The Line Between Radical Revolution and Riot

The Line Between Radical Revolution and Riot  By Chanel Mitchell

We have all heard the saying by Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?” It was Wednesday, April 29^th, 1992. The verdict was in and the community was enraged. Call out the LAPD, the National Guard and the US Marines. The city of Los Angeles was literally ON FIRE.  It was the disappointing acquittals of four LAPD officers in the Rodney King trial, the acquittal of Korean Liquor Store owner Soon Ja Du who murdered 15 year old Latasha Harlins and the continuous issues of police brutality, racism and social inequalities that sparked the 1992 LA Riots.

I was only 1 year old when the verdict was read. My family tells me of the community’s gatherings at local Barber shops, Beauty Salons and anywhere where there was a radio or television set to hear the fate of the four police officers who brutally beat African American male, Rodney King. The world witnessed the beating on videotape and was sure that the LAPD officers would be punished for their crimes.

At 3:15pm that day, the verdict was read and to shock the world, the four officers were acquitted of assault and use of excessive force. People were frustrated, angry, disappointed and completely fed up.

Just a few hours  after the verdict, around 6:45pm my grandparents, who resided in South Central Los Angeles, recall the gathering of people on the streets of Florence and Normandie as rallies rapidly grew into angry mobs and rioting began. It was that moment where a white male truck driver by the name of Reginald Denny pulled into that intersection of Florence and Normandie , was  forced  from his truck and beaten nearly to death my rioters.

As seen live on television, rioting began with the attacking of cars and innocent people, looting then arson. My Grandpa tells me that all you could hear was yelling, screaming, sirens and full on commotion. Your lungs were contaminated the 3,600 fires that were set. Businesses were burning and retail stores were trashed by looters who felt that their doings were justified.  The scene was described like a warzone.Many people, my grandfather included, felt that their only options were to hide in their homes or join the so called “revolution.”  Some family members admit participating in looting from grocery stores recalling taking meat from the local meat market to feed the family. Although they were doing wrong, the felt that these extreme actions were the only way that issues of police brutality, racism and social inequalities could be confronted.

Over the next 6 days, rioting continues with looting, arson and murder. A noted 55 people were killed, 10 of whom were killed by the police and thousands were injured. Over the course of rioting 1,000 buildings were destroyed and there was an estimated $1 Billion dollars in damages. The Los Angeles community was destroyed.  In the end, as an effort to end the violent terror, Governor Pete Wilson requested federal assistance. About 10,000 members of the National Guard, law enforcement officers and military officers patrolled the streets until rioting was under control.

To prevent such things like the Rodney King incident or rioting of the community, the LAPD and their leader Bernard Parks initiated methods of change. They increased their number of minority officers and analyzed the use of obsessive force upon victims. Reporting of police brutality decreased and the community was at ease.  Although changes have been made, corruption within the LAPD is still confronted. Most recently, we have witnessed the manhunt of Christopher Dorner, a former LAPD officer who began a killing spree as a result of these claimed corruptions. What we learn from this is that anger of injustice sparks controversial revolutions and when people are fed up they act upon those emotions and sometimes they aren’t the most ethical decisions. What is true is that violent actions do not cause change but ultimately makes the situation worse.

The question that I leave you with is where is the line between radical revolution and riot? 

Revolution

Revolution

Imagine yourself, a black man, 16 years old, living in Los Angeles in the 1960s. Imagine a life of poverty, gang violence, drug and alcohol abuse, racism, and police brutality. Imagine getting your ass kicked by the system, mentally and physically on a daily basis and witnessing your friends and family members slain on the streets of your community. Talk about Hell on Earth. Now tell me this… What would you do? What approach would you take to escape the black liberation struggle? You could either follow the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his non-violent approach to injustice by joining a Black organization like the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), SNCC (Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee) and CORE (Congress of Racial Equality.) Or…. You could take the badass approach and gather all your homies, arm yourselves and join the US Organization or the infamous Black Panthers Party for Self Defense. Historical leaders, Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter, John Huggins, Elmer “Geronimo Ji-Jaga” Pratt, Ray “Masai” Hewitt, Elaine Brown, and Ericka Huggins all chose the Los Angeles Chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.

Founded in Oakland, California in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, The Black Panther Party (originally named the Black Panther Party for Self Defense) was an African American revolutionary socialist organization that took a radical approach to black liberation and civil rights. The Black Panthers were armed citizens who patrolled the streets in response to the behavior of police officers upon community members and were also well known for their Free Breakfast for Children Program. By 1968, The Panthers made its way to the streets of Los Angeles with the help of Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter as they continued to make positive change with a confrontational, violent and often militant approach. “Who is more right winged than the gangsta?” said former Black Panther Member Wayne Pharr.

“Right winged?” I thought to myself. Wikipedia defines Right Winged as a political term used to describe an outlook or position that accepts or supports social hierarchy or social inequality. Gangstas already possess the demeanor, and courageous mentality that could be transferred into positive revolutionary change. “Who is more right winged than the gangsta?” No one as far as history is concerned. The Black Panther party was filled with gangstas, former prisoners and academics all who came together in defense of their community and human rights.

Many debate on the ethics of a violent approach to injustice and I myself struggle over what choice I would have made, and even what choice I am allowed to make in present day. We cannot just simply pull out our guns anymore and literally fight back. We aren’t even safe to speak of a revolution without being put on a “watch” list.

