Comparison: The Baltimore And 1968s 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

Urban Blacks were also encounter with extreme racial violence in neighborhoods and at work. Different ethnic groups of new immigrants obtained power and used conflict as a strategy of diminishing urban Blacks power level. They began blocking Urban Black workers going to work throughout new immigrant’s neighborhoods. Race riots have played a crucial role in the social establishment of race, prejudice, and discrimination across the United States. Race riots uncovered fundamental tensions in societies experiencing swift technological and economic changes. In 1920, there were many race riots and other violence in many places, such as Red Summer Race Riots of 1919 and the St. Louis Riot of 1917 that took place during the segregation in the South and the Black urban migration to the North. These race riots were response to the reality that Urban Blacks were carrying on a powerful struggle against White supremacy. During race riots, Urban Blacks lived through a renewed flow of riots, massacres, and racial terrorism.

In the weeks that followed the death of Freddie Gray at the hands of the Baltimore police, a group of protestors known as BlackLivesMatter, gathered with the intentions of demanding public awareness over the persistent discrimination and violence that African Americans are subjected to by Police Officers around the Country. Following Mr. Gray’s death, on April 25th of 2015, a small number of protestors attending the B.L.M. protest turned an otherwise non-violent protest into a violent bout of civil disorder which led to several dozen arrests, an estimated 15 officer injuries and mass rioting, looting and burning of the local businesses including a CVS pharmacy. Ultimately, a state of emergency was declared and the National Guard was brought in to resolve the conflicts.

The events of the Detroit Riots are much like the 2015 Baltimore Riots of today. Freddie Gray, who was apparently in good health at the time of his arrest, sustained neck and spine injuries while in transport in a police vehicle. Gray was in a coma and died the following day. What initially started out as peaceful protests began due to the inability of the police to adequately or consistently explain the events following the arrest and the injuries sustained by Gray in police car, turned violent after Gray’s funeral. Stores were looted, rocks were being thrown at the police and buildings and cars were set on fire. The end result was at least 400 people arrested with hundreds injured including police and civilians along with hundreds of businesses

The L.A. Riots is one of the massive riots in american history. The riots were caused by the injustice beating of Rodney King by four officers. To put it in perspective, the riots happened because of racism by jury and officers. I watched a sundance film trailer about the L.A. Riots and how koreans were affected by the riots. After watching the trailer, I decided to do research and I learned about the deep details of how the riots happened. The L.A. Riots changed my morals on how people can be proved guilty or innocent so easily, plus my perspectives on racism against minorities of the United States. My perspective is that police have been harassing more people of color more during the

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

There are three solutions that need to be introduced in order to correct the problems caused by protest riots. If police officers change their approach when dealing with protests, there is a smaller chance that a protest will escalate into a riot. Also if there are hidden cameras implanted around the community and inside policer officer uniforms more people will be caught for their actions.If rioters embrace a more peaceful approach toward social injustices, they will be higher regarded by the general public.

From the start, Los Angeles was becoming disconnected from its people as a whole. As the diversity of cultures seemed to grow slowly in population. Decades seemed to surpass, as it did so, shift seemed to rise into an intense racial isolation amongst cultures. It seemed as though whites held the power, while the minorities just played as their pawns. The African-American and Hispanic communities were one of the biggest and angriest minority communities in LA. The LA Riots were initiated when Rodney King was not given the justice he deserved. The American people became enraged and more divided than ever. Segregation commenced when LA seemed to be forming as a city, but because minorities were not given the equality they deserved, chaos arose. As detachment became regular, the lack of morality brought segregation to its ultimate peek.

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.

In July 23, 1967, the Detroit Police department busted a bar with a prominent number of African Americans. They arrested every person in the bar. More and more people started to gather on 12th street to watch the proceedings. That is when the rioting started. The crowd began to get more violent as more people joined.

It is when demonstrations become violent that change does not happen. When demonstrations become violent they are know to be riots. A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, people, or property. Riots often

The state of California has a rich history of events, that on a social level, have played major parts in change and perception among the populations as a whole, and in individual communities. History has shown, and will continue to do so in the future, that changes within communities, towns, cities, states, and countries is generally motivated by civil injustice. In researching “defining moments”, I have chosen the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. The riots of 1992 mark a pivotal point in time for California in regard to social issues and injustices in matters of race and socioeconomics. Following, I will describe the “defining event”, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and why I believe what was important that was learned, and how it has impacted California 25 years later.

The riots helped bring a change to the community for the African Americans because before the riots they didn't have a voice, any protest or march they did didn't receive attention. When the

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.

In the summer of 1966 there was a mini-riot on the east side of Detroit on one of the main thoroughfares, Kercheval Avenue at Pennsylvania (Elkins qtd. in Stone 113-114, Fine 135-143, Horner qtd. in Stone 92). Intervention by the police in a violent arrest led to mases of people coming into the street with protest against police brutality, Businesses were vandalized and additional police were called in and eventually the disturbance was quelled (Elkins qtd. in Stone 113-114 Farley, Danziger 43, Fine 135-143). City administration felt proud that the incident did not escalate into a rebellion reminiscent of the 1965 Watts rebellion, at the time the worst in