Abraham Torres documented the L.A riots by photographing the city as it was slowly decayed under flames. He explains the amount of looting ...
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
In 1992, hip hop artist Dr Dre released a song titled, “The
Day the Niggaz Took Over” which was a way of expressing anger toward the law
enforcement. He begins by stating that if individuals are not ‘down’ for
African Americans and for people in Africa, then they need to move out the way.
He is demanding a change and asking for people to rally together in order to
make the change, but only if they are willing to risk everything. He also
states that blacks cannot love the system due to the fact that there has been a
feud between them since the beginning. Another statement in the song says, “What
they told us today, in other words, you're still a slave. No matter how much
money you got, you still ain't shit” which shows a problem with the way most
cops view black people. As black people, we are not viewed the same as the
superior race we are bundled into one category which makes the superior race
feel threatened. This has always been a problem within the United States that
is constantly addressed with the continuous misfortune of police brutality.
While happening too often, the topic of police brutality and the Black Lives
Matter movement is always reviving the idea of change, yet nothing is being
done on the legal/political end in order to change it. This song’s anger toward
the police and feeling of disconnection and hatred toward one another is still
alive today. It has been over 20 years since the song was released, yet we are
still fighting for the correct justice as black individuals.
Day the Niggaz Took Over” which was a way of expressing anger toward the law
enforcement. He begins by stating that if individuals are not ‘down’ for
African Americans and for people in Africa, then they need to move out the way.
He is demanding a change and asking for people to rally together in order to
make the change, but only if they are willing to risk everything. He also
states that blacks cannot love the system due to the fact that there has been a
feud between them since the beginning. Another statement in the song says, “What
they told us today, in other words, you're still a slave. No matter how much
money you got, you still ain't shit” which shows a problem with the way most
cops view black people. As black people, we are not viewed the same as the
superior race we are bundled into one category which makes the superior race
feel threatened. This has always been a problem within the United States that
is constantly addressed with the continuous misfortune of police brutality.
While happening too often, the topic of police brutality and the Black Lives
Matter movement is always reviving the idea of change, yet nothing is being
done on the legal/political end in order to change it. This song’s anger toward
the police and feeling of disconnection and hatred toward one another is still
alive today. It has been over 20 years since the song was released, yet we are
still fighting for the correct justice as black individuals.
Brooke Ferguson
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Endless Cycles
I'd like to believe that actual prejudiced racism, for the most part, is a thing of the past. No one is going around anymore and spouting that blacks are scientifically inferior in many ways than whites. No one is saying that Latino workers are more suited to hard labor so they should be the ones working the jobs. And if anyone is doing that they're quickly ostracized and corrected, unless they're in a particularly resistant bastion of racism of which very few exist in this country anymore. I'm sure a few readers are already up in arms by this point but I'd like you to hear me out.
It's important to define our terms so we know we're speaking about the same things. Racism as we have defined in our class is an acceptable definition for this argument, so that can stay. However there are two new terms I'd like to add, one I've used only a couple sentences ago. Prejudiced racism, where the mistreatment and possible oppression of a minority based on a personal prejudice. Economic or inferred racism, where a minority is abused in the name of the creation of wealth or due to flawed logic in an effort to proactively solve problems. Lastly a ghetto is a place of a concentrated population of a certain group or race.
I've taken some time getting here, but I believe that the racism of today that remains is economic and inferred racism. A hot topic is the over policing of ghettos and other neighborhoods of concentrated minorities. There's plenty of historical evidence of prejudiced racism by the police, especially in the Rodney King beating. The accounts in Twilight of the police cutting power to the projects then going out on patrols can also be classified as such, if true. However I would argue that for the most part over policing of ghettos are not, and here's why. Ghettos tend to be low income, low income tends to create people unsatisfied with their lives. People unsatisfied with their lives tend to be willing to resort to a lot, often crime, to better their standings in life. So according to that low income areas, usually ghettos, are more likely to commit crime. As such why shouldn't the police, be stationed and or patrolling, even suspicious of those areas if they are the centers of crime? It only makes sense. Now notice that the only potentially racial word in that entire train of thought was "ghetto." The quintessential mistake is thinking that if the inhabitants of ghettos are the most likely to commit crime, it's because of their race, instead of their economic standing. This is an example of what I've defined to be inferred racism, as those who partake infer that say blacks are criminals because they haven't bothered to look at the other possible causes. It's a correlation does not indicated causation issue, if anyone here has taken a statistics class. The improper analysis of the situation leads to the cycle of over policing, which creates more anger and discontent, which creates more crime, which creates more policing.
