Did the LA Riots help? (crime, food, suburbs)

[steelers1523]

I thought this would be an interesting topic with whats going on in Baltimore...Did the LA Riots help? Did it make LA a better place in general and for Black people? Do you believe police treated Black people better after the riots or not?

[tcmtcm]

No.

[DriveNotCommute]

The 1992 Rodney King riots? In spite of the destruction and unruliness, I think we got more benefits than detriments from it.

Regardless of the occasional bad events that show up on the news, most reports that I have read indicate that LAPD has improved significantly in the years afterward. Community outreach was expanded and my understanding is that they are a lot more responsive to community concerns than they used to be, especially in the parts of town that were most affected by the riots.

Of course there's no way to know what would have happened if no riots occurred and if the outcry was limited to peaceful demonstrations. Maybe the reforms would have happened anyway but objectively speaking, probably not since we know how organizations and people tend to be resistant to change.

[BeatAngMoh]

In terms of police sensitivity and community relations it helped. Economically, many large businesses i.e. supermarkets and fast food joints burned down came back. However, the there has been no net gain. No large plants, no new industries making a bet on the community etc. Nothing has been done to change the economics and the earning power of the residents. There's been no real change at all. Hence IMO things could spark again one day.

The losers are the Korean merchants who lost their businesses and did not return.

[BRinSM]

I know one thing is certain, the black population of LA has dwindled since the riots. It's my understanding that many of the folks from south central left for distant suburbs such as palmdale and moreno valley. crime is also down in that area as well as the entire city/region. the riots happened at the height of the crack epidemic, so things are better across the board now. with respect to LAPD and how it handled race, there were no drastic changes until the consent decree in 1999, which was unrelated to the riots.

[Pennychaser11]

Seeing LA riots made me mad. Just came to LA/USA from korea as 12 yr old just a month before the riots. Seeing those mostly fellow koreans lose everything they worked for made me furious. What a way to say 'welcome to America'. Did the riots help? I'm sure alot of people benefitted from it but equally as many lost everything

[3shipguy]

Of course the riots benefitted the residents. Didn't you see a bunch people get free stereos, TVs, beer, and stuff?

[racarate]

i just moved here, are there any kinds of ceremonies/remembrances that occur on the 29th?

[BeatAngMoh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_UyYj-pR8U

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by racarate

i just moved here, are there any kinds of ceremonies/remembrances that occur on the 29th?

There were some at the 20th anniversary, in 2012. I don't know about this year.

A closed thread from this site about memories of it, below.
Memories of the La Riots