[Student Reporters] What were the 'LARiots'

Se Jun Lee / 10th Beckman High School

Trucks sound systems lights and vendors began to set up on South Serrano between Wilshire and 7th to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.

The LA riots were mainly attributed to a jury verdict that pronounced four Los Angeles Police Department officers not guilty for physically abusing an African-American man by the name of Rodney King. King who had been caught after a high-speed chase was dragged out of his car and brutally assaulted by the officers. All evidence was captured via tape recorder.

Furious citizens protested the decision in the Los Angeles County Courthouse and at Parker Center the Los Angeles Police Department's headquarters. A series of looting burning arson and murders ensued over a span of six days as 60 people were killed and roughly 2000 were injured.

Commander Andrew J. Smith who was in his fourth year as a part of the police force during the riots remembered having to constantly patrol the streets in South Los Angeles and subdue criminals during the 12-hour shifts. He commented "It was a surreal experience seeing the fires and the looting but thankfully Los Angeles today shows more tolerance and respect." Robert Park a 19-year old UCLA student experienced the riots when he was just one. He remembered "My father owned a Korean restaurant at the time and he would protect the shop by standing on the roof with a gun in his hand. My mother and I didn't go out of the house for several days because of the constant violence."

The riots were centered in Koreatown; thus a large number of Koreans were wounded or killed during this time.

Jennie Choo the representative from the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census stated "The people of Los Angeles need to mutually respect each other. At the time the relationship between our cultures was too separate."

Ahn Kyung Sang a man who has lived in an unaffected part of LA during the riots said "It was frightening to see the events unfold through the news. There are many empty lots near where I currently live and they are there because of the many fires. It's surprising to see how big of an impact this really was."