A good structural and economic example is the idea of the Mexican laborer. Here I can give a personal example of one of my close friends who's breaking this cycle through extreme effort. I don't know the exact history but his name is Braulio, and his grandfather immigrated to the US illegally. He worked as an unskilled laborer his entire life as he barely made enough to survive; even when working so much where sleep was the only break. He had kids, Braulio's father, who were also encouraged to work unskilled labor as to help lessen the load on the aging grandfather. His father worked the same life as his father, working all day, sleeping, then doing it again. This cycle would have continued with Braulio if not for the changing times and the friends he's made. Braulio faces heavy pressure from both his mother and father to take up his father's mantle. However he's been strong enough to say no to that and is currently attending community college so he can break the cycle and create a better life for himself and hopefully his children.
I think breaking these cycles is the only way to eliminate the structural racism we still see today. This isn't the found object, and it's very likely that most have already seen it, but I'd highly encourage watching Joyner Lucas' I'm Not Racist. The beginning can be hard to watch, but tough it out. As far as I'm concerned it's the best example of starting this discussion.
Jack Cote
It's important to define our terms so we know we're speaking about the same things. Racism as we have defined in our class is an acceptable definition for this argument, so that can stay. However there are two new terms I'd like to add, one I've used only a couple sentences ago. Prejudiced racism, where the mistreatment and possible oppression of a minority based on a personal prejudice. Economic or inferred racism, where a minority is abused in the name of the creation of wealth or due to flawed logic in an effort to proactively solve problems. Lastly a ghetto is a place of a concentrated population of a certain group or race.
I've taken some time getting here, but I believe that the racism of today that remains is economic and inferred racism. A hot topic is the over policing of ghettos and other neighborhoods of concentrated minorities. There's plenty of historical evidence of prejudiced racism by the police, especially in the Rodney King beating. The accounts in Twilight of the police cutting power to the projects then going out on patrols can also be classified as such, if true. However I would argue that for the most part over policing of ghettos are not, and here's why. Ghettos tend to be low income, low income tends to create people unsatisfied with their lives. People unsatisfied with their lives tend to be willing to resort to a lot, often crime, to better their standings in life. So according to that low income areas, usually ghettos, are more likely to commit crime. As such why shouldn't the police, be stationed and or patrolling, even suspicious of those areas if they are the centers of crime? It only makes sense. Now notice that the only potentially racial word in that entire train of thought was "ghetto." The quintessential mistake is thinking that if the inhabitants of ghettos are the most likely to commit crime, it's because of their race, instead of their economic standing. This is an example of what I've defined to be inferred racism, as those who partake infer that say blacks are criminals because they haven't bothered to look at the other possible causes. It's a correlation does not indicated causation issue, if anyone here has taken a statistics class. The improper analysis of the situation leads to the cycle of over policing, which creates more anger and discontent, which creates more crime, which creates more policing.
A good structural and economic example is the idea of the Mexican laborer. Here I can give a personal example of one of my close friends who's breaking this cycle through extreme effort. I don't know the exact history but his name is Braulio, and his grandfather immigrated to the US illegally. He worked as an unskilled laborer his entire life as he barely made enough to survive; even when working so much where sleep was the only break. He had kids, Braulio's father, who were also encouraged to work unskilled labor as to help lessen the load on the aging grandfather. His father worked the same life as his father, working all day, sleeping, then doing it again. This cycle would have continued with Braulio if not for the changing times and the friends he's made. Braulio faces heavy pressure from both his mother and father to take up his father's mantle. However he's been strong enough to say no to that and is currently attending community college so he can break the cycle and create a better life for himself and hopefully his children.
I think breaking these cycles is the only way to eliminate the structural racism we still see today. This isn't the found object, and it's very likely that most have already seen it, but I'd highly encourage watching Joyner Lucas' I'm Not Racist. The beginning can be hard to watch, but tough it out. As far as I'm concerned it's the best example of starting this discussion.
Jack Cote
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Patterned Discrimination in the LAPD
The Los Angeles Police Department has been a perpetrator of violence within the Los Angeles area for decades, clearly displayed through the various riots that erupted throughout the 20th Century. An outcry against patterns of police brutality towards minority communities can been seen through instances like the Watts Riots of 1965; yet many smaller, unknown riots set a precedent to what would become a pattern of an ignorant LA police force and white civilian unrest with immigrants.
The Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 were rooted in a deep animosity between a densely-populated Mexican-American population in LA and the white sailors of a naval base put in the same area. Mexican immigration to areas of production on the West Coast during the first half of the 20th century increased with the appeal of farm-work opportunities. Discriminated against ruthlessly, immigrant populations were condemned to the oldest, most run-down areas of Los Angeles. In these areas, new cultures of Mexican youth emerged, one being the Zoot Suitors who sought expression through unique clothing. During war times an expansion of the Los Angeles area led to the relocation of a naval base into the Chavez Ravine, directly within a primarily Mexican community. Tensions built between the young Zoot Suitors and the Sailors who believed the Latinos's disregard for the rationing of material (given that their outfits were more material than what was allowed in war-time) was disrespectful. Many altercations happened between the two sides; one verbal altercation resulted in white sailors reporting to the LAPD that the Zoot Suitors were attacking them. This prompted the LAPD to "clean the streets up" of groups perceived as gangs, a perception fueled by media outlets' skewed portrayal of Mexican immigrants. Riots eventually broke out when a group of 200 sailors, joined by police men, rushed into the Mexican population, stripped the Zoot Suitors of their clothes, and burnt their outfits. Thousands of sailors and many policemen took to the streets to terrorize any young Latino they could find.
The power of the white sailors to destroy and terrorize was backed up and fueled by the blatant racism of the LAPD which not only denied equal treatment of the Zoot Suitors under law but also directly acted to perpetuate the destruction. This pattern of LAPD complacency and direct, violent action repeated in 1965 with the Watts Riots, again in 1992 with the Rodney King Riots, and every single day within the perpetual discrimination that goes unheard by a larger population. The Los Angeles Police Department used and still uses its power to endlessly destroy and humiliate.
-Linnea Natale
Side Note: it disturbs me that this quarter is the first time I've learned about the Zoot Suit Riots.....
The Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 were rooted in a deep animosity between a densely-populated Mexican-American population in LA and the white sailors of a naval base put in the same area. Mexican immigration to areas of production on the West Coast during the first half of the 20th century increased with the appeal of farm-work opportunities. Discriminated against ruthlessly, immigrant populations were condemned to the oldest, most run-down areas of Los Angeles. In these areas, new cultures of Mexican youth emerged, one being the Zoot Suitors who sought expression through unique clothing. During war times an expansion of the Los Angeles area led to the relocation of a naval base into the Chavez Ravine, directly within a primarily Mexican community. Tensions built between the young Zoot Suitors and the Sailors who believed the Latinos's disregard for the rationing of material (given that their outfits were more material than what was allowed in war-time) was disrespectful. Many altercations happened between the two sides; one verbal altercation resulted in white sailors reporting to the LAPD that the Zoot Suitors were attacking them. This prompted the LAPD to "clean the streets up" of groups perceived as gangs, a perception fueled by media outlets' skewed portrayal of Mexican immigrants. Riots eventually broke out when a group of 200 sailors, joined by police men, rushed into the Mexican population, stripped the Zoot Suitors of their clothes, and burnt their outfits. Thousands of sailors and many policemen took to the streets to terrorize any young Latino they could find.
The power of the white sailors to destroy and terrorize was backed up and fueled by the blatant racism of the LAPD which not only denied equal treatment of the Zoot Suitors under law but also directly acted to perpetuate the destruction. This pattern of LAPD complacency and direct, violent action repeated in 1965 with the Watts Riots, again in 1992 with the Rodney King Riots, and every single day within the perpetual discrimination that goes unheard by a larger population. The Los Angeles Police Department used and still uses its power to endlessly destroy and humiliate.
-Linnea Natale
Side Note: it disturbs me that this quarter is the first time I've learned about the Zoot Suit Riots.....
