1. 1992 Riots

2. Police Brutality
“Though the King verdict clearly sparked the explosion, the black community’s rage had long been building. Citing numerous incidents, black leaders charged that local police forces had systematically brutalized and mistreated blacks” -Time Magazine

3. Examples
1970s-16 African-American people died as a result of choke holds administered by LAPD
1989-Don Jackson videotapes a routine traffic stop and officers are recorded shoving Jackson’s head through a plate-glass window. Jury could not reach a decision as to whether this was an excessive use of force.

4. Race Relations
Relations between the African-American and Asian communities have been tense for years, mainly because of a perception that Korean merchants have been exploiting poor neighborhoods by establishing shops in ghetto areas while refusing to hire blacks to work in them.

5. Turning Point: Latasha Harlins
Grocer (store owner) Soon Ja Du was convicted of killing 15-year-old Latasha Harlins, whom she accused of stealing a $1.79 bottle of orange juice. Although an in-store video camera clearly showed that Du had shot Harlins in the back as she left the store, the trial judge sentenced the Korean store owner to just five years’ probation

6. Turning Point: Latasha Harlins (cont.)

7. Rodney King
March 2, 1991-Rodney King, a 25-year-old black man on parole for armed robbery, drove drunk down a suburban Los Angeles freeway and didn’t pull over when police attempted to pull him over for speeding
A group of officers tried to forcibly subdue King and used a Taser several times. Two officers, Laurence Powell and Timothy Wind, began beating King with their nightsticks as a third, Theodore Briseno, kicked King in the head