Dear Starbucks: Your Mocha isn't Worth It

Before I make the long journey north to Petaluma each and every morning at 4:30am, I stop first at my local Starbucks and grab a delicious white chocolate mocha to ensure I don't fall asleep and crash on the road. 

"I'll have a medium in that." 

"You mean Grande?" 

I nod my head. "Yeah, sure. Whatever." 

I grab my coffee, but before I leave, I ask: "Can I use the restroom?" The employee gave the go ahead. 

Later on in the day, as I saw the news and heard about the recent incidents regarding the arrest of two black men for literally asking to use a Starbucks restroom,  I sat in disappointment and wondered: how much longer are black people going to be punished and scrutinized for everything that they do? 

Sadly, it is a common thread throughout history. The Rodney King incident that occurred in Los Angeles in 1992 began a cascade of rebellion because of the awful, inhumane killing of a completely innocent black male. Now, more than 20 years later in Philadelphia, black men are still being apprehended and mistreated for, once again, nothing. It is worth asking whether things have gotten any better, or if they have only gotten worse. 

Indeed, since the aftermath of the riots in 1992, we have witnessed the murder of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Oscar Grant in Oakland, and the unwarranted arrests of numerous innocents across the country. Eerily, the racial climate currently mirrors much of what we saw in 1992. Although we have newer department stores and fancier hotels in our cities (including in L.A.,) the root of the problem remains the same. For too long, minorities have been discriminated against with no one paying attention. If we do pay attention, we seemingly go back to the way things were beforehand in slightly different ways. Although the Starbucks incidents may not seem as immediately important as something like murder, we need to learn to simply pay attention. Understanding, compassion, and leveled perceptions can bring us closer to where we want - and should - be. Seriously; anybody should be able to use the restroom without getting arrested. 

Next time I begin my commute at 4:30 in the morning and need something to wake me up, I think I'll skip the mocha and instead look at my surroundings.

-Anker Fanoe

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-philadelphia-starbucks-arrests-20180419-story.html

The State Paintbrush

The practice of redlining was an overexertion of power and a demonstration of the intricacies upon which racist practices sat. It was a subtle pull of invisible threads that was specifically designed to secretly keep down a group. It was sinister, malicious and hateful. The practice originated when FDR started a loan program to help Americans finance their homes. To decide who got these loans, neighborhoods were sectioned off, aka redlined. The people living in the green or "good" neighborhoods found it super easy to get a loan and buy a house. The people living in the red neighborhood on the other hand, were often denied loans, making it very difficult to get by, let alone buy a house. The neighborhoods that were redlined were predominantly neighborhoods where African-Americans and other minorities live. This systematically prevented them from getting home loans. Not only this, but there were even policies that directly stated things such as "...homes must not be used or occupied by any person other than members of the caucasian race" (Levittown...). All of these policies culminated in 98% of home loans from 1934-1968 being given to white families. This ended up compounding, increasing land value, attracting new business, increasing land value yet again. These policies were based on a biased, spiteful system that punished people for being born a certain way. This wrongdoing allowed a giant chasm of inequality to grow between two groups.

This socioeconomic inequality allowed a rift of understanding and spite to grow between the two groups. Hate for the situation, hate for the people that created it, hate for the people that did nothing to fix it. All of this emotion only compounded the problem. This was another slap in the face to a group that had been systematically kept down for generations and was fighting back against the oppression to ensure their equal opportunity and representation. Redlining destroyed the ability for minority groups to prosper by eliminating their access to capital, while providing it hugely disproportionately to other people. This practice further strained relations and contributed as kindling to a growing fire. e


Levittown standard lease, clause 25, 1947.