The Watts Riots' Impact on the LA Riots
Although the LA riots seemed like an isolated event, it was in fact tied to others, such as the Watts Riots in 1965. The Watts Riots occurred on August 11, 1965 after Marquette Frye, a young African American motorist, was pulled over and arrested by Lee W. Minikus, a white California Highway Patrolman, under the suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Here we can see a connection with what happened in the case of Rodney King, who was similarly pulled over in a violent fashion. Thus, we can see how even after many years, in 1992, police brutality, especially against blacks had not changed in the slightest, as Frye was pulled over and immediately arrested based on suspicions, indicating that there was no clear evidence whether he was intoxicated or not. As people gathered, a riot broke out due to the tensions between the police and the crowd which led to a large-scale riot in Watts in which rioters burned automobiles and looted and damaged stores. In addition, we can see similarly how important the roles of the onlookers were, as if the people did not see what had occurred, then such police brutality would have been hidden once again, much like in Rodney King's case as the violence was caught on tape and released to the news. After the riots, officials investigated what could have instigated them, and it was discovered that the main reason for the Watts Riots was long-term grievances and discontent with high unemployment rates and inadequate housing and schools. However, the city leaders and officials never bothered to address these issues, even after the verdict came about. Similarly, such treatment and prejudice was prevalent in 1992, as many African Americans were made to relocate and were promised better housing, yet were made to live in poor neighborhoods and many neighborhoods did not allow for African Americans to live in them in a form of legal segregation. Furthermore, the behavior of the riots in 1992 heavily echo what occurred in the Watts riots, as people took to the streets while starting fires and ruining stores, much like in LA in which many stores, such as those of Korean store-owners, were smashed and raided in a similar fashion. Overall, it is clear to see how the prejudice against African Americans due to the system were still heavily prevalent even 17 years later after the Watts Riots and how police brutality continued to be an issue against African Americans.
- Jessica Zhao
- Jessica Zhao
The Watts Riots, The McCone Commission, And The 1992 Riots
The 1965 Watts riots were spurred by the arrest of Marquette Frye, an African American motorist. However, the combination of segregation, rising unemployment, and racial tension were the underlying reasons for the eruption of this rebellion. The watt riots lasted for six days which included the deaths of 34 people and priority damage that totaled an upwards of $40 million. But was their any change that came from this rebellion or was it just the beginning of racial violence and unrest?
The Watts riots were hold significance for the LA riots in 1992 because the injustices of police discrimination and residential segregation were thrown into the spotlight which led to further unrest and eventually, the 1992 riots. After the Watts riots came to an end, a commission under Governor Pat Brown was implemented in order to investigate the riots. Titled the McCone Commission, it released a report which identified some of the causes of the riots as high unemployment, poor schools, and inferior living conditions of African Americans in Watts. The commission posed solutions for these issues such as implementing preschool programs, improving police-community ties, increasing low-income housing, upgrading health care services and more. However, many of these recommendations were either enacted and scaled back, allowed to die out, or ignored altogether. The futility of the commission’s recommendations did nothing to ease the city’s racial climate. The continued injustices faced by the black population continued and the failure of the McCone Commission only showed more and more people the city’s lack of effort in creating change. The tension continued to rise after the Watts riots and fed into the 1992 riots.
Sources
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-08/local/me-455_1_watts-riots
https://daily.jstor.org/did-the-1965-watts-riots-change-anything/
-Dante Luis-Brown
Redlining and Segregation: Bubble to Boil
After the Great Depression, the majority of America was in need of affordable housing after the loss of property and wealth. Housing projects across the country were developed by the Federal Housing Administration to account for this urgency, where living spaces were developed for both Blacks and whites, segregated of course. Both flooded with working-class families and people, with industry accompanying the cities they occupied. This eventually led to a vast waiting list for Black families in need of housing--as there wasn't enough space--and vacancies within the white accommodations. Eventually this became overly apparent and thus the whites-only projects became opened up to African-Americans. While this may be flagged as a good thing, with this, the industries left the city and the projects soon evolved from working-class people to poor, marking the transition of public housing from a general good to one with crumbling infrastructure--drawing in police and eventually the distribution of crack cocaine into black neighborhoods by the Reagan administration.
This policy and practice has come to be known as "redlining". In a country that has historically associated property with worth, the ability to gain wealth and achieve equity has been deeply influenced by this policy--one that began in the 1930's (on paper) with its effects still vastly apparent in 2018. This practice of segregation bled into not only economic opportunity for Black Americans, but into mental and physical health too. With the circulation of guns into the projects (U.S. government again) violence and crime rates rose, and with it a higher likelihood of death--aligning with R.G. Gilmore's definition of structural racism and the vulnerability to premature death.
State coercion remains a immense factor in the development of rage. Through these segregated housing projects, Black communities grew more and more poor; creating a distraction in many ways from assessing the true source of the injustice. Discriminatory policy on the basis of race structurally created these conditions, as well as perpetuating them through the intense stresses of poverty and violence and hatred toward non-whites in general.
