With the beating of Rodney King being the last straw, the L.A. Riots occured in 1992. However, there were many other events that created the tension leading up to the 1992 L.A. Riots. One of those is the 1984 Olympics, which was hosted in L.A. The 1984 Olympics created a gateway to increased police brutality. As it was a massive event, police and security heavily increased in the area. They were led by Police Chief Daryl Gates who later created the infamous Operation Hammer in which the police tried to crack down on gang violence in Los Angeles. As the 1984 Olympics was a tool for America to show how wonderful it was, Gates began to sweep the city of its "criminal elements" and "undesirables". The LAPD arrested hundreds of alleged gang members with no evidence. Even after the Olympic games, this pattern ensued as the police force maintained the same mentality as they did during the riots. From 1984-1989, there was a 33% increase in reports of police brutality compared to the previous years.
Other than an increase in police brutality, the 1984 Olympics economically affected communities of L.A. as well. The Olympics created 70,000 jobs for Americans, but they were ununionized and temporary. After the Olympic games, many people were jobless yet again and there was almost no effort to make the education system better. This led to many people turning to gangs as a way to feed their families; with the amount of racial profiling and police brutality at the time, increased gang activity did not help. The 1984 Olympics had a great lasting impact on the city of Los Angeles as it led to an increase in police brutality and created massive amounts of unemployment.
~Kevin Jiang
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