1992 L.A. Uprisings and the Zoot Suit Riots

PAST: Earlier moments of urban unrest such as the Zoot Suit Riots; seem to very much so resonate and have a comparable story of what was to come with the 1992 L.A Uprisings. The Zoot Suit Riots also took place in Los Angeles, just some time earlier in 1943. In addition, it basically was white people in a position of power, murdering and beating Mexican American youth who wore zoot suits for their own racist agenda. I think there is strong parallelism with this and the L.A riots because it is also white people in a position of power punishing a member of a minority group for their own racist agenda. Both white parties faced little to no repercussions; and in the long run I could see how it just created this history of unrest and violence in L.A. where minorities could not trust whites in positions of power because they had constant historical evidence that when given the opportunity they would take advantage of their power. In contrast, for the zoot suit riots, the media was on the side  of the violators; the local press applauded the racial attacks, describing them as having a "cleansing effect" to rid Los Angeles of "miscreants" and "hoodlums." Which I feel could have a lasting effect on minorities in L.A; even after the riots and ended and life continued. For the L.A uprisings, although the courts decided on no punishment for the officers, at least the media and the black community in Los Angeles fought for justice for Rodney King; something that was not done for the zoot suit riots. 

PRESENT: Alternatively, police brutality similar to that of the L.A. and Zoot Suit Riots is still a huge topic of discussion today with the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, and the Black Lives Matter protests that followed, with little to no media attention. The media attention that they did get was negative and often times activists at the forefront of the movement were criminalized, as well as arrested, tear gassed and beaten. Since, then the amount of black children and adults that have been lost to police brutality is overwhelming and in reality we will never know all of their names and all of their stories because the media doesn't value them enough to tell them. It is interesting to look at the differences between the way police and the media handle white movements such as the recent Parkland School shooting gained so much attention and the students essentially rose to fame. And I am not saying that is a bad thing, and I definitely agree we need better gun control laws and think this is an important movement; but where were these white "allies" when Trayvon Martin was killed, or Philando Castile? or Sandra Bland? Where was the support then? It is very telling how really nothing has changed since Rodney King. 


-Esmeralda Reyes

The Media's Influence on our Perception of Race

When Dylan Roof, a white supremacist, murdered African Americans in a historically African American church in order to start a race war, the media and government officials labeled Roof as a mentally disturbed “lone wolf.” Yet when Omar Mateen, who pledged to the Islamic State before the attack, murdered dozens of people in a nightclub, the media and government were quick to label the attack as an act of terrorism. The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” Roof used violence to try to instill fear in communities of color and to incite more violence in the form of a race war. So under that definition, Roof would be considered a domestic terrorist, as well as Mateen.

            In this country, media outlets who have been controlled primarily by white people, have perpetuated a narrative that gives white people the “benefit of the doubt” and dehumanizes people of color. After the Watts riot, the Kerner Commission, along with discussing inequality in education and income, discussed how the “media [had] failed to analyze and report adequately on racial problems in the United States.” In 1992, people were tired of the systematic racism and as a result, Los Angeles reached a flashpoint. Even today, Donald Trump has made comments calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, but neglects to remember that this nation was built on Europeans immigrating and committing the mass genocide of Native Americans.

Percy Gallagher

No Change. - Keegan Kirk

The 1992 Riots was the result of the melting pot in Los Angeles reaching beyond the boiling point. The video tape of Rodney King allowed the people of America to see with their own eyes to the reality of police brutality in America. Without the tape, this case would have been like any other. However with almost the entirety of the world viewing the tape, the officers were still found not guilty. This caused the lid of the melting pot to shoot off and result in riots throughout the streets of Los Angeles for six days. How the media covered the riots, the police and national guard standing guard of Beverley Hills while the lower class areas suffer from the chaos, and the tension between various races is the epitome for how this country functions. Every aspect of these riots exist and persist in America. Very little protection and support for poor communities, government protection of the upper class, race tensions between similar classes, these existed in America since its founding, and exist and persist today.