Thus we get to the 90's, with sixty years of discrimination and "justice" blanketed by "change", the rage of the unheard had grown from bubbling to boil. In LA neighborhoods that were still so deeply segregated and blocked from equal opportunity, anger toward the corrupt police and government could not be contained--or hidden--any longer.
A final quote from John Ehrlichman, the counsel and Assistant to President Nixon, spoken on his death bed:
"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
-Avery Evans
Source: A Forgotten History of How the U.S. Government Segregated America, Terry Gross https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america
This policy and practice has come to be known as "redlining". In a country that has historically associated property with worth, the ability to gain wealth and achieve equity has been deeply influenced by this policy--one that began in the 1930's (on paper) with its effects still vastly apparent in 2018. This practice of segregation bled into not only economic opportunity for Black Americans, but into mental and physical health too. With the circulation of guns into the projects (U.S. government again) violence and crime rates rose, and with it a higher likelihood of death--aligning with R.G. Gilmore's definition of structural racism and the vulnerability to premature death.
State coercion remains a immense factor in the development of rage. Through these segregated housing projects, Black communities grew more and more poor; creating a distraction in many ways from assessing the true source of the injustice. Discriminatory policy on the basis of race structurally created these conditions, as well as perpetuating them through the intense stresses of poverty and violence and hatred toward non-whites in general.
Thus we get to the 90's, with sixty years of discrimination and "justice" blanketed by "change", the rage of the unheard had grown from bubbling to boil. In LA neighborhoods that were still so deeply segregated and blocked from equal opportunity, anger toward the corrupt police and government could not be contained--or hidden--any longer.
A final quote from John Ehrlichman, the counsel and Assistant to President Nixon, spoken on his death bed:
"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
-Avery Evans
Source: A Forgotten History of How the U.S. Government Segregated America, Terry Gross https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america
Crack Epidemic in Relation to the Los Angeles Riots
LA gangs, Crack, and the Police
Initially, this video follows Los Angeles police officers as they cruise the streets of South Central looking for any suspicious activity. Soon enough, the officers stop and search a Black man, eventually finding crack cocaine on his person. After this incident the video takes a bit of a turn where the focus is put on the officers and their opinions on the crack epidemic. The officers claim the issue stems from the presence of local gangs, labeling them as the main source for the incoming narcotics. They then use guns confiscated from gang members to perpetuate the idea that gang members stand as the root cause of every bad aspect of the community. Finally, the last segment of the video follows a squad of DEA agents as they successfully bust a crack operation being run out of an apartment complex.
The interactions between Police officers and members of the black community depicted in the video showcase the tension between the two groups. The Police consistently place the blame on local gangs for the presence of drugs within the community. However, the video never mentions the role the CIA played in the massive amounts of cocaine allowed into the states, nor that the presence of crack in the United States could actually be largely attributed to CIA influence. Meaning that Nixon's "war on drugs" was essentially created by the Government and then used as a tactic to incarcerate Black Americans. The war on drugs disproportionately affected the minorities within America, especially so with the Black community, which likely caused further strain on the relationships between law enforcement and said communities. This strain coupled with the influence of crack cocaine on the black community likely aided in the galvanization of the 1992 riots as the tension between the Police and the black community reached its breaking point.
Michael Montoya
Initially, this video follows Los Angeles police officers as they cruise the streets of South Central looking for any suspicious activity. Soon enough, the officers stop and search a Black man, eventually finding crack cocaine on his person. After this incident the video takes a bit of a turn where the focus is put on the officers and their opinions on the crack epidemic. The officers claim the issue stems from the presence of local gangs, labeling them as the main source for the incoming narcotics. They then use guns confiscated from gang members to perpetuate the idea that gang members stand as the root cause of every bad aspect of the community. Finally, the last segment of the video follows a squad of DEA agents as they successfully bust a crack operation being run out of an apartment complex.
The interactions between Police officers and members of the black community depicted in the video showcase the tension between the two groups. The Police consistently place the blame on local gangs for the presence of drugs within the community. However, the video never mentions the role the CIA played in the massive amounts of cocaine allowed into the states, nor that the presence of crack in the United States could actually be largely attributed to CIA influence. Meaning that Nixon's "war on drugs" was essentially created by the Government and then used as a tactic to incarcerate Black Americans. The war on drugs disproportionately affected the minorities within America, especially so with the Black community, which likely caused further strain on the relationships between law enforcement and said communities. This strain coupled with the influence of crack cocaine on the black community likely aided in the galvanization of the 1992 riots as the tension between the Police and the black community reached its breaking point.
