricades, tactical command centers, and support from the National Guard, active duty army and marines.

All four of these officers have since quit smoking or been fired from the LAPD. Briseno left the LAPD after being cleared of both state and federal fees. Wind, who was also twice acquitted, was fired after the appointment of Willie L. Williams as police chief and both Briseno and Wind have since left California at the start of this century. Chief Williams' tenure was short-lived, to only one term. The LAPD Commission refused to renew his contract, citing Williams' refusal to fulfill his mandate to create meaningful change in the department.

Susan Clemmer, the officer who gave crucial evidence for the defense at the first officers' trial, committed suicide in July 2009 in the lobby of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Station. She rode in an ambulance with King and showed him laughing and spitting blood on her uniform. She remained in law enforcement and was a sheriff's detective at the time of her death.

Rodney King was awarded $3.8 million in damages by the city of Los Angeles. He invested most of that money in starting a hip hop label, Straight Alta Pazz Records. The venture failed to garner success and soon folded. Subsequently, King was arrested at least eleven times on a range of charges, including domestic violence and hit and run. King and his family moved from Los Angeles to San Bernardino County's Rialto suburb in an attempt to escape fame and notoriety, and start a new life.

The King and his family later returned to Los Angeles, where they ran a family construction company. Up until his death on June 17, 2012, the king rarely discussed the night of his police beating or its aftermath, preferring to remain out of the spotlight. The king died from accidental drowning; Authorities said he had alcohol and drugs in his body. René Campbell, his last lawyer, described the king as "... just a very good man in a very unfortunate situation."

Deaths and arrests

May 3, 1992, due to the very a large number persons detained during the riots, the California Supreme Court extended the time limit to accrue defendant from 48 hours to 96 hours. On the same day, 6345 people were detained and 44 dead are still being identified by the coroner using fingerprints. driver license or dental records.

By the end of the riots, 53 people had died, including 35 from firearms (including eight shots from law enforcement and two from the National Guard), six from arson, two from attackers armed with sticks or planks, two from scabies, six in traffic accidents (including two hits and runs), and one from strangulation.

Nearly one-third of the rioters arrested were released because police officers were unable to identify people in the huge crowd. In one case, the police arrested about 40 people stealing from one store; while they were identifying them, a group of 12 more marauders were brought in. With the group mingled, charges could not be brought against individuals for stealing from specific stores, and the police had to let them all go.

Over 11,000 people were arrested in the weeks following the riots. Many of the looters in black communities were turned in by their neighbors, who were unhappy with the destruction of businesses that employed residents and the provision of basic needs such as groceries. Many of the looters, fearing harassment from law enforcement and stigmatization from their neighbors, end up placing the stolen items by the roadside in other areas to get rid of them.

Los Angeles redevelopment

After three days of arson and looting, 3,767 buildings were burned and property damage was estimated at more than $1 billion. Donations were given to help with food and medicine. State Senator Diane E. Watson's office provided shovels and brooms for volunteers from around the community who helped clean up. Thirteen thousand police and military personnel patrolled, protecting intact gas stations and grocery stores; they reconnected with other tour areas such as Universal Studios, dance halls and bars. Many organizations have come forward to rebuild Los Angeles; South Central, Operation Hope and Koreatown's Saigu and KCCD (Korean Church for Community Development), all raised millions to repair the destruction and improve economic development. President George W. Bush signed a disaster declaration; he activated federal efforts to help victims of robberies and arson, which include grants and cheap loans to cover their property losses. The Rebuild LA program promised $6 billion in private investment to create 74,000 jobs.

Most of the local shops have never been restored. Store owners had difficulty obtaining loans; Myths about the city, or at least some neighborhoods, have sprung up hindering investment and preventing employment growth. Few of the rebuilding plans were implemented, and business investors and some members of the community rejected Southern LA

living life

Many Los Angeles residents bought guns to protect themselves from further violence. The 10-day waiting period in California law stymied those who wanted to purchase firearms while the riot is going on.

During the survey local residents in 2010, 77 percent believe that the economic situation in Los Angeles has deteriorated significantly since 1992. From 1992-2007, the black population declined by 123,000, while the Latino population grew by over 450,000. According to the LAPD, violent crime dropped by 76 percent between 1992 and 2010, which was a period of declining crime across the country. This was accompanied by a decrease in tension between racial groups. 60 percent of residents reported racial tensions had improved over the past 20 years, and gang activity had declined.

See also, Lexington Books, 2009.

general

In Ferguson, they made us remember how it was last time.

MyTen tried to reconstruct in detail what followed what happened during the 1992 Los Angeles riot. Since subjectivity is our everything, we, as usual, will express our assessment of the situation as a whole. It did not affect the given chronology. You may not agree with her. But we will say what we want to say. The opinion of the author, of course, may not coincide with the opinion of the editors.

10 stages of the riot in Los Angeles in 1992.

1) First you need to understand the prerequisites for such mass riots in Los Angeles.

Historically, the population of South Los Angeles is very poor. In the 1990s, this was further aggravated by the economic crisis.

Already by that time, the public in the States was nervous about the beating of a black detainee by white police officers.

Los Angeles police officers had already been accused of racial intolerance many times by that time, and this can explain many subsequent events. In particular, when one of the police officers was accused of racism, the only thing he could do was accuse the detainee Rodney King of.