Countless videos and reports about police brutality in America are being published, by the month it seems nowadays. Nothing has changed. People of the United States must understand the severity of all these issues. Much like how Okantah mentions white people turning a deaf ear in America's Poem, people are still not consciously thinking or analyzing media headlines or events they cover. The Ferguson Riots, Puerto Rico still devastated months after the hurricanes, and numerous policy changes by our current president is more than enough evidence that our society is not learning fast enough how to address and fix the issues in our nations. Media will continue to pain the picture in their expired paint and give off the wrong impressions to people. Police will continue to terrorize citizens and create a cause for riots. The majority of this nation will not fight for change until they understand the entire picture of our nation. The United States was built of the expense of the minorities and continues to leech off of the struggles they continue to endure. When will there be change.

Keegan Kirk

From "Police Action" to "Police Brutality"

The role of the police in the present day may have been shaped by the term “police action” used in times like the American intervention in Korea during the Korean War. The term “police action” is described by the United Nations as “military undertaking that does not require a declaration of war” (brittanica.com). This tactic can only be performed if one of the two statements are met:

1. “When a state perpetuated an attack on another state or proposed a threat to international peace and security” or

2.  “As a self defense tactic of imminent attacks, even if the aggressors have not attacked”

This term seems like a euphemism for military intervention, a more aggressive militarized action. President Truman’s executive decision to send military under the UN’s declaration of “police action” was a strategy to technically intervene in Korea without officially declaring war. The implications of this involvement reflects in the way the police today has used violence against Black Americans without having to formally declare war.

Rather than the motto of “to protect and to serve”, the police has the image of a militarized soldier role that uses violence, aggression, and weapons to de escalate conflicts. Presently, “police action” looks like “police brutality”, the excessive use of force. The meaning and role of “police action” has changed from a technical justification of military action into the unofficial declaration of war through “police brutality”. No matter the term, the USA’s military state has shaped the violent actions from the past during the Korean War and in the present in the domestic violence against Black lives.

-Melissa Lee

Fuck tha Police, by N.W.A.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jOqOlETcRU

I think the potent lyrics in the song paint an interesting comparison between the LAPD and the gangsters as two opposing forces like in any war, then proceeds to find the differences between the two as a way of lessening the image of the police.

The song starts off with one of many "skits" of members of the rap group representing themselves in an unjust courtroom, wherein the members find the police guilty of injustice, while themselves conducting the "trial" unjustly. this would emphasize the injustice of the real life courts in L.A. by holding a mirror to them and the world, showing how ridiculous the system was. In between these skits, members of the N.W.A. have a go with their part of the song criticizing cops for generally relying on their status as government backed law enforcement and their weapons to gain leverage on the citizens of L.A. generally asking the question, "without the badge and the gun, what are you?" they all point out repeatedly that the gangsters arrested by cops are not reliant on the guns they carry or their badge on their chest, but on their ability to fight without them, man to man. The irony of this is that the N.W.A. seems to represent gangs in L.A., some of the most evil and corrupt groups of individuals in the country, whose self-destructive nature not only harms others, but themselves, while simultaneously pointing out how corrupt law enforcement can be. Whether or not intentional, this better serves the purpose of holding up a mirror in front of the law enforcement than the skits in the lyrics of the song, because it brings police down to the level of gangsters and says, "you're just as corrupt, destructive, and unjust as we are, you're no better than us." and that is what I think is the best message to be gleaned from the lyrics of "Fuck tha Police." that cops are no better than the people they arrest despite claiming to be heroes cleaning up the streets, and are just as guilty and deserving to be punished as the "niggas they put behind bars."

[MC Ren as Court Officer]
Right about now, N.W.A. court is in full effect
Judge Dre presiding
In the case of N.W.A. vs. the Police Department;
prosecuting attorneys are MC Ren, Ice Cube, and Eazy-motherfucking-E

[Dr. Dre as The Judge]
Order, order, order
Ice Cube, take the motherfucking stand
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to help your black ass?

[Ice Cube as Witness]
You goddamn right!

[Dr. Dre]
Well won't you tell everybody what the fuck you gotta say?

