LA Riots: 10 years later

[Geotpf]

Originally posted by caddmannq
Since I'm white, I'll have to disagree with that one. Pure B.S.

Around here, on the south and west side of town, the average drug and alcohol offender is about three times as likely to be black or hispanic as white. Yet on the north and east side of town, he's about 5 times as likely to be white. The local cops take this into account when they patrol different areas, and they should! It's part of their job to know this stuff.

I'll bet in the south and west sides of you town, there are 3 times as many blacks or hispanics than whites, and on the north and east side of town, there five times as many whites as minorities. That is to say, the average offender is more likely to be one race or another in one location because the average person overall is more likely to be that race in those areas.

Ok, let's put it another way. Let's say every person that commits a certain crime is black. That doesn't give you the right to pull over all black people because they are the only people that commit that crime. You must have specific evidence that a certain black person has commited a crime before you can pull them over. Cops operate under the assumtion that you are; IE-Look there's a black person! Black people don't belong in this part of town! He must have done something wrong! Let's pull him over for no specific reason! That is racist.

Oh, and, BTW, I'm white too (not that it matters).

[SEALTEAMTHREE]

What amazes me is the fact that the jury found those cops innocent...the jury pool must've been filled with KKK and other white-supremacy wackos. How could you watch that video and say they didn't do anything wrong?

[caddmannq]

I'll bet in the south and west sides of you town, there are 3 times as many blacks or hispanics....

That's a part of it. It also has to do with the general welfare of the folks in those areas too.

Look there's a black person! Black people don't belong in this part of town! He must have done something wrong! Let's pull him over for no specific reason! That is racist.

I think you're being a bit simplistic here. It's one thing to know and observe the demographics of an area, and be suspicious of people who seem out of place for whatever reason, and quite another to say "Let's just pull over all black folks that drive north of Dougle Street."

PS: I was being sarcastic about the "I'm white" thing...

[capybara]

remember who predicted the riots:
NWA 's "Burn Hollywood Burn"
>>>and when Rodney said
"can we all just get along" that was
the most gandhi-like statement since
MLK, and thats why he deserves to be mayor.

[Knothead]

Originally posted by SEALTEAMTHREE
What amazes me is the fact that the jury found those cops innocent...the jury pool must've been filled with KKK and other white-supremacy wackos. How could you watch that video and say they didn't do anything wrong?

Yeah, it took awhike to figure it out, but believe it or not, the Prosecution showed that tape to the jury so many times, the jury actually went numb to it.

It's a fact, people can become desensitized ...even to something like that! I'm not saying that the prosecution was lazy, but the fact is, they based their entire attack upon the tape, and I think whenever they ran dry, it was ,"Well, show 'em the video!"
"And again!"
"And again!"
"And again!"
"And again!"
"And again!" etc. they (the jury) just went "flat" on it...

[capybara]

Knothead: i cant agree with your explanation.
The truth is the truth, even if i see the video
1000 times in a row, the truth doesnt change or
"go flat." I respect your opinion, but
Sealteam3's take on that jury is alot
closer to the truth, imho. Why do you think they moved the trial to simi vly in the first place?
Would the verdict have been the same if
the trial was in Compton?

[SEALTEAMTHREE]

Good point.

Ever since we've been old enough to understand, our teachers and parents have drilled the Halocaust into our heads. For those who lived through WWII its been more than 70 years of hearing the same stuff about how Hitler came to power and tried to exterminate the Jewish population in Europe. Just because we've been hearing it for so long doesn't mean we think that the Nazis weren't guilty. When such atrocities occur, you keep saying "I can't believe this happened" rather than "Oh yeah. That stuff. They blamed the wrong people." If that were true, we'd be blaming someone else for the Sept. 11th attacks, because it pops up in the news everyday.

[Knothead]

Oh, don't get me wrong, nobody could view that video and not have a reaction...what I'm trying to say is that that tape was a devastating piece of evidence. Without it, there might not have been a trial, let alone a public outcry like we saw.

With that tape, the defense couldn't have gotten those officers off the hook in South Africa!! That's why I say something happened in the minds of those jurors...and what happened was, they felt less and less outrage each time they saw it, over and over and over.

And yes, Capybara, I was thinking about that sneaky little "Change-of-Venue" to Simi Valley when I was writing. I definitely believe that was instrumental in the defense strategy.

Just couldn't fit it in. There were several factors that came into play, in how those guys got off like that. That's all.

[CMonster]

The verdict in the Rodney King beating case was not the sole cause of the LA RIOTS, but other long-festering issues had lead up to that catalyst, that final "straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back," not the least of which was the Latasha Harlins case in which a Korean business owner in a Black neighborhood attempted to detain a would-be shoplifter - a 15-year old African American girl, who then brutally slugged the Korean woman in the face 3 times, breaking away and attempting to leave the store, the angry and paniced Korean woman pulled out a gun and shot at Latasha -hitting her in the head and killing her instantly.. The Korean woman was given 6-months probation. Within 2 weeks of the verdict a man of African descent burst into a Koreatown convience store and shot dead a 9-year old girl, who was the daughter of the Korean couple who owned the store, and then left without taking any money --it seems strange that the surveilance tape from that store was not played over and over on the local news as was the Latasha Harlins and Rodney King videos.

What proceded the Latasha Harlins tragedy was no less then the armed robbery of 11 Korean owned business in 6 months in that same area of the city, and the shooting of 3 Korean business owners in 4 months -one of which was fatal: these made the Korean newspaper but not the LA times, and the fatality was mentioned only in passing on the evening news.

The Korean are a proud and hardworking people who opened legitimate businesses in these areas because the cost of doing business there was cheap - and they were very successful in bringing new economic life to the area -which was a cause of much jealousy. Koreans would typically not hire non-family members, or non-Koreans because of pay arangements or language difficulties -and one must imagine that there is a trust issue as well. Often times family members, sons, daughters, will work in a family owned business for little or NO PAY. Some people viewed this hiring practice as "racist" -fine, come and work for free then.

But getting back to the point - yes POLICE are people too and they come in good and bad, and even a good cop can loose his temper. What those officers did to Rodney King was obivously wrong, and blatantly racist -it was terrible. But you would think the department would train them to use battons properly, if it had been me swinging that batton by 2-3 hits he would not have been resisting any further, and the video would have been to short and inconclusive, for any legal action to ensue. However, the unfortunate side effect would have been that if Rodney every awoke from his coma he would probably have to learn to walk and talk all over again. -?-Anyone notice if there was a passenger in the car with Rodney? Was he beaten?

As for the maximum speed of a Hyundae - 100+ mph might be possible but not likely --but what the heck difference does it make if he was doing 87 or 92 or 98 or 130? You can kill someone (which may include a pregnant woman and her 3-year old daughter) just as easily at 65mph if your driving wreckless.

I'm not even supposed to mention the Bomb Squad which goes out on average of 80 calls a month in LA -maybe more since 9/11

-you guys have no idea, just go on in the little media circus dream world and continue to b!t<h about the "big bad police."

[capybara]

ill never forget the image of Sgt. Koons with his
hands clasped together behind his back, bending over Rodney on the ground and saying "you guys have gotta hit him harder, your not hurting himm at all"
>>>But Cmonster is right about the other causes of the riot. One of which is poor people without much hope for the future + with nothing to lose.