2) March 3, 1991, after, according to one source of another chase, a police patrol stopped a car with three passengers. All three were African American. All cops are white. We would gladly not dwell on this, but this is the root issue of the subsequent turmoil. Two passengers obediently obeyed the orders, and Rodney King, the third detainee, behaved defiantly. This is evident from the detention. He did not calm down even after he was shot twice with a stun gun. At that moment, when he got up from the ground for the second time, King lunged towards one of the policemen. It was from that moment that everything that happened began to be filmed by a passing by Argentine citizen George Holliday.

The three police officers begin beating King and stabbing him 56 times in total. This ends for him with a fracture of the facial bone, two broken legs, numerous hematomas, and lacerations. But he remains alive.

3) History would not have received proper development if not for the American press. The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, ABC News, after being exposed to George Holliday's videotape for a year, constantly return to this topic. Los Angeles Times two weeks after the incident publishes dedicated to Rodney King.

The case dragged on for a year, but in the end, already in 1992, the district attorney accused the police of exceeding their powers and causing excessive violence.

On April 29, 1992, a jury of 9 whites, one "biracial", one Hispanic and one Asian, acquits the police officers. This is considered to be the starting point of the riots.

4) 1 day. Peaceful demonstrations about the acquittal of the police quickly turned into a real riot. In connection, as already mentioned above, with the difficult economic situation, the riots were accepted by the population of Los Angeles with a bang. From 6 pm, robberies of shops and arson of buildings begin. At 18:45, a demonstrative "revenge" takes place. White driver Danny Oliver is pulled from a truck that is stopping at an intersection and beaten to a pulp. This is filmed live by an ABC News helicopter circling over the city. Suddenly, another African American intervenes in this scene, who saves the almost dead driver by quickly stuffing him into the truck and (tough video, we warn you).

The city authorities are mobilizing all police officers and officers and asking to bring the national guard into the city.

5) 2 day. On the second day, life in the city is more like a movie about a society that survived the apocalypse. Shopkeepers defend their business with guns in their hands. Heard for the first time gun shooting. No one obeys the rules of the road (learned from the bitter experience of a truck driver who suffered just because he stopped).

The President of the country, George Bush, for the first time publicly comments on the situation (unlike Barack Obama, who commented on the situation in Ferguson an hour and a half after the verdict was announced). George W. Bush calls for an end to the pogroms and says "anarchists" .

From now on, medics and firefighters travel only in motorcades with police officers, as attacks on them have become more frequent.

The state governor declares a state of emergency.

Rodney King calls to stop the pogroms, but he does it rather sluggishly (again, when compared with how the mother of the murdered Michael Brown does in Ferguson). on his "Bill Cosby Show" he denounces the riot and calls for an end to the riots.

About 400 people are trying to storm the police headquarters.

Any arrest in the city provokes more violence.

6) 3 and 4 days. Up to 4,000 National Guard soldiers enter the city. On the evening of May 1, George Bush declares that "terrorism, which appears here and there, will be suppressed in the shortest possible time" and that justice will prevail.

Los Angeles Airport stops accepting planes due to thick smoke that hangs over the city due to burning buildings.

The governor and mayor are asking for at least double the number of soldiers in the city and the number of medical personnel deployed from neighboring states. The entertainment of the metropolis has finally stopped working. The famous hippodrome is closed, where one of the most famous festivals “Los Alamitos Race Course” is being held at that moment.

The riots are spreading to San Francisco, where the pogroms are no longer purely racial. More than 100 stores were looted there during the day.

By the beginning of the third day, namely by 9 o'clock in the morning, a thousand victims were reported and. Information about the detainees at that time is not given.

By the fourth day, the media does not undertake to accurately calculate the number of dead and wounded.

7) 5 day. May 2 in Los Angeles up to 10,000 police officers, 3,000 military (by that time there were already 12,000 National Guard soldiers in the city) and thousands of FBI agents. Also in the city are 1,500 soldiers of the first division of the United States Marine Corps. During the day, the police 15 people and hundreds of wounded.

It is precisely such drastic measures that make it possible to turn the tide.

The story of the Los Angeles Korean Quarter deserves special attention: on the first day, the Koreans put up such defense against marauders that the National Guard did not dare to use force, since “personnel losses could turn out.” For almost a day, the mayor of the city had to personally persuade the Korean commune to lay down their arms. The Koreans, for a long time, refused to believe that order could now be established in the city.

"The case of the police" is given to the "feds".

8) 6 and 7 days. The city is gradually coming under the control of the military and police.

The state of emergency has been lifted.

The mayor of Los Angeles officially announces the end of the unrest in the city. Soldiers of the National Guard remain in the city for another 6 days, and additionally tightened police officers - until May 27.

9) The losses suffered by the city are difficult to estimate accurately. - more than $1 billion over 5,000 buildings. More than 2,000 injured. - 53 people.

The retrial ends with two policemen being found guilty and receiving jail terms, and two more being found not guilty. All four were dismissed from the police without the right to reinstatement.

10) Rodney King was paid financial compensation over $3 million from the Los Angeles Police Department.

In later years, he also had problems with justice and was detained with various charges.

These pogroms can be assessed differently: from the strongly right-wing (supposedly African-Americans are to blame for everything) to the radical left (again, supposedly the States are a police state).

The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in between. In any state there is an unresolved national question and the government of any state, especially a large one, will severely suppress any radical expression of will, be it the United States, Russia, China or India.