Rodney King and the 1992 LA Riots

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Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that "Riots are the language of the unheard" and in April of 1992, the black community in Los Angeles felt very unheard. The Previous year in 1991, 25 year old Rodney Glen King had been involved in a high speed chase. Noticing the spot light from a helicopter, Rodney realized that things had quickly gotten out of hand and, ended up pulling off Interstate 201, onto the right hand shoulder of Foothill Blvd. What followed was caught on video, by a nearby resident named George Holliday..... and the world would see one of the most horrific beatings, that did not result in death. By some miracle, Rodney was not killed, but doctors would say that some of his bones had been so pulverized that the looked like grains of sand...

13 days after this, a 15 year old black girl named Latasha Harlins, at the request of her grandmother, had gone into a corner store to pick up some orange juice for her and her siblings, Latasha walked walked to the front counter with $2 in hand to pay for the 1.79 orange juice, again, this interaction was caught on film, the store owner seemed to have believed Latasha was going to steal the juice, despite the cash in her hand, after a short but intense interaction with the store owner, Latasha tried to walk away. The store owner would pull out her gun, and end the life of a 15 year old child. 

When Latasha's killer got off, with community service and a fine, the black community was horrified, and when the 4 officers who beat Rodney, nearly to death, were acquitted, they had had enough, and with in minutes the riots would begin. They would last for 6 days, leaving some neighbourhood, reduced to rubble.

This is the case of the 1992 LA Riots.

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