[Ice Cube]
Fuck the police coming straight from the underground
A young nigga got it bad 'cause I'm brown
And not the other color so police think
they have the authority to kill a minority
Fuck that shit, 'cause I ain't the one
for a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun
to be beating on, and thrown in jail
We can go toe to toe in the middle of a cell
Fucking with me 'cause I'm a teenager
with a little bit of gold and a pager
Searching my car, looking for the product
Thinking every nigga is selling narcotics
You'd rather see, me in the pen
than me and Lorenzo rolling in a Benz-o
Beat a police out of shape
and when I'm finished, bring the yellow tape
To tape off the scene of the slaughter
Still getting swoll off bread and water
I don't know if they fags or what
Search a nigga down, and grabbing his nuts
And on the other hand, without a gun they can't get none
But don't let it be a black and a white one
'Cause they'll slam ya down to the street top
Black police showing out for the white cop
Ice Cube will swarm
on any motherfucker in a blue uniform
Just 'cause I'm from, the CPT
Punk police are afraid of me!
HUH, a young nigga on the warpath
And when I'm finished, it's gonna be a bloodbath
of cops, dying in L.A.
Yo Dre, I got something to say

Fuck the police [4x]

Example of scene one

[Cop] Pull your goddamn ass over right now
[NWA] Aww shit, now what the fuck you pulling me over for?
[Cop] 'Cause I feel like it! Just sit your ass on the curb and shut the fuck up
[NWA] Man, fuck this shit
[Cop] Aight smartass, I'm taking your black ass to jail!

[Dr. Dre]
MC Ren, will you please give your testimony to the jury about this fucked-up incident?

[MC Ren]
Fuck the police and Ren said it with authority
because the niggas on the street is a majority
A gang is with whoever I'm stepping
and the motherfucking weapon is kept in
a stash box for the so-called law
Wishing Ren was a nigga that they never saw
Lights start flashing behind me
But they're scared of a nigga
so they mace me to blind me
But that shit don't work, I just laugh
because it gives em a hint, not to step in my path
For police, I'm saying, "Fuck you punk!"
Reading my rights and shit, it's all junk
Pulling out a silly club, so you stand
with a fake-ass badge and a gun in your hand
But take off the gun so you can see what's up
And we'll go at it punk, and I'mma fuck you up!
Make you think I'mma kick your ass
but drop your gat, and Ren's gonna blast
I'm sneaky as fuck when it comes to crime
But I'mma smoke 'em now and not next time
Smoke any motherfucker that sweats me
or any asshole that threatens me
I'm a sniper with a hell of a scope
Taking out a cop or two, they can't cope with me
The motherfucking villain that's mad
With potential to get bad as fuck
So I'mma turn it around
Put in my clip, yo, and this is the sound
Yeah, something like that
but it all depends on the size of the gat
Taking out a police, would make my day
But a nigga like Ren don't give a fuck to say

Fuck the police [4x]

[NWA] Yeah man, what you need?
[Cop] Police, open now
[NWA] Aww shit
[Cop] We have a warrant for Eazy-E's arrest
[Cop] Get down and put your hands up where I can see 'em (Move motherfucker, move now!)
[NWA] What the fuck did I do, man what did I do?
[Cop] Just shut the fuck up and get your motherfucking ass on the floor (You heard the man, shut the fuck up!)
[NWA] But I didn't do shit
[Cop] Man just shut the fuck up!

[Dr. Dre]
Eazy-E, won't you step up to the stand and tell the jury how you feel about this bullshit?

