Never Again: A Never Before Told Insight into the 1992 Los Angeles Riots

INTRODUCTION

Gang violence and civil unrest contributed to 1992 being the deadliest year in Los Angeles County history. The number of people slain in Los Angeles (2,589) was up eight percent from the previous year. According to the New York Times, the carnage could have filled the downtown Los Angeles Ahmanson Theatre to more than capacity.

There were 517 murders in July and August alone. Although crime rates were high, that same year a scientific development occurred that directly impacted not only criminology, but the entire world. Connecting criminals with their crimes was refined as Geneticist Alec Jeffreys used DNA profiling methods developed in 1984. The new method allowed him to confirm the identity of the Nazi Doctor, Josef Mengele, comparing DNA obtained from a femur bone of his exhumed skeleton against DNA from his widow and son. The new technology upgraded the ability to confirm identities of suspects in future years, as well as vindicate some who were wrongly accused.

The year 1992 would not soon be forgotten. Pop culture idol Michael Jackson’s number one hit, Black or White exploded on the charts. At the end of the music video Jackson is seen smashing windows, destroying a car, and detonating an explosion. The violence, mingled with Jackson’s controversial and sexually explicit dance moves, prompted MTV and other music video networks to remove the last four minutes of the video prior to airing.

To make the violence more palpable to viewers, an altered version was produced, adding racist graffiti to the windows Jackson breaks. Nevertheless, MTV branded the video one of the most controversial videos of all time and it is still censored throughout the world.

Interestingly, a few months later, a similar scenario played out in real life as the worst civil disturbance in the United States in the 20th century erupted. One big difference: the violence was not censored. Looting, beatings and arson were broadcast across the world via live television in the style of breathless Breaking News reporting.

The spectacle began with an incident that occurred a year earlier. Stopped after a high speed pursuit, Rodney King resisted police orders and was struck over 50 times with a night stick. Witness George Holliday recorded the incident on video that was played on local TV station KTLA and eventually on networks worldwide. Both men became instant celebrities.

Holliday awoke at 12:45 AM to the sound of helicopters and sirens. He’d set his alarm clock to rise early so he could film a co-worker at the plumbing company he worked for who was training for the LA marathon.

Hearing the commotion on the street below, he peered out of his window and saw a man surrounded by police officers. Holliday dressed quickly and grabbed his camcorder to record the event. By the time he stepped out onto his balcony, King’s beating had commenced. Several other residents filmed the event, but Holliday had the best vantage point. He was on the second floor of the apartment building. That video would be seen around the world, replayed countless times.

On April 29, 1992, the acquittals of the four Los Angeles Police Department officers involved in the King beating left the City of Los Angeles stunned. African-Americans were enraged at what they perceived as gross injustice and took to the streets and the airwaves. Angry and violent crowds gathered on street corners across the city, while thousands more turned to their televisions to watch the news events unfold.

Spreading unchecked from the major flash point of the South Los Angeles intersection of Florence and Normandie Avenues, this chaotic disturbance engulfed the city and portions of the surrounding metropolitan area. Its effects would ripple across the nation and be observed throughout the world. Scars are still visible today.

The cost left in the wake of the riots extended far beyond that of mere financial loss. Mental and emotional affects, both during and after the riots, were substantial. Fear was rampant and progress made against racism in the decades prior was all but overturned as black and white, rich versus poor, went head to head.

Other than the actual beating, trial, and verdicts, there were several underlying motives for the 1992 Los Angeles riots, also known as the Rodney King riots. In 1991 people were enraged over the acquittal of a Korean-American shop owner, Soon Ja Du, for the fatal shooting in the back of the head of a black teenager.

On March 16, 1991, 15-year-old Latisha Harlins walked into a neighborhood convenience store. Seeing her with a bottle of orange juice, store owner Soon Ja Du accused her of planning to steal the juice. She denied it. After harsh words and a physical confrontation, the shop owner shot the teen. She lay dying, clutching two dollars to pay for the orange juice. A videotape played during the trial also showed that Latasha Harlins had actually turned away from the scuffle with the Korean grocer when Son Ja Du shot the teenager in the back of the head.

Soon Ja Du was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, but was sentenced to probation, community service, and fined $500. A dispute over a bottle of orange juice not only cost a life, but amped up the rampant racial tension between African-Americans and Korean-Americans.