After attending a screening at Loyola Marymount University of the documentary film 41^st and Central by Gregory Everett and engaging in a panel with former Black Panther members Roland Freeman and Wayne Pharr, I began to question my place in society as a revolutionary.

As a little black girl, I grew up in the middle class mixed neighborhood of Carson, CA. In my eyes, there was no color. I had friends who were Black, White, Samoan, Pilipino and Latino. I then went to High School in Watts, CA where I was mostly surrounded by Black and Latino peers who I shared commonalities. It was Watts, California where my eyes were also opened up to a new idea of racism and poverty and what my ancestors did for the community. College came around and I was ready to head to Loyola Marymount University. I visited the campus and thought it was like Disneyland. I was excited to be in a place with new faces, new cultures and new people. Little did I know that these new friends would actually treat me as one of their enemies.

It was only a few months of school before members of black students (8% population) on campus were bombarded with racial slurs, ignorant graffiti on our dorm doors and raving rants by drunken white students in the middle of the night about how much they hate black people. I didn’t know what racism was until I came to college and this definitely wasn’t the culture shock that I was expecting.

In response to the racism on campus, students bonded together, had a few rallies and open discussions and watched each other’s backs. But was this enough? Would this stop the racism? Hell no. The action today does not compare to what would have been done in the 60s or 70s. If we were to band together and fight, we would all be kicked out of school. If we carried guns to protect ourselves we would be arrested and jailed for conspiracy to commit a murder. All I knew is that I was not going to pay 55 thousand dollars a year (of money that I don’t have) to be disrespected or treated unfairly by students, faculty or staff members who felt that I was inferior. I would lend my voice to change by doing my own investigation on the happenings of students who commit these crimes, focusing topics of my work on the black community whenever I got the chance and today creating a unique art exhibition that expresses the successes and struggles of the community through visual arts. I guess I took the non-violent approach.

My mother once told me that I was kin to Huey Newton, the Leader of the Black panthers party. Having this knowledge has sat in the back of my mind ever since. Nia- purpose. What is my purpose? What revolution would I start? It may not be with guns or violence, but it will damn sure be just as powerful.

- Chanel Mitchell 

Los Angeles Battleground: Skid Row

Spread across fifty square blocks southeast of Downtown Los Angeles, Skid Row has between seven and ten thousand homeless residents nightly. This homeless city has grown and diversified since its beginnings in the late 19^th century, and these changes have brought about problems along with debate.

Today, this debate involves the Los Angeles’s Police Department’s Central Division and the American Civil Liberties Union; two groups devoted to creating a safer and more just society.

So what do they have to fight about?

It is a battle of ideal versus reality. The LAPD work directly with the Skid Row community and feel that they know best what policies will and will not be effective. The ACLU stands as an observer, intervening when they believe the police are doing more harm than good. An incident that took place a few years ago highlights the potential for human suffering created by this conflict.

In 2006, the ACLU rallied support to provide port-o-potties for the Skid Row population after a member saw and smelled the quantity of human waste that was being left on the sidewalks. It sounded like a great idea; a simple way to clean up Skid Row. The LAPD was strongly opposed.

Within a few hours, pimps and gangs took over the installations and began charging for their use. If a customer was interested in soliciting a prostitute or purchasing crack to use in the stall, the restroom fee was waived. The toilets immediately became cramped brothels, drug houses, and pay-to-use restrooms; all in a 4x4x7 box.

The result of this good-intentioned project was wealth for pimps and drug dealers, and a new tool of exploitation for the homeless. The areas surrounding the port-o-potties became more popular restrooms than the stalls themselves, displaying the ineffectiveness of the project for all to see and smell.

After months of fighting, the LAPD finally had the restrooms removed. While large trucks loaded the facilities to be hauled away, hundreds of homeless people stood in the street and began to applaud. The LAPD watched in affirmation.

On the flip side, the ACLU believes the constitutional rights of the homeless are at risk. Last December they helped pass a law that prevents the LAPD from issuing unnecessary petty violations and illegal searches in an effort to fight the criminalization of this homeless population. The LAPD argues that this law hinders their effective policing of the area, and that the small offenses and searches help them catch drug dealers and criminals who prey on the truly homeless.

In an LA Times article captain Andrew Smith explains that there are the homeless, and then there are those who “chose to stay on skid row because of the cheap and plentiful drugs, alcohol and prostitution.”

So why do the homeless flock to Skid Row?

Most other L.A. communities spend less than 1% of their operating budgets on homeless services or housing and cannot support more than a fraction of the Skid Row population. So those without shelter travel to the heart of the city in search of basic services. What they find are others like themselves, and the wolves.

Wolves like Jason Johnson, a gang member who had a home in Azusa but liked to hang out on Skid Row because “he liked to smoke rock cocaine and because of the ‘party’ atmosphere.” Jason stabbed a homeless man in a dispute over a bicycle in 2006.

In this struggle to help those unable to help themselves, the ACLU and LAPD both have their roles to play despite their disagreement on most issues. We can only hope that their system of checks and balances does not further disrupt the progress of cleaning up Skid Row. We need to protect both the rights and the environment of those who live in the shadows of our society.

-Sean McEvoy