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In 1992, Ms. Wroten witnessed another riot in South Central, L.A., the Rodney King Uprising. Rodney King, an African-American male, had been violently attacked by four white police officers shortly after he led police on a high speed chase. The beating had been caught on tape. Charged with assault and use of excessive force, a jury, which was predominantly white, acquitted the police officers. The riots began shortly after the verdict was passed. Ms. Wroten remembered being on her way to work when the riots began. She described the scene as a “war zone”. She noted that, contrary to reports and popular belief, African- Americans were not the only participants of the riots. She said that there were many Hispanics causing upheaval as an outcry of the discrimination they were subjected to. As is the case with the Watts Riots, there was not solitary reason for this uprising. The once all African-American community was threatened by the newly inhabitant Hispanic population. Residents were full of anger and it was as if everyone felt discriminated against.

Ms. Wroten also remembered the attack on Reginald Denny, which occurred about three hours after the riots began. In the words of Ms. Wroten, Reginald Denny was in the “wrong place at the wrong time.” He was a truck driver who was making a delivery a few blocks away from where he was dragged out of his truck and attacked by a gang of residents. He was hit in the head with concrete and cinder block until he was unconscious. This attack happened as a result of the hatred toward the White population in Los Angeles. Though she did not witness the Fidel Lopez beating, she was told about it. Lopez was attacked minutes after Denny had been rescued. He was also pulled from his truck and attacked. He was robbed of a substantial amount of money. His head had been cracked open by a car stereo, and one of his ears was partially cut off. Then, the whole front side of his body was spray painted black, including his genitals. Ms. Wroten believes this attack was geared towards the Hispanic community.

Similar to the Watts Riots, she witnessed looting, vandalism, and stores being set afire. She recalled the military coming into the community to restore order. They established curfews and prevented residents from travelling at will. For a while, no one could leave or enter South Central, Los Angeles, for fear that another riot would ensue. She comments that unlike the Watts Riots, the community rebounded quickly. Within about a day of military authority, the riots were over and the angered community began to return to a peaceful one. She and most of her family attended the peace rally that was held on that Saturday. She said she was very glad to see how many people were in attendance. She described it is “a whole bunch of people”.

Though the riots were declared over by the sixth day, there were still a few random acts of violence and threatening incidents that occur a couple days after. For this reason, the National Guard remained present in South Central for another two weeks.

Historically, Los Angeles, California has suffered from poor education, high unemployment, racial injustices, and police brutality. Even today, some of those conditions have not changed. Los Ang本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。