[Eazy-E]
I'm tired of the motherfucking jacking
Sweating my gang, while I'm chilling in the shack, and
shining the light in my face, and for what?
Maybe it's because I kick so much butt
I kick ass, or maybe 'cause I blast
on a stupid-ass nigga
when I'm playing with the trigger
of an Uzi or an AK
'Cause the police always got something stupid to say
They put out my picture with silence
'Cause my identity by itself causes violence
The E with the criminal behavior
Yeah, I'm a gangster, but still I got flavor
Without a gun and a badge, what do ya got?
A sucker in a uniform waiting to get shot
by me or another nigga
And with a gat it don't matter if he's smaller or bigger
([MC Ren:] Size ain't shit, he's from the old school fool)
And as you all know, E's here to rule
Whenever I'm rolling, keep looking in the mirror
And ears on cue, yo, so I can hear a
dumb motherfucker with a gun
And if I'm rolling off the 8, he'll be the one
that I take out, and then get away
While I'm driving off laughing this is what I'll say

Fuck the police [4x]

The verdict

[Dre] The jury has found you guilty of being a redneck, white bread, chickenshit motherfucker
[Cop] Wait, that's a lie! That's a goddamn lie!
[Dre] Get him out of here!
[Cop] I want justice!
[Dre] Get him the fuck out my face!
[Cop] I want justice!
[Dre] Out, right now!
[Cop] Fuck you, you black motherfuckers!

Fuck the police! [3x]

Watts Riots to Black Lives Matter

The Watts Riots that occurred in 1965, was a bit of a foundation for the Rodney King riots in 1992. When black people are encountered with cops the court mainly seems to lean to the officer's side if the story. There have been numerous recent occasions with the unfortunate happenings of police brutality. The ability for minorities to stand up for themselves and represent one another in the Watts riots showed a certain type of courage and power blacks can have. The Watts Riots were initiated by the pulling over and attempt to arrest Marquette Frye with a large crowd around. Black people who witnessed the incident began angered by it and gathered in large groups to fight against the occurrence and show their objection. The riots carried on for days and I believe this encouraged people in 1992 to riot as well. Black people took advantage of this past and recreated it in 1992 and began to riot again for Rodney King. Black people new police brutality was happening, but without the technology that is available now, there was no way to prove it was happening. When Rodney King's beating so happened to be caught on camera, it sparked a new hope for change and revolution. 

The unfortunate thing about the relationship between people of color and a lot of police officers, is the protect and serve slogan is not distributed equally. When black people want to start public gatherings, riots, or marches the police are constantly protecting other people from them. There is never protection of them. Which relates to the present by the Black Lives Matter movement, instead of allowing blacks to stand up for what we believe is right, the police place restrictions on the movements. Whenever there are marches or just gatherings in general to support the movement of Black Lives Matter, the cops always feel the need to protect others over the ones supporting blacks. But for Trump supporters that have rallies and gatherings, the police stand with them and protect them, but they are simply showing support for their beliefs as blacks are doing. It shows the lack of connection people of color can feel from their officers that are supposed to protect and serve them and drives blacks to fear them. That side the police take shows the biggest difference and position that people of color have been placed into. But the same pattern continues to occur, the fight with minorities and the law enforcement. It is a sad reality that we have to deal with due to racism and various stereotypes in the law enforcement. 

-Brooke Ferguson

Past
Throughout the history of the United States, events relating to uprisings of people protesting racism have resonated with the events surrounding the 1992 riots. For one, the media depicted a sensationalist portrayal of both the La riots and the Watts riots that payed attention only to the damage done and not the systemic injustice that caused people to protest. Attention was payed purely on the damages with Chief Parker, who was chief of police in Los Angeles at the time of the riots publicly saying that the rioters acted like monkeys in a zoo. The LA riots were similarly approached, with media coverage that was aimed to be sensational instead of analytical and critical. Media at the time painted the riots as a response to the verdict that acquitted the officers involved in the beating of Rodney King, while it was more about the structural injustices that African Americans faced that caused it. In both these cases, coverage of these uprisings painted a sensationalist, superficial analysis that ignored any real critical analysis of the deeper causes of the events.

Present
A failure on behalf of America to recognize the structural injustices and racism of American society has meant that not much at all has changed racially throughout the years. Police brutality is still very prevalent in this day and age, as are economic disparities and incarceration problems. The fight still rages on, with Black Lives Matter and other groups gaining traction to fight the powers that be.

