LA Race Riots - what's changed 30 years on?
The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Clive Myrie reflects on the impact and legacy of the riots of 1992.
The Los Angeles riots erupted on 29 April 1992 after four white police officers were acquitted over the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. Anger led to days of looting and burning, dozens of deaths and $1bn (Β£610m) of damage. A state of emergency was declared in South Central Los Angeles. The grainy black and white footage of King's beating offered proof of what the black community had been complaining about for decades - police brutality. An independent commission to investigate the King beating detailed a culture of racism and abuse within the LAPD, where excessive force was not only tolerated but often covered up by fellow officers in a code of silence.
In the wake of the riots the Los Angeles Police Department was forced to change.
Back then, Clive Myrie was in his mid-twenties. A few years later he was himself the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's LA Correspondent. For 5 Minutes On, Clive shares his reflections of what he remembers of the events of 1992, the impact they had on him then, and the legacy it leaves today.
Image Credit: Steve Grayson via Getty Images
