Los Angeles Riots In 'Twilight' By Anne Deavere Smith

The city of Los Angeles is not a unified city. Los Angeles consists of too many large sub cities or communities to speak with one voice. There are many sub cities in LA such as the Westside, Hollywood, the Valley, Downtown, and of course, South Central. To make things more difficult, many of these sub cities themselves are not unified. Due to their size, all

On April 29, 1992, the City of Los Angeles was surrounded in a riot in response to the "not guilty" verdicts in the trial of four white Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers accused of unlawfully beating Rodney King. Six days later, when the fires were finally extinguished and the smoke had cleared, "estimates of the material damage done vary between about $800 million and $1 billion, 54 people had been killed, more than 2000 injured, in excess of 800 structures were burned, and about 10,000 people were arrested."(Khalifah 89) The 1992 riots in the City of Los Angeles were arguably the most devastating civil disturbance in the history of the United States.

The second day (Thursday, April 30, 1992) of rioting, the storekeepers did not stay put, but fought back to protect their shops. News channels televised store owners fighting back with arms and other weapons to protect what was theirs. Their attempts were

Early 1990’s was a difficult time, especially for the south central. During 1991 and 19992 was the worst record for crime; the murder rate was the highest in LA in history. There were about 1077 murders many of which came from gang violence in south central. The match that set off the 1992 LA Riots. Was the videotape of Rodney King being brutally beaten by five police officers, as well as the murder of Latasha Harlins in 1991. The officers were found not guilty by a mostly white jury, so the African American grew angry and disappointed. The Korean woman who killed Latasha didn’t serve jail time, which caused a deep strain on the relationship between Korean and Africans. White people were the main targets, but Koreans also experienced gun battles

The ideas of slavery have resonated throughout American society, allowing many individuals of color to experience systemic forces of racism that hinder their abilities to obtain success. Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 accentuates that these Racist ideas have continued to plague marginalized groups and have led to the development of societal hatred. Institutionalized racism remains a major issue within American society, as thousands of individuals of color continue to endure poverty, police brutality, and lack of educational resources that have created a racial and class divide between white individuals and individuals of color. In Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, Anna Deavere Smith illuminates these racist barriers constructed by

This paper will cover the events that took place within the first five days in south central Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict .

In 1992, a series of riots broke out in the city of Los Angeles. After footage of four police officers using excessive force on an African American man, Rodney King, a jury acquitted the four officers of their wrongdoing. The verdict sparked an outrage in the city, the incident was not the only point which played a role in the riots. However, after Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old girl, was shot in the back of the head by a store owner. As a result, the people of Los Angeles responded in anger over how African Americans were being treated by other races. The Rodney King verdict can be considered as the start of the riots instead of Latasha Harlins’ murder because it remained in the hands of the police, consisted of a large group of White American men, which displays an abuse of power in the race.

(Garcia) A year later in April of 1992 a jury acquitted the officers and “rioting, looting, arson and extreme violence (ensued) across the city of Los Angeles”. (Adams). Two of the officers were later convicted by a federal jury of violating King’s civil rights. (Garcia)

The Los Angeles Riots goes down in history as one of the most famous and destructive riots in US history. The L.A. Riots started as an outcry to the acquittal of the four police officers who senselessly beat Rodney King which was caught on camera. To understand the core issues of the L.A. Riots, we have to go back to what started it all, the injustice of Rodney King.

Later, on April 29, 1992, riots began to break out in the city of Los Angeles and other areas around the country. During the Rodney King riots, citizens began to experience deindividuation and feelings of anonymity, making them do things that would normally go against a

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.

Rodney King is a African American who was a symbol of racial tension in the United State of America. In 1991 After his beating in LA by the LA Police officers was taped and shown around the world. The officers Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, Timothy Wind and Stacey were the four police officers, they were charged with assault and use of deadly weapon. The trial was planned in be held in LA but because it was such a Public case they decided it was best to move it to a different location, Simi valley was the new location. The jury consisted of twelve people, 10 white, one Spanish and one asian person. Many people weren’t happy that they didn’t have African american people on the jury.

The beginnings of the riots came on March 3, 1991, when Rodney King was stopped and brutally assaulted by police. King was stopped after a high speed chase police after police caught him intoxicated and was subsequently forced out of the car (History.com). From there, police began to unlawfully assault Rodney King, leaving him with a fractured skull, along with a broken cheekbone (History.com). A witness, George Holliday, filmed the officers beating Rodney King; a day after the tape was airing on CNN for the rest of the country to witness (Los Angeles Daily News). Four officers were later arrested and put to trial a year later, however all of them were not pleaded guilty. The verdict angered a massive amount of African

As Los Angeles burned 20 years ago, the man whose savage beating by the Los Angeles Police Officers sparked the flames of civil unrest repsonded not with bitterness or even the satisfaction of seing revange carried out on his name.

“On March 3, 1991, paroled felon Rodney King led police on a high-speed chase through the streets of Los Angeles County before eventually surrendering. Intoxicated and uncooperative, King resisted arrest and was brutally beaten by police officers Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, and Timothy Wind” (“Riots Erupt in Los Angeles”). The incident was caught on video, and is still viewable on YouTube.