Quote:
Originally Posted by Meroe
I was speaking to my relatives back in NY and they tell me folk are hot about the second murder of Sean Bell by the courts. People are ready to mass organize and boycott government services and private businesses (I can name several businesses in my old neighborhood I would luv to see shut down). I don't believe a violent rebellion will take place. But it certainly wont be business as usual either. Action will be taken.
If you don't mind brother DA Flash, I have a different take on the 92 "riots". 1992 was actually an uprising, IMO. I would like to recommend an excellent documentary titled "The Fire This Time: Why Los Angeles Burned".
I had recently moved from NY to Southern Cal - attending school locally at the time. People in LA were under the false impression that the brothers were rioting because of Rodney King. This is false. Rodney King was just the prelude to a half-dozen incidents against Blacks that led up to the rebellion. On top of the high unemployment and daily police brutality against Blacks in LA, I'm sure you recall the porous relations between the African American community, LAPD, City Hall and Korean store owners.
The year escapes me at the moment but it was shortly before the Rodney King beating when the Sheriff's Department shot 30 rounds or so from the street into a crowded grocery store killing several innocent people in South LA. Sheriff Deputies were exonerated. No justice for Black folk. The Korean merchant who shot a young Black girl in the back of the head. The Korean merchant was exonerated. No justice for Black folk. Popular community activist harassed, charged and jailed with bogus crimes. Neutralizing positive Black activism.
If my memory serves me correctly the brothers didn't plan a violent rebellion if those pigs in the King trial were acquitted. I was working in Downtown LA. I would talk to the brothers on the street everyday. The uprising wasn't pre-planned but you could sense in the air something big was about to pop off. Tensions had been building up for quite some time long before Rodney King. King was simply the straw that broke the camels back. I'm not saying the rebellion was right of wrong. However when people have no hope, feel oppressed and disenfranchised with the system, rebellions are as natural as the sun rising.
Peace.
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Thank you for the response, I call it riot, you call it uprising. While I understand the reasoning behind the words, it's symantics to me. You're correct in your asessment of the climate here in So Cal at the time, there were alot of us "sick and tired" of the crap that the LAPD was pulling, even though I've always found the sherriffs to be far more a-holes and racist punks. You could feel the tension in the air.It still surprises me how the media showed far more of us looting than the Latinos!! If you witnessed any of it first hand, you know that there were at least as many of them as there was of us.
The reason that I made the post was, even though everyone understands the frustration of these cowardly act of Black hate, we need to do something constructive instead of destroying the community in which we live. I remember alot of people who could no longer shop for food, clothing, etc in the community anymore because most if not all of the stores were destroyed. Then where do we go to shop? the yt stores! The destruction of businesses in the community also kills most of the teenage jobs. As if our teens need more idle time.
I will admit that there were the liquor stores that I didn't mind seeing burn!