Reaction to Los Angeles Police Trial
Reaction to Los Angeles Police Trial, April 30, 1992. C-SPAN.
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| Good morning. My name is Maxine Waters, a Congresswoman from the 29th Congressional District in Los Angeles, the scene of the early fires that you witnessed on national television last night. With me are members of the Congressional Black Caucus and a representative from the NAACP, and we’re here this morning to express our outrage and our extreme concern about the unfair verdict in the case of Rodney King last evening in Simi Valley. Each of the members here will have an opportunity to make a statement expressing their feelings and their concern.
Allow me to start this press conference by telling you that I am angry. I am outraged. I think there has been a miscarriage of justice, and I suppose I should have known once there was a change of venue and that trial was moved to basically an all-white community, a community where over 2,000 Los Angeles police officers reside, that the chances for justice were going to be slim. But I suppose I was foolish enough to believe that given the very graphic depiction of the beating of Rodney King captured on video, that there would be an undeniable assignment of responsibility to those who had, in fact, beat him. Unfortunately, we saw a verdict that I have no problems in identifying as a racist verdict, where the jurors in this case tried to make us believe we have not seen what we have seen with the video. I don’t care how it is framed or what spin is attempted in the description of that video by those jurors. The fact of the matter is we in America witnessed the brutal beating of Rodney King. I feel there should have been convictions. For all of them, literally, to be allowed to get away without a conviction – and only one instance of, perhaps, a mistrial – is a travesty. Today, I and Congressman Ford and Reverend Jackson met with Attorney General Barr. We first asked about the report and the investigation that they were supposed to have done as a result of the meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus after the Rodney King beating. We were told that they in fact had done an investigation, they still have not completed it, it was national in its scope, and that it did not speak directly to the Rodney King beating. They have been monitoring this case, we have been told. Their team is in Los Angeles at this time, and they are gