April 2017 marks twenty- five years post the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, which was sparked by the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers who nearly beat to death a nonviolent unarmed motorist, Rodney King.
Twenty-five years following our nation’s first introduction to recorded police beating of an African American male.
Twenty-five years after the famous quote “Can we all just get along”.
Twenty-five years of rebuilding.
Twenty-five years of unhealed wounds.
Twenty-five years later but, can we properly measure significant change or has the past 25 years merely been the first leg of an ongoing fight in a more broader scope of the systemic disenfranchisement of black people through police brutality and judicial bias?
The past 25 years is merely a chapter in the book of African American civil disobedience.
The exposure of the gruesome police beating of Rodney King came to no surprise for black men in the African-American community, who have been racially profiled and targeted by law enforcement in America for hundreds of years. Twenty-five years following a public response that initiated a city-wide riot which would create a long-term economic effect on the Los Angeles Metropolitan African American community. Twenty-five years later and the rhetoric remains the same. And although our nation has made strides to create an equally diverse society, we have not solved the brutal, deadly and tyrannical behaviors of local law enforcement.
Even though the LA RIOTS are often looked over in the full scope of civil disobedience within the civil rights movement, it was a bird’s eye view and national recognition of the racial tension on the west coast, which was formerly highlighted and assumed to occur only in southern states.
Journalist across the nation have been reflecting on the impact and aftermath of the 1992 riots. Read this article from the LA Times to see a detailed list of documentaries airing this month charting the Los Angeles 1992 Riots.
Also, visit the 1992 exhibit at the California African American Museum in downtown Los Angeles, curated by historian and millennial thought-leader @tyreebp.
We’ve asked our social media community where they were during the 1992 LA Riots and for those living in LA what was there experience/reaction.
" I saw Jefferson and Arlington on fire and, mad looting going on at a young age. Didn't understand it then...... but I definitely do now" -Branden Jackson
"I remember being at home watching TV. Growing up near Florence and Normandie (77th Street and Budlong) to be exact. My parents kept us home from school for a week. My dad also owned a used car lot on 76th and Vermont. I remember him posting a sign saying black own to keep people from braking in and stealing his vehicles." -Valerie Castille
"Deepest memory was sitting on my grandmother's porch as armored trucks went up and down our street. Too young to remember fires or looting because parents kept us close to the chest and the B&W TV....my grandfather was the well-known Pastor for the area so the house became the information hub...remember sitting or hiding under the dining room table listening to the "grown folks" talk. I remember my best friend lived next door and they were from Mexico. I also remember waking up one day during the riots and they had moved away.." -LaRoya Jordan
Be sure you stay connected with us on social media to join the conversation. @TheNewBlackEra