25 Years After The Los Angeles Riots, Tensions Remain

Published May 1, 2017 at 10:00 AM CDT

Demonstrators protest the verdict in the Rodney King beating case in front of the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters on April 29, 1992 in Los Angeles. (Nick Ut/AP)

With guest host Jane Clayson.

Twenty-five years after Rodney King and the Los Angeles riots, and in the wake of Ferguson and more, America is still asking: Can we all get along?

It was all there on the videotape: A black motorist named Rodney King beaten by Los Angeles police officers. A not guilty verdict for the cops, and rioters in the streets. Fast forward, 25 years and there are more videos of violent confrontations between the police and people of color. In Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and Chicago. Five police officers gunned down in Dallas. This hour, On Point: we’ll ask Rodney King’s question: Can we all get along? — Jane Clayson

Guests

Patt Morrison, longtime columnist and reporter for the Los Angeles Times. ( @pattmlatimes)

Jeff Pegues, justice and homeland security correspondent for CBS News and author of “Black and Blue: Inside the Divide between the Police and Black America.” ( @jeffpeguescbs)

From The Reading List

Los Angeles Times: Filmmaker John Singleton On L.A.’s Fragile Progress Since The 1992 Riots: “Rodney King was a citizen who was beaten and almost murdered by officials of the state of California in the city of Los Angeles. But Reginald Denny was beaten and almost murdered by the citizens of South Central Los Angeles. So you have a yin and yang right there.”

CNN: Los Angeles Riots Fast Facts: “The riots over five days in the spring of 1992 left more than 50 people dead, and more than 2,000 injured. The rioting destroyed or damaged over 1,000 buildings in the Los Angeles area. The estimated cost of the damages was over $1 billion. More than 9,800 California National Guard troops were dispatched to restore order. Nearly 12,000 people were arrested, though not all the arrests were directly related to the rioting.”

Think Progress: What Has Changed About Police Brutality In America, From Rodney King To Michael Brown: “Looking at where we are today in the weeks after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, it can feel like nothing has changed in the way we police the police. Many things haven’t. Juries acquitted police. Cops got their jobs back. And brutality happened again. Some things have gotten worse. Like police militarization.”

Read An Excerpt Of “Black and Blue: Inside the Divide between the Police and Black America” By Jeff Pegues

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