Berenger Tan

Modern lynching

Thinking about LA, and what led to the riots I think of this girl I knew for a short while when I lived in Davis. I hung out with her a few times via a mutual friend but never participated in her political activism. Her name is Miley Hampton, she is a 23 year old black woman and when I knew her she was currently dealing with being charged with lynching. Not lynching in the way we have been talking about it most recently but a more modern term used by reporters. She was being charged for pulling cops off a man that she was protesting with and was arrested herself. She was released after 24 hours and had to go to court; if you want to know more you can read about it in the link. The point being is in the video (in the article) you can see about four cops taking down one man who actually happens to be white. It’s very contrasting from the video of King. The police in this video mierly focus on pinning the protester down while in Rodney King they are beating him even after he is down. It poses an interesting question of would they have been rougher with the protester if he was black?

Personally I think the police would have thrown a solid punch if the protester was African American. We have seen it time and time again, video after video of police beating and shooting POC at traffic stops, peaceful protests, etc. I think it’s hard not to see a potential repeat of the LA riots today. Maybe not in Los Angeles, but there is a lot of tension in Sacramento right now with a recent police shooting of a African American father. It’s a difficult climate right now and everything we are reading feels like it parallels so many things in the news. Time can only tell but I wouldn't be surprised if history repeats itself.

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/pageburner/blogs/post?oid=16399399

-Samantha Hanko

Discriminative housing polices Past & Present

We all know that the American government allowed the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to put policies in places that specifically targeted people of color and to benefit middle/low class whites. The FHA was established in 1934, and its awakening is still being felt today. Policies such as redlining, lynching and making sure that "incompatible racial group" did not live in the same neighborhoods, are no longer in place but the effects of these policies are still being felt today. The fact that colored families (specifically African-Americans) were not allowed to buy homes and build equity are still feeling the effects today. Where the average income of African-Americans is about 60% compared to white incomes. The government purposely segregated people to benefit the white agenda. The discriminative housing policies added fuel to the fire when the LA riots happened. Most of the folks who participated had nothing else to loose, with no home, no life, and no future.

Sorces:
https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america

Isabella Atencio

How the 1984 Olympics Increased Police Brutality

      When you think about the Olympics, images of medalists and pride are what mainly come to mind. However, little does the general public truly understand the underlying pain the cities can cause upon its' citizens. Before the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, city officials were worried about how the city's drug addiction and crime would appear to international countries. They decided that something had to be done to show how well off LA was. So Police Chief Daryl Gates increased his police militarization to crack down on these crimes, which lead to an increase of youth black in prisons. Not only did this militarization occur during the games, but also it continued after the games. "From 1984 -89, there was a 33 percent spike in citizen complaints against police brutality. . . Between 1986 and 1990, 1,400 officers were investigated on suspicion of using excessive force, less than 1 percent were prosecuted" (Zirin).

      With more young blacks being imprisoned wrongfully and an increase in police militarization, more and more people were becoming angered with the way the police were acting. With constant harassment, the people had enough once the beating of King came to light. Just like now, we can see videos and read stories on excessive police brutality with little to no punishment. With little effort being done to help, the people are coming together to better their future as well as their community.

     -Michael Xu

Sources:

Meyers, Dvora. “The 1984 Olympics Were Bad For Poor Black People In Los Angeles.” Deadspin, Deadspin.com, 7 Aug. 2017, deadspin.com/the-1984-olympics-were-bad-for-poor-black-people-in-los-1797612842.

Zirin, Dave. “Want to Understand the 1992 LA Riots? Start with the 1984 LA Olympics.” The Nation, 29 June 2015, www.thenation.com/article/want-understand-1992-la-riots-start-1984-la-olympics/.

