Did anybody witness the LA riots in '92? (LA peeps please get in here)

[Kill]

.

[mrtonguetwista]

I still have the newspapers from the riots back on April 29th. '92


Florence and Normandie the infamous intersection.

[mrtonguetwista]

Synopsis

On April 29, 1992, in Los Angeles, California, the United States witnessed one of the largest riots in its history. A jury in Sylmar, California had rendered their verdict of a controversial case involving the beating of a black man named Rodney King by four white policemen. The twelve jurors had decided to acquit three of the four officers accused of police brutality, which caused a tremendous uproar. Many African-Americans took to the streets of South Central Los Angeles to demonstrate frustrations of economic deprivation and most importantly, racial injustice. This infamous incident, known as the L.A. Riots, lasted for more than forty-eight hours and was responsible for millions of dollars in damage, over fifty deaths, thousands of injuries, and the dispatch of 2,000 National Guard troops and 4,500 federal troops.
Many first hand witnesses of the riots described the event as full of chaos and carnage. Rioters looted stores and then set them on fire. Some of the scenes were so dangerous that fire fighters were not able to extinguish flames set by the frenzy. Large numbers of police officers had to protect the fire fighters from rioters as the firemen battled flames that encroached other parts of the city.(L.A. lawless. p26(4). [Online])

Reporters also experienced violence. When radio broadcaster Bob Brill tried to cover the riot on location, rioters attacked him. "Before he knew it, a full bottle of beer exploded on the side of his face, knocking him to the ground, where people kicked and beat him. Brill suffered a cracked skull, a perforated eardrum, and a broken thumb."(Columbia Journalism Review, "Get the hell out of here!" p23(3). [Online])

Another instance of violence was caught on camera by a news helicopter that focused its camera on Reginald Denny, a white truck driver who was pulled from his vehicle and nearly beaten to death. He had to have brain surgery to repair damage done by his attackers.

Whites and reporters, however, were not the only targets of violence during the riot. Many Asian-owned (mainly Korean) businesses were specifically attacked. Bad relations between the African American community and the Korean community had risen from "a perception that Korean merchants have been exploiting poor neighborhoods by establishing shops in ghetto areas while refusing to hire blacks to work in them." (L.A. lawless. p26(4). [Online]) It is also noteworthy to mention that many African American-owned businesses were destroyed, despite some shop owners attempts at putting signs on their shop doors stating "This is a black-owned store."

When the violence quelled, many fingers pointed blame at the Police Chief Daryl Gates. He was accused of slowly responding to the riots. Though his force contains 7800 officers, hardly any of them were seen in the beginning of violence. 



How the Three Theories Apply

Le Bon's Theory

The Los Angeles Riots prove that individuals act differently when in collective action compared to when isolated. The instances of violence by rioters where reporters were attacked, where stores were looted and burned, and where innocent bystanders were beaten and murdered only highlights that people regress to a more primitive state of mind when caught up in focused crowds. These rioters in the L.A. incident became part of a collective emotion that caused each person whom participated in the barbarian like behavior to temporarily lose reasoning capabilities that they display in daily life.

 
For example, when Reginald Denny, a white truck driver, stopped at a red light in the neighborhood where the first riot erupted, at least five black men pulled Denny from his truck, bashed him with the vehicle's fire extinguisher, punched him and stole his wallet. Another fired a shotgun into him at close range. As a blood-soaked Denny called for help, he was hit with beer bottles and kicked in the head. Denny was eventually rescued by four black bystanders and taken to a hospital, where he underwent four hours of brain surgery. The rioters acted violently and primitively towards Denny because he was white, and almost killed him. Any reasonable and cultivated human being would realize that murder is an ultimate taboo in society and morally wrong. However, because the individuals in the riots were part a collective action, they lost all humane-like attributes, including the respect and concern for other's lives.