Michael Montoya
From: Christopher Jordan Dorner To: America Subj: Last resort | Christopher Dorner Manifesto, 2013
Link to manifesto
I chose the Christopher Dorner manifesto as my artifact for this Past & Present blog post. Christopher Dorner was a black man who joined the LAPD in hopes to serve his community. Dorner shared his manifesto to Facebook in 2013, and it explained his plans and reasoning in why he was about to embark on a killing spree throughout Southern California. Dorner was in the Navy before joining the LAPD, and has experience working in both of these systems. One night, while he was on duty for harbor patrol for the LAPD, he witnessed his partner kick a homeless man multiple times: twice in the stomach and once in the face. Dorner joined the LAPD with the intention of being a good officer, so he reported the incident to his higher ups. In the manifesto, he gives details about how he was accused of crossing the “blue line” and the consequences he faced because of it. Eventually, after reporting more instances of injustice by officers, Dorner was fired from the LAPD, and lost his security clearance with the military, leaving him without a job.
Throughout his manifesto, Dorner talks about the corrupt insides of the LAPD, and gives the reader a firsthand glimpse of what is going on in this police force. In one part, he says, "The department has not changed since the Rampart and Rodney King days. It has gotten worse.” He brings up instances of his fellow officers taking pride in brutalizing people on the streets, how his fellow officers referred to black people as the n-word, and many other disturbing things these officers do without any consequences. Dorner lists the names of the people who he felt were responsible for ruining his career with the LAPD, and his plans to take justice his own hands.
I chose this manifesto because it is personal to me, to a certain extent. I went to high school in San Diego a mile away from one of the US Navy Lodges near the downtown waterfront. While the police were searching for Dorner during his killing spree, he was reported to be at this navy lodge right near my high school. The whole building went on lock down, and all of us were reading the news on our phones to better understand what was happening. The media was painting him out to be a crazed murderer out to kill people and their families, and that everyone who crossed his path was at risk of getting killed. There was no mention of his affiliation with the LAPD, or any other context as to why he was out killing people. It just seemed like another black man being painted as a human full of rage that nobody is trying to understand.
While I don’t believe killing people is the way to serve justice, I can’t help but feel sorry for Christopher Dorner. This was a man who had good intentions to serve his country and community, who really made an effort to be a good cop and report injustices he witnessed while on the job, and he lost everything he worked hard for because he was doing the right thing. His manifesto is evidence that these systems have not changed since the 1992 riots, and shows how these systems can break down a human being with good intentions.
- Stevie Fox
Zimmerman
On February 26, 2012, George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin.
I think the Zimmerman shooting was the first incident of it's kind that I remembered personally. I was 16, just hitting the age where I was old enough and interested enough to understand and remember current events. My mother was in a fury about the shooting. She got her hands on every bit of information as it came out.
Zimmerman was part of neighborhood watch in a gated community in Sanford, Florida. His neighborhood had suffered several break ins in the past, and he had made similar calls to the police before February 26th.
He saw Trayvon Martin, walking down the street 'suspiciously', and made a call to the police. Despite being told following Martin was unneccassary, Zimmerman followed him, which lead to a confrontation which ended with Martin fatally shot and Zimmerman with some minor injuries to his face and head.
Zimmerman's call to the department:
Zimmerman was found not guilty of murder for this act.
Controversy on all sides surrounded the case. On the one hand, Zimmerman's initial defense was founded in the 'Stand Your Ground Act', which removes the 'duty to retreat' normally given in self-defense trials, if the defendant has right to be where he/she was at the time. This is usually applied in cases where someone is threatened in their own home - in states where this law applies, those persons would not be required to flee the premises before using violence. In Zimmerman's case, he was outside but still within his gated community, which would bring the law into effect. The law itself is controversial and difficult to define.
Furthermore, early media reported Zimmerman as white, when he's identified as Hispanic. NBC also released an edited clip of Zimmerman's report that made it seem as if he volunteered Martin's race without being asked. These media discrepancies were cited as an attempt to fit the incident more neatly into a story of racial violence.
The most troubling aspect of the case was the fame - and even a bit of fortune - that Zimmerman recieved. He's sold a painting of an American flag (the composition of which was from an uncredited stock image from stockoverflow) for $100,000, and has stated he's sold the gun he used to shoot Martin for over $100,000 as well.
His actions are still defended by some, even though he's since been accused of domestic violence and other unstable crimes.