      

A Compare and Contrast: With not much Contrast

Many do not seem to understand the gravity of the Los Angeles Riots of 1992. Yet this event transcends history and time by exposing the countless underlying issues of not only race but the United States in its entirety. The riots seem to have begun as an angry reaction towards the Rodney King verdict of 1992, yet the verdict was only the tipping point of a much larger systematic injustice occurring beyond LA and expanding across the entire U.S. In order to understand why the riots occurred and study its effects one needs to focus on the contextual subtleties of LA at the time. Specifically what George Lipsitz refers to as "Racialized Social Democracy" in his paper "The possesive Investment in Whiteness" which narrows in on the systemic disenfranchisement of colored people in America. Throughout history, there has been a pattern of underlying racism within our economic, political, and social systems. The concept of Neo-Liberalism has embedded itself in the culture of most Americans whether they know it or not. The "American Dream" as a notion is rooted in ideas of competition and material success. These capitalistic themes have provoked inequitable policies long before the riots began. The deindustrialization of the U.S. affected mostly racial minorities by eliminating an industrial infrastructure which had allowed black workers to earn fair wages with the opportunity to climb the ladder of success. Major government sectors were also guilty of depriving people of color equality. The EPA for example when responding to toxic waste cases neglected to consider income in the areas they visited. They fined white areas around $55,000 in contrast to the 500 times larger sum of $335,000 for black neighborhoods (375 Lipsitz). Education, which is predominantly Eurocentric first and foremost, refers to race in ways that create an almost victimizing attitude. Students are being trained to have the mindset that Black grievances are only associated with slavery and past blatant white on black racism. This only discredits the injustice blacks face today and encourages a "we don't owe you anything" perspective for white America. How are people really shocked at the reaction of Rodney King's trial verdict, what else was there left for America's minority population to do?

In terms of 'Racialized Social Democracy", presently, not much has changed. Structurally not much has been done and we see police brutality move beyond 56 beatings to multiple bullet wounds. It is not difficult to compare the LA Riots era to that of our own. Politically we have Trump as our commander in chief and we still fail to absorb interculturalism with schools systems. The protests haven't stopped, the Ferguson Unrest of 2014 is a direct parallel to the issues faces years ago. People have stopped marching, but no one has forgotten. Our investment in whiteness has procured a place where today, 26 years later in 2018, a black man named Stephon Clark can be shot 20 times in his own backyard. He was 22 years old, he was a father. But he was black. He was Black.

This was Arely Hernandez, thank you.
      

A Century Apart

The Great Migration occurred from around 1916 to 1970. African-American families living in the South moved to areas in the North, Midwest, and Northeast, in search of greater economic opportunities and a just life. In the early twentieth century, the United States had entered World War I, and was bustling with industrial opportunities. Many black men replaced the positions of the current factory workers at war. Black women took up domestic jobs, but faced more difficulty entering the job market. The social makeup of the North and Midwest soon changed. There was a hope and expectation among Southern blacks that the North offered a more promising future than the South, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, though segregation was technically illegal in the North, it was still very prevalent. As more African-Americans migrated, ghettos began forming around major Northern cities: living spaces were crowding, and whites did not want to live in the same neighborhood as the new migrants. Whites even created covenants, or agreements between white homeowners to never sell their houses to African-Americans.

In 1919, a seventeen-year-old black teenager named Eugene Williams, was swimming in Lake Michigan when he accidentally crossed the unofficial segregation lines at the beach. As a result, white men stoned him until he drowned. When officers showed up, the white men—who had just committed murder—faced absolutely no consequences. Rage broke out over this unjust event, and Chicago was on fire for days. Thousands of African-Americans became homeless as their houses burned down. Blacks and whites all over the Southside of Chicago fought; many were killed, and an even greater number were injured. Fast forward to 1992, and a situation mirroring the Chicago Race Riots can be found in the L.A Riots. In a very similar fashion, there is a racially charged beating of a black man—in this new case, Rodney King—the four white police officers face no verdict, and in response to the racial injustice, Los Angeles is set on fire. The Great Migration brought African-Americans from a place filled with lynchings and the KKK, and thrusted them into another community that was just as racist and intolerant.

