Baltimore Riots

Though sparked by the Rodney King verdict, there were many other causes of the riots that erupted on the streets of Los Angeles on April 29, 1992. The Los Angeles riots in 1992 were devastating. The obvious issue portrayed through the media was black versus white. If you did not live in Los Angeles or California chances are you did not hear full coverage of the story, you heard a simple cut and dry portrayal of the events in South Central. If you heard one thing about the riots, it was that there was a man named Rodney King and he was a black male beaten with excessive force by four white Los Angeles police officers on Los Angeles concrete. The media portrayed the riots as black rage on the streets due to the

Chapter 4 in The Color of Justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America, was about the relations between society and law enforcement officers. This has been a major topic, especially in the United States for a long time. The unfortunate statistic that minorities are more likely to encounter being killed, arrested, and victimized by excessive physical force; has been a real issue even in today’s society. However, police departments are trying to combat the way police officers interact with the community; especially those of color. Although steps have been takes there are still some instances where police aggression happens. With all of the issues that arise between certain minority populated community’s police it is evident that conflict

In recent years and in light of recent tragedies, police actions, specifically police brutality, has come into view of a large, public and rather critical eye. The power to take life rests in the final stage of the criminal justice system. However, the controversy lies where due process does not. While the use of deadly force is defined and limited by departmental policies, it remains an act guided chiefly by the judgment of individual officers in pressure situations. (Goldkamp 1976, 169). Many current studies have emphasized the racial disparities in minority deaths, primarily black Americans, killed by police through means of deadly force. The history of occurrences reveals the forlorn truth that police reforms only receive attention in wake of highly publicized episodes of police misconduct. The notorious 1992 Los Angeles riots brought the matter to mass public attention and prompted improved law enforcement policy. Significant local reforms resulted, for instance, ending the policy of lifetime terms for police chiefs. Additionally, on a broader platform, in 1994, Congress approved provisions to the Crime Control Act in effort to tackle police abuse in a more structured way.

The Los Angeles Riots were the second riots to happen after the Watts Riots. The L.A Riots took place on April 9, 1992. The riots broke out in less than a day and lasted five days and killed more than 50 people and left more than 2,000 injured. On April 30, 1992, writers Richard A. Serrano and Tracy Wilkinson wrote an article in the Los Angeles Times newspaper saying "hours after the verdicts were announced, angry demonstrators torched buildings, looted stores and assaulted passersby as civic leaders pleaded for calm." The riots started after the verdict was given, people were filled with anger after they police officers were acquitted of all charges against them. Tensions also arose with Korean store owners.

Race riots are one of the major news items we hear about via the media when a social crisis occurs. The riots in Baltimore, however, were not so much about race, but more about economic and social class separations. The riots began as a peaceful protest amongst the citizens of Baltimore over the death of one of their own, Freddie Gray. Gray was a young, African-American, from a financially lower class area of Baltimore. Unfortunately, he died while in custody of the Baltimore Police. While this is a tragic loss, he was unlawfully detained by the police (Sarlin, 2015) during this ordeal. On the surface, the riots may appear as a cut-and-dry race provoked, once they are looked into further, that is not necessarily the case.

Baltimore police union president, gene ryan, compared those protesting the death of Freddie Gray to a “lunch mob.”

The Los Angeles Riots developed as a way to show frustration at the injustice that occurred at the expense of Rodney King, with the acquittal of the four white police officers. The escalation that occurred as a result, could have been prevented, had police chief Darryl Gates mobilized troops into the affected areas immediately, instead of prolonging the deployment. As a member of law enforcement, with over 42 years of experience, there is no way that he could not have anticipated the backlash that ensued. The complete brutalization and dehumanization of black people in the United States is appalling and it has led to inhumane, atrocious fall out that has had impacts that have carried forward to the present.

When it rains, it pours; and where tragedy strikes, a war will follow. This is what comes to mind when the subject of Baltimore arises. The unexpected death of a young Baltimore man, Freddie Gray, while in police custody, sparked the flame in the city’s ongoing rage and riots. Autopsy reports showed signs of “high-energy injury “as the cause of death, suggesting neglect from the arresting officers (New York Times, 2015). When information was leaked of this tragedy, people in the community were negatively affected, and many began to riot. At this point, the question is not how to stop the rioting, but how to prevent it?

