In April 1992, a surburban jury handed down an "innocent" verdict for the police who were put on trial for the beating of Rodney King. The verdict touched off the largest civil disturbance in modern American history, in which 50 people died and over $800 million in property was destroyed.
1. What was the Watts "riot," when did it occur, and how many people were killed? How has Los Angeles changed since then?
2. Describe these neighborhoods in terms of location and residents:
South Central
Pico Union
Korea Town
3. What was the role of the police in the early stages of the 1992 Los Angeles riot/rebellion?
4. Who was Reginald Denny and what happened to him?
5. Describe the highly publicized incident between a Korean-American shop owner and an African-American shopper. How typical was this of relations between African-Americans and Korean-Americans?
6. What was the verdict in the second trial, this time federal, of police officers accused of beating Rodney King? How did the community respond?
7. What was the verdict in the trial of those accused of beating Reginald Denny?
1. Would you characterize these events as a riot or a rebellion and why? What are the implications of each label?
2. What about the idea that this was just a flaring up of a low level race war that is ongoing in Los Angeles? What are the implications of that kind of view? If you were a visitor to Los Angeles, would you need to take that into account, and if so, in what ways? Does it depend on your own racial status?
3. How would you characterize media coverage of these events? What were the shortcomings in that coverage, and why does the media have a hard time providing balanced coverage of events like this?Do you see the Los Angeles media as contributing to further polarization?
4. What about the police? Why have there been such poor relations between the police and various Los Angeles minority communities? More generally, what are the issues that generate suspicion between the police and minority communities in large cities across the country?