~ Nichole Lasater
From the Watts Riots to the LA Riots
The gigantic issues of police brutality and violence that the 1992 riots date back to what would eventually lead up to the major LA riots of 1992. Problems that occurred can be rooted back to the past of the LA riots which ultimately began with the Watts Riots in 1965. These riots have a drastic impact on what would eventually build up into the tension that was released through the LA riots of 1992.
The Watts Riots that occurred in Watts, LA on August 11, 1965, would eventually be known to be the largest and costliest urban uprisings of that time at 40 million dollars in total damages. This would eventually be surpassed by the LA riots which caused a destruction of over 1 billion dollars in damages. The events that led to the Watts Riots began with a woman by the name of Marquette Frye who was violently arrested by Lee Minikus. It is important to notice that Marquette Frye was on parole for a robbery that was previously committed. Marquette Frye was under suspicion of drunk motorcycle driving. Nearby civilians soon came to the case to check out what the scene was about. Angry mobs and protests quickly abrupted the streets for the next 6 days under the impression that this was another racial stunt coming from abused authority.
Rioters made their move along South Central LA where they proceeded to torch buildings, loot stores, burn cars, and fire their firearms at the police. The damage that was caused was simply mind-blowing and would eventually become the foundation for what rioters would be able to accomplish if they joined forces with one another. The racial profiling of Marquette Frye would be all it would take for the community to bond together to focus on the larger issues at hand. These riots would become the foundation for the continued mistreatment and brutality that would lead to the LA riots of 1992.
A common story that is swept under the rug is the story of Latasha Harlins who was shot by a Korean store owner after a brief disagreement. This would eventually cause a “war” against Koreans for the damage that the Korean store owner caused to Latasha and her family. The endless cycle of racism and violence continues to destroy the city of LA. Everyone is set out to get each other because of the color of their skin. The racial profiling was stirred up from event to event and caused people to become racists because of special events that occurred. The case of Latasha Harlins caused a tension and hatred between African-Americans and Asian-Americans. Despite the actual ethnicity, the sheer similarities in skin tone would be enough to racially profile someone and lead to that same tension that African-Americans and Asian-Americans would share.
Despite the progress that has been made because of these riots that have occurred in history, people’s outrage at the police and idea of white-supremacy, outbreaks such as Watts and the 1992 riots still occur to this day. In the present, how much has really changed? Los Angeles’ recovery from these historical riots has been slow and uneasy. Racial tension and brutality will always occur, but it is how people handle the situations thrown at them. With the tangible gains set in place, Los Angeles’ has made improvements on how they coordinate the people working for the police department. The once predominantly white driven force has become a diverse set of individuals that closely reflect the city’s demographics. The driving force of racism will always continue; the form of brutality and unfair treatment will as well. Rather than drenching over the negativity, it is best to focus on what is positively happening.
-Christopher Herrera
-Christopher Herrera
Policing Police
The 92 riots were an outcry from a
community long trampled upon by unfair police brutality. The police wield a lot of power being “the
only institution in American life authorized to kill citizens.” Police have
shown a pattern of overusing this power and the actions that led up to the riots
of 92 showed the nation that police reform was needed, but todays prevalence of
police killings of unarmed black people and continued use of excessive force
have showed us that this change has not yet come about.
In the years following the riot, and
specifically after the LAPD’s Rampart Division was revealed to have been
involved in serious malpractice, such as evidence tampering and brutality, so a
consent decree was placed on the LAPD due to the pattern of misconduct seen,
mandating investigations and surveillance.
These consent decrees let the Department of Justice monitor police
departments and help them enact changes to improve policing. While these decrees helped Los Angeles a
little, there is a current movement to repeal these decrees nation wide. Since the election of trump and his
appointment of Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General, these decrees have
started to be lifted and suspended.
Trump’s office is pushing for less federal control over many of these previously
monitored police departments while spewing a rhetoric of letting police handle
problems by being “tough” and bringing order back to America by letting police
do their job without the DOJ intervening.
Events such as those that led up to the riots of 92 as well the events
that continue today continue to illustrate that the move to stop policing
police will not generate the change our country needs in the way we deal with
crime.