In 1992 the city of Los Angeles was one of our nation’s largest cities. It had an estimated population of over 9 million.1 The city had been in a deteriorating state for several years. There also had been tension growing between the citizens and the police for nearly the last 30 years. This had a lot to do with riots that occurred in Los Angeles back in the 1960’s.2

During the times of the riots, the Los Angeles Police Department played a significant role in the uprising of the event. After the video went viral of the four police officers brutally beating King, they were found not guilty of their crime. As there was specific evidence displayed for the jury, they still acquitted all four officers. Less than three hours after the verdict was announced, protesting and rebelling occurred. The verdict regarding the four police officers sparked the riots as Los Angeles citizens were not satisfied with the jury’s decision. Citizens were shocked by the response and did not agree with making police brutality seem acceptable. In an interview, Jody David Armour, a criminal justice and law professor at the University of Southern California, said, “there was ocular proof of what happened. It seemed compelling. And yet, we saw a verdict that told us we couldn't trust our lying eyes. That what we thought was open and shut was really “a reasonable expression of police control' toward a black motorist” (Sastry). From Armour’s own experience, he believes the police and the jury did not make the correct decision. The majority of the people who lived in South Central Los Angeles at the time did. People should feel protected by the police, however, no one within the city did. How can they when police officers are getting away with harming their own citizens?

The arrest and death of Freddie Gray has recently ignited protests, riots, and accusations of such police brutality. In this application I will be investigating and discussing case facts and information I have obtained from research on the internet. I will also be discussing the issues that have stimulated from such protests, riots and accusations across the state of Maryland and also across the country. I will give insight on responses from the Baltimore community and then will also give some information on precautions and measures that should and/or have to be taken when events like these occur.

The history of African-Americans in the United States is full of many periods of achievements, as well as periods of struggle. The Los Angeles riots of 1992 were the result of many years of systematic racism in the United States following the Civil Rights Movement. The beating and unjust trial of Rodney King exposed the unfair and brutal treatment of African Americans by the police. As well as the shooting of 15 year-old Latasha Harlins 2 weeks after the beating of Rodney King to further ignite hatred within African-Americans in Los Angeles. What came forth was a week long riot not only changed Los Angeles, but the United States. That is why the Los Angeles riots was the most devastating, yet consequential, civil uproar in the history of the United States.

Three years after BLM launched a nationwide uprising against police violence, what's next for the movement? In this special section, a leading African American historian explores how the group is forging a powerful new form of civil rights activism. Plus: How police in 1970s Detroit unleashed an undercover execution squad, and the modern-day rise of "warrior policing."

I recently watched the movie Freedom Writers which is a story about a high school teacher in Los Angeles who helped troubled teens use literature as an outlet to express themselves and provided them a safe haven from the violent environments they were raised from. From this movie, I learned that there were racial tensions between Blacks, Hispanics, and Koreans in L.A. during the 90’s. This made me wonder why there were tensions among those minorities which got me interested in learning about the L.A. riots. The L.A. riots began on April 29, 1992 after an African American man named Rodney King was put on trial for getting beaten up by four cops, 3 Caucasian and 1 Hispanic ("Rodney King Riots Erupt in Los Angeles.") This sparked riots among Los Angeles lasting for 6 days from April 29 – May 4. Although the LA riots were acts of crime from the rioters against the police, the outcomes of the riots were due to police brutality and racial tensions between minorities.

Citizens are what make up a nation. In the 90s, minorities felt as though there was not enough being done to reach equality. The divide between races and the animosity between the races not only kills the culture that a nation aspires to have, but has left its mark and still affects citizens today. In March of 1991, a group of LAPD officers beat Rodney King, a minority, very badly. As this tragic event was happening, George Holliday filmed the incident from his Los Angeles apartment and sent the recording to the local press the next day. Shortly after the video was released to the people, there were peaceful protests. However, these protests quickly turned into violent riots. The four officers acquitted in the beating were arrested and charged with assault and battery, leading to the Los Angeles Riots which began on April 29, 1992. The riots went on for three days and gave a strong message to the LAPD that the racial profiling needs to come to stop. In the end, there were 7,000 arrests, 60 people dead, 2,000 injured, and almost $1 billion in property damage. While the differences between the 1990s: Racial Tensions Heighten article and Clarence Thomas’s “The New Tolerance - Law Day Address” are noticeable, the similarities are salient.