1992 LA Riots

[Lux1969]

The Los Angeles riots were a series of lootings, arson, and civil disturbances that occurred in April and May 1992. The troubles began in South Central Los Angeles on April 29 after a trial jury acquitted four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department of using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King. The riots were a result of the African American community’s outrage over the verdict.

Early in the morning of March 3, 1991, Rodney King was driving on the Foothill Freeway with some friends after watching a basketball game and drinking. At 12:30 a.m. the California Highway Patrol noticed King’s car speeding. The officers pursued, and King attempted to evade. King admitted he attempted to outrun the police at dangerously high speeds because a charge of driving under the influence would violate his parole for his previous robbery conviction. King exited the freeway near the Hansen Dam Recreation Center, traveling up to 80 mph through residential streets. Eventually, the police had forced King to pull over.

The passengers claim that they were “manhandled, kicked, stomped, taunted, and threatened.” When King came out of the car, he reportedly grabbed his buttock, which California Highway Patrol officer Melanie Singer thought was King drawing his weapon. She drew hers. Ranking officer LAPD Sergeant Stacey Koon ordered the four present LAPD officers to ‘swarm’ to subdue and handcuff King. King resisted by attempting to remove the officers on his back. King was tasered twice, kicked six times, and beaten 33 times with batons. King suffered a fractured facial bone, a broken right ankle, and multiple bruises and lacerations. This was all caught on film.

During the riots, on May 1, 1992, King made a television appearance in which he said, “I just want to say – you know – can we all get along? Can we, can we get along? Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids? And… I mean we’ve got enough smog in Los Angeles let alone to deal with setting these fires and things… it’s just not right – it’s not right. And it’s not going to change anything. We’ll get our justice; they’ve won the battle, but they haven’t won the war. We’ll get our day in court and that’s all we want. And, just, uh, I love – I’m neutral, I love every – I love people of color. I’m not like they’re making me out to be. We’ve got to quit – we’ve got to quit; I mean after all, I could understand the first – upset for the first two hours after the verdict, but to go on, to keep going on like this and to see the security guard shot on the ground – it’s just not right; it’s just not right, because those people will never go home to their families again. And uh, I mean please, we can, we can get along here. We all can get along – we just gotta, we gotta. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while, let’s, you know let’s try to work it out, let’s try to beat it, you know, let’s try to work it out.”

The riots lasted six days and resulted in 53 deaths, 2,383 injuries, more than 7,000 fires, damage to 3,100 businesses, and nearly $1 billion in financial losses. It could only be ended when the California National Guard was sent to LA to re-establish order.

Reginald Denny is a white truck driver who was racially targeted and attacked by Black protestors during the riots. He was ultimately rescued and rushed to the hospital by four Black people who saw the attack and rushed to his aid. Denny suffered severe injuries as a result of the attack, and he required years to recover.

Additionally, the riots exacerbated existing tensions between the African American and Korean communities. There was a feeling among blacks that Koreans were taking from the community via the operation of small businesses in the area, which led to racial resentment. Previous violent incidents including the 1991 killing of Latasha Harlins, an African-American teenager who was fatally and controversially shot by a Korean-American convenience store owner, Soon Ja Du.

Images of "Rooftop Koreans" show Korean American business owners and residents during the 1992 Los Angeles riots who armed themselves and took to the rooftops of local businesses to defend themselves.

[Caduceus]

Yeah, sure made sense attacking all those innocent people.

[mr_feelgood]

Rodney king shouldn't have resisted arrest.

[mr_feelgood]

Him and Floyd are sniffing Fent in hell together for sure

[marcos_69]

Good for the Koreans for arming themselves and protecting their stores.

[dfinsvalde]

During the LA riots, there was an incident in Koreatown that could not be dismissed as a simple incident.

Korean gangsters who had made Koreatown their territory and extorted merchants under the pretext of protection money,

when the riots broke out, instead of protecting Koreans, they took advantage of the chaos to rob Korean stores and quickly ran away. It may be unreasonable to expect justice from a socially harmful entity like gangsters, but they threw away even the bare minimum of excuses when they said they would protect them and didn’t even pretend to protect them.

This is in contrast to the Hispanic gangs and Chinese triads at the time, who tried to protect their store owners no matter what. Therefore, Chinatown and Hispanic residential areas were not robbed at the time.

At the time, most of the Korean gangsters in Koreatown were those who had lost their bases in Korea or were driven out, and this increased especially after the Korean government’s 1991 war on crime.

Anyway, because of this, Koreans could not trust Korean gangsters, and the vigilantes were formed to respond with more courage.

After the situation calmed down, Korean gangsters came out again shamelessly and demanded protection money from store owners, and Koreatown merchants chased them out, saying that they would shoot them if they came back one more time.

After the LA riots, Korean gangsters lost their justification, so they could not do anything in Koreatown after this incident. This can be said to be one of the few positive effects of the LA riots on Koreatown.

These photos are of the main weapons of Korean gangsters confiscated by the Korean police in the 90s.

Currently, Korean gangsters are moving to Southeast Asia and committing drug trafficking, internet gambling, voice phishing scams, and kidnapping using firearms.

[njpace99]

It's strange how easily people fall into this mentality. Be angry about an injustice and suddenly some people suddenly start thinking it's fine to commit more injustices.

[Guns N' Coffee]

Been there, done that and got the t-shirt.

[mr_feelgood]

Roof Koreans are my favorite Korean

[WarCleric]

FTP! ACAB