THE RODNEY KING VERDICTS & RIOTS~ 22 YEARS AGO TODAY

APRIL 29TH, 1992~ was the reaction to the rodney king verdicts in los angeles.
a perfect storm of tension was building up that culminated on that fateful date 22 years ago today.
three intense powers struggles lead up to this fatefully date of violence in los angeles.

1~ since inception the los angeles police force,( like all police forces) was ruled by racist men who saw all minorities as "other" and as criminals.  movies like- LA CONFIDENTIAL~ use racial profiling and race mongering as an inconsequential backdrop to the story of police power and corruption. the police force had no respect for minorities... because they never have had to.

2~ april 30th is the tradition of ~Walpurgis Night~  a traditional spring festival on 30 April or 1 May in large parts of Central and Northern Europe. It is often celebrated with dancing and bonfires. It is exactly six months from All Hallows' Eve. the modern day american equivalent is DEVIL'S NIGHT, originating in detroit, michigan. dating back to the early 1940's,  city youths engaged in a night of criminal behavior, which usually consisted of acts of vandalism (such as egging, soaping or waxing windows and doors, leaving rotten vegetables or flaming bags of animal feces on front porch stoops, or toilet papering trees and shrubs). These were almost exclusively acts of petty vandalism, causing little to no property damage.

 However, in the early 1970s, the vandalism escalated to more devastating acts, such as arson. 

The crimes became more destructive in Detroit's inner-city neighborhoods, and included hundreds of acts of arson and vandalism every year. The destruction reached a peak in the mid- to late-1980s, with more than 800 fires set in 1984, and 500 to 800 fires in the three days and nights. therefore this date had become to be known as the time when un~rest, anger and mayhem was released. 

3~  And then of course unfortunately~ On April 29, 1992, the seventh day of jury deliberations for the excessive beating rodney king came in.  the jury acquitted all four officers of assault and acquitted three of the four of using excessive force. The jury could not agree on a verdict for the fourth officer charged with using excessive force. The verdicts were based in part on the first three seconds of a blurry, 13-second segment of the video tape that, according to journalist Lou Cannon, was edited out by television news stations in their broadcasts.

Outside the Simi Valley courthouse where the acquittals were delivered, county sheriff's deputies protected  accused policeman Stacey Koon from angry protest on the way to his car. Director John Singleton, who was in the crowd at the courthouse, predicted, "By having this verdict, what these people done, they lit the fuse to a bomb."

on april 29th, 1992 the acquittals of the four accused Los Angeles Police Department officers accused of excessively beating rodney king came at 3:15 pm local time. By 3:45, a crowd of more than 300 people had appeared at the Los Angeles County Courthouse protesting the verdicts passed down a half hour earlier. Between 5 and 6 pm, a group of two dozen officers, commanded by Los Angeles Police officer, Lieutenant Michael Moulin, confronted a growing crowd at the intersection of Florence and Normandie in South Central Los Angeles. 

Outnumbered, the police officers retreated. By about 6:30 pm, a new group of protesters appeared at the Los Angeles Police Department's headquarters at Parker Center. the crowd tore down a parking  and fifteen minutes later, the crowd at Florence and Normandie had started looting, attacking vehicles and people.
the riots throughout los angeles continued for 5 days.