The LA Riots: 25 Years Later – Twenty five years ago today, the most devastating civil revolt in modern U.S. history erupted in Los Angeles. The violence began in South Central LA after a majority White jury exonerated four police officers implicated in the brutal killing of Rodney King, an African American motorist. After five days of fires, shootings and rioting, the death toll reached 60 people, with more than 2,000 more injured, over 11,000 arrests, and more than a billion in damages. Our correspondent in Los Angeles, Ruben Tapia, toured the area this week and collected testimonies from neighbors who recalled those five days of fear, anguish and destruction.
Latinos, Hardest Hit by the LA Riots – The spark that ignited the riots 25 years ago in Los Angeles was an incident of police brutality against an African American man named Rodney King. And African Americans were the most visible faces in the violence that ensued. However, although it is widely seen as a Black event, Latinos paid the highest price for the rioting in South-Central LA, according to prominent scholar David Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for Latino Health and Culture at UCLA’s Faculty of Medicine. He shares with us this little-known story of social injustice.
Police Brutality and Reform: 25 Years Later – After the brutal beating of Rodney King by the police, an official commission concluded that the Los Angeles Police Department was plagued by racism, that its officials often abused the use of force, and that the leaders simply looked away. The commission recommended urgent reforms. Now, 25 years later, what has changed at the LAPD? According to Samuel Paz, vice president of the National Lawyers Guild’s National Police Accountability Project, the changes have been few and short-lived.