Relations between blacks and Korean-Americans in the area had been rocky for some time. Frustration mounted as perceptions amongst blacks that Korean-American merchants were taking money out of their community while refusing to hire blacks. High rates of unemployment and growing economic disparity in Los Angeles also played a part. Inner city poverty, segregation, lack of educational and employment opportunities, seethed in combination with police abuse and mistrust. Poor police-community relations contributed as well to a volatile situation.

The number of people living below the official government poverty level in the U.S. was 36.9 million in 1992. This was 1.2 million higher than in 1991, and there was no sign of relief.

Mistrust of the police increased with the implementation of Operation Hammer or Big Blue Hammer, the origin of which can be traced back to the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles. Under the supervision of Chief Daryl Gates, the LAPD conducted massive gang sweeps resulting in numerous arrests; yet, there were few actual charges. The gang sweeps created a further wedge between the LAPD and the community that would take years to undo.

The operation was characterized by massive arrests. As many as a thousand youth were arrested at a time. The division between law enforcement and the community widened as the community witnessed the public humiliation and police-administered beatings. It is difficult to determine how widespread these events were as many went unreported. No apparent accountability for years of brutality, mostly by the LAPD, created a seething tension.

Starting in April of 1988, dozens of police officers, going neighborhood to neighborhood, arrested suspected gang members and drug dealers. Often times, those arrested were young teens who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In August of 1988 a band of 80 police officers acting on a tip raided and vandalized four apartment buildings. The tip had been inaccurate. Four officers were prosecuted on charges of felony vandalism. All were acquitted.

A historical examination of the strained relations between LAPD and African-American civilians is proof that it was not just the reading of the Rodney King verdict that ignited the flames of the riots. The verdict, broadcast over live TV was the immediate trigger, but many underlying factors provided the fuel for events to explode.

A long-standing perception that the LAPD engaged in racial profiling and used excessive force added to the community’s frustration. Extremely high unemployment among residents of South Central Los Angeles, which had been hit very hard by the nationwide recession, also had people sitting on edge. As mentioned earlier, the crime rate continued to rise. In comparison, it was about four-times greater than it is today.

Additionally, a poor relationship and lack of communication existed between Mayor Tom Bradley and Police Chief Gates. Gates also had plans to retire in June of that year. Los Angeles was living through the deadliest period in its history. Gang activity was out of control, with homicides skyrocketing past the 2,000 mark countywide in 1991, and headed still higher in the first quarter of 1992. Nearly 40 percent of the killings were classified as gang related. The Rodney King verdicts were delivered in this hostile climate.

LAPD’s slow response to the festering uprising allowed the disturbance to spread citywide as it went unchecked without immediate action. Poor command decisions and a lack of real planning by LAPD, coupled with several members of the command staff being out of town at a training seminar, while Chief Gates was attending a Brentwood fundraiser for the campaign against Proposition F, the charter amendment on police reform, all occurred on the evening the verdicts were delivered.

Although the LAPD had organizational issues and problems, and did not respond to or handle this unprecedented incident appropriately, most of the disturbance and its aftermath could have been avoided and mitigated to a large degree by an outside influence. An unexpected development and unforeseen events could have forced them to play the hand they were refusing to show.

No one knew that day that behind the scenes a mobile tactical response team—coincidentally made up of extra on-duty personnel from the nearby Lennox Sheriff’s Station—stood at-the-ready. They awaited orders from their acting watch commander who earlier had initiated the formation, deployment, and game plan for this response team. The magnitude of tension building beneath the impending violence called for an immediate, decisive, and effective showing of force by law enforcement.

This response team was ready to do just that.

The sheriff’s response team was poised to act on a plan with the potential not only to deflate the present escalating situation, but also to set a precedent for future events. Unfortunately, that decisive action was not taken.

As the team readied themselves, the watch commander’s decision—one that might have saved lives and businesses that night—was overruled at the last second by a higher authority. That decision halted an opportunity to witness what was to be the greatest display of team work and mutual aid between law enforcement agencies ever seen in a violent and emerging civil disturbance of this magnitude.

Opportunities to engage and save face could have been seized and realized. If action had been taken, politicians, business and religious leaders, and other community figures could have launched an impetus to step in and make lasting and effective changes. This tactical response team was comprised solely of members of the Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department.

The Department could also have used a shot in the arm. As the largest Sherriff’s Department and fourth largest local policing agency in the United States, the agency’s image was