-Mayeena Ulkarim

The NWA Leading to a Boiling Point

Often times when thinking of the 1992 LA riots, it is thought of as an isolated incident. Some people may believe that the beating of Rodney King was the first instance of the police brutality truly being brought to light. Though it was the first video of police brutality to become international news and really reach the mainstream media, it was far from the first "warning" to the public that these were major issues in the world and specifically LA during this time. The NWA was a major rap group that has been praised as one of the most influential hip-hop groups of all time. Their album Straight Outta Compton was released in 1988, four years before the riots in LA. This album featured strong political lyrics depicting the lives that these young African-American men encountered in LA at the time. One of their most talked about songs on this album is "Fuck The Police" in which lyrics like "they have the authority to kill a minority" and "cause my identity by itself causes violence" bring to light the nature of police brutality leading up to the LA riots. This album sold three million copies, and so its hard to believe that their message didn't reach the general public.

This being just four years before the 1992 riots, it goes to show that these circumstances of racism and blatant disregard for human rights were very prominent. The riots in 1992 were in response to not just the Rodney King beating and acquittal of the officers, but to years of oppression and that ultimately boiled over into an expected and justified uprising. The years leading up to the LA riots were an opportunity for change that was ignored by the majority population. The responses to the NWA's album were overwhelmingly negative. They were criticized heavily for their truthful lyrics and this method of disregard was mirrored in the response to the riots in 1992. The specified areas of police protection for "high-class" neighborhoods along with media attacks on the the meaning and motives behind the riots attempted to downplay and disrespect the rights of the marginalized people who were just fighting for their lives.

The 1992 riot certainly brought the police brutality issue to the forefront of news across the world, and also created a situation that could no longer be denied or ignored by the racist people and police who seemingly thrived in this broken system, but given how long it has been since the riot I beg the question of have we really progressed? Racism is arguably still very heavily rooted in our society today. Police brutality like that which was depicted in the Rodney King beating is strewn across the internet today. Have people not learned from these iconic events or have people fallen back into familiar routine of disregard and dismiss? One way or another, a change must be made.

Isaac Polkinhorne

Jim Crow, The War on Drugs and Racial Profiling Today

In the 1880s there was a Jim Crow society. One hundred years later the United States still had a Jim Crow mentality. This outdated mentality of the 1980s was called the War on Drugs. President Reagan used this new policy to profile and separate black criminality from white criminality. George Lipsitz writes in his article "The Possesive Investment in Whiteness: Racialized Social Democracy and the 'White' Problem in American Studies" that the Reagan administration invested in "regressive policies" that mirrored laws from the Jim Crow South such as "segregated education, housing, and hiring" and counters on voting-rights legislation. 
The War on Drugs was a great example of racial profiling from police officers and systemic racism. An example of this is the policing of crack cocaine. Crack cocaine was a drug that was generally affiliated with people of color because it was significantly cheaper than powdered cocaine and present in poor urban areas such as central Los Angeles. Whereas powdered cocaine was more expensive and associated with white communities. The punishment for possession of crack was much greater than the punishment for powder cocaine causing a great imbalance of incarcerated people of color compared to whites. The War on Drugs created the image of the black mug shot and people of color as criminals.

In 1992 and carrying on to today police racial profiling still exists and has evolved into a significantly unjust form of police brutality. There is still a large discrepancy of incarcerated people of color due to drugs and lower level crimes. In the 1980s a lot of the world was blind to the unjust system of the U.S police department, but after the incident with Rodney King police brutality and profiling has become an everyday image for more than just people of color. A lot of this has to do with the evolution of technology and media. Today, police brutality and white privilege takes center stage globally due to the convenience of smartphones and social media. We can hope that this new technology could assist in change for the future, but for now we must all live in a world where police protect and serve the white man.

For more information regarding the War on Drugs you can visit this link:  https://www.hrw.org/news/2009/06/19/race-drugs-and-law-enforcement-united-states

Miranda Huezo