Contagion Theory

When the verdict of the Rodney King case was released, many African Americans felt angered and discriminated against, especially in South Central Los Angeles and in neighboring areas. When African Americans and others formed crowds to protest the court's decision, many of the individuals in the crowd became hypnotized by the collective energy that was occurring. They became excited and rowdy and eventually extremely violent. Due to the large amount of people, individuals within the crowd felt anonymous. This anonymity allowed rioters to break established norms or laws without punishment, and thus, all social accountability and responsibility for their actions diminished, allowing rioters to act as they pleased. In doing so, they could easily persuade others to copy, causing large amounts of chaos. (The American Journal of Sociology, p.173)

An example of this loss of social accountability through the affects of being almost anonymous in a collective crowd is the looting and torching that took place in Los Angeles. As more and more people broke into stores, stealing what they could, it became an established norm of the moment. Individuals were not only anonymous in the crowd but also in the action of looting. Because there were so many norms broken, including looting, individuals participating in this activity realized that they would not likely be punished or discovered by law enforcement.



Convergence Theory
The riots in Los Angeles seem irrational without direction. However, this is not entirely true. For instance, individuals angered by the outcome of the Rodney King case convened to form a large collective crowd that contained similar emotions and ideals towards the outcome of the trial. The protesters, wanting to be heard, realized that behavior that broke strict norms and laws were the most likely action they could create to capture the attention of the rest of the country. It is important to note that most of the rioters were initially African-Americans who felt discriminated and harassed by the Los Angeles Police Department. By ignoring laws and creating temporary anarchy, the rioters were able to get the attention of the media and concurrently the rest of the United States. This awareness that was created allowed the revealing of past police brutalities against African Americans and ultimately gave the rioters a voice in their concerns with the corruption in the LAPD.

[white Boy]

i wasnt even in the USA at that time

[Kill]

thanx Twista, props

anybody else, or anybody who saw shit himself?

[pinche juan]

i was 14 when the riots went down. i grew up by florence n vermont, which is about 4 blocks from were the riots started. when they started though  i was in south gate watching everything on the news and i remember we werent able to go home because of that. i remember on the way home the next day, just seeing all those clouds of smoke from all of the buildings that got set on fire. the things i remember about the next day is going to this shopping center on florence n figueroa, theres a burger king in the corner which is still there and a bunch of other stores around it, well we went to go check out that center and the owner of the burger king was on the roof with a shotgun pionting it at anyone that got near it, but all the stores around it got burned down. i also remember going to another shopping center on slauson and vermont that has a kmart in it, that center was surrounded by the national guard. just watching 5 cops crammed into 1 car, seeing about 70% of stores on vermont between florence and 92nd st burned down. that was some crazy shit to see

[SGV]

I remember EVERYONE was scared of it coming for East(where I live). I'm only about 20 minutes east of the city, so a lot of people thought for sure it was gonna spread out. L.A. was off limits for us, LOL. We didn't visit family until everything died down. Tons of looting, I do remember that. But I was a young buck then, I really didn't care. I thought it was kinda cool.

[Ozir]

I remember EVERYONE was scared of it coming for East(where I live). I'm only about 20 minutes east of the city, so a lot of people thought for sure it was gonna spread out. L.A. was off limits for us, LOL. We didn't visit family until everything died down. Tons of looting, I do remember that. But I was a young buck then, I really didn't care. I thought it was kinda cool.

i agree... we had just moved from El Monte (in the SGV) to Azusa.  We still had ties to El Monte and people were scared that it would spread out.  I too thought it was kinda cool, but looking back, I'm sure it would have been a bad situation.

[Skindiana bon3z]

i wasnt even in the USA at that time

where were you?  where are you from? 

[Skindiana bon3z]

^ LOL? 

[white Boy]

russia

[Skindiana bon3z]

ohhhh, all this time I thought you were American lol 

[white Boy]

i am... russian american.. im a citizen..

[Rampant]

for the record that picture doesnt help explain things.

[Skindiana bon3z]

i am... russian american.. im a citizen..

Well yeah, but what I meant was I didn't know you were originally from another country