Source:
Donald Trump Is Serious When He “Jokes” About Police
Brutality by Jelani Cobb
Will Jeff Sessions Police the Police? By Jelani Cobb
-Emma Kirkegaard
The 1992 L.A. Riots and The System of Jim Crow
Detached from the long history of marginalization in this country, the Rodney King Riots seem unnecessarily self-destructive but when one understands the evolution of inherent prejudice in this country, specifically how it evolved after and during the period of Jim Crow, he or she can identify how frustration over a vicious cycle could turn into citywide uprise and violence. Jim Crow laws were a set of rules place by the government that visibly divided white and colored people in our society, giving white people clear privileges like better seats on buses, better schools, better jobs all leading to more success. In the time, it was evident there was a massive social gap in society and activists in the 1960’s such as Dr. King and Huey Newton realized they had to create change leading to the Civil Rights Movement. This Movement supposedly succeeded in banning color based prejudice in the workplace, school and the overall concept of making decisions based on racial bias. Though this movement did change our society for the better, it caused racism to adapt to a social structure in which it took an even more elusive form.
The government attempted to make the people believe slavery in this country was over after the abolition of Jim Crow laws in America but a closer glance will reveal that the state now engrained racial bias even deeper into the laws of the country to “monopolize the legitimate use of violence” and “organize domination” (Max Weber) through mass incarceration, the system which still exists today and was was rebelled against during the 1992 riots. As blatant racism would no longer be tolerated in our country, the lawmakers had to create a concealed system where they could put colored men in a repressed cycle where they could not achieve the same level of success as others. Ronald Reagan, our 40th president, turned this idea into reality when his leadership began the War on Drugs. They would ship people of color into prisons from the poorest neighborhoods by the thousands for nonviolent, minor drug crimes while white, privileged areas were barely touched. These now convicts and ex-convicts find themselves with the same disadvantages as could be seen in colored individuals in the Jim Crow society such as worse job selection, inability to buy a home or raise a family and many more. These twisted, educated leaders of our country perfected how to put people of color in a mental and physical box with raising little to no suspicion. In more urban areas like Los Angeles, even more regulations were put in place such as redlining territory. These systems of racial discrimination most evident in Los Angeles due to their multiethnic community combined with the spark of the Rodney King beating video led to the 1992 L.A Riots. Even if we are able to abolish this current system we must be aware of how racism can and has evolved to make sure this pattern does not repeat itself in the future and discrimination dies away for good through intersectionality: sympathy for the plights of all.
-Harish Venkat
The New Jim Crow
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
This is book is a criticism of the American movement to a "colorblind" society. Michelle Alexander explains to the readers that the solution to the racial unrest in America is not to forget about the existence of race because it leads to the continuous exploitation of people of color by systematic racism. Mass incarceration is a result of the "War on drugs" and the general process of criminalizing black people. This shows parallel to the Los Angeles riots of 1992 because it is an ongoing result of the systematic racism that is being exploited by people in power without resolution in sight. The book talks about how "the criminal" is the new slave because it strips a person of their rights economically, socially, and politically. When a person is branded a criminal, they have less access to jobs and political rights. This shows parallel to the original Jim Crow which prevented black people from voting rights as well as economic access to stability. These continuous prevention of what we see as "human rights or citizens rights" are actively taken away to people of color. This continuous deprivation is similar to the spark that caused the Los Angeles riots of 1992.
In the past it was slavery, and now it is incarceration. The systematic exploitation of black people has evolved to suit the needs and culture of the people in power now. An now a new model is arising, colorblindness. This new model claims that if racism is based of a persons color, then eliminate the idea of color. The problem with this is that it brings "personal responsibility" to people who are neglected and exploited by a system that is created and established to be racist. This prevents reparations and progress toward equity if society chooses to become "colorblind".
-Patrick Jay Quizon
The Influence of Power
I think that the War on Drugs was an indirect way that
influenced the 1992 riots. In 1970s, Nixon decided that drug abuse was
something that needed to be stopped and declared “the war on drugs.” When
Reagan took office, he increased funding to the program and enforced prison
sentences for the possession of the drug, which includes cocaine, crack,
heroin, marijuana, and other drugs. Statistics from the Bureau of Justice
Statistics shows that there have been more and more arrests from possession of
drugs from the 1980s to the late 2000s. A high amount of drug users in the
1980s that has been arrested are people of color, specifically blacks and Latinos.
Police was given more and more power during this time. I perceive
that they abused that power against people of color and hid behind the reason
is to get to stop the use of drugs. There have been many reports of police
using violence against people of color which led to the beating of Rodney King
and the 1992 Riots. The beatings show all the horrors of police abuse that people couldn't prove that they did it.
-Keman Guan
References:
Gonzalez, Javier. "Roots of LA's 1992 Uprising." LA Progressive. https://www.laprogressive.com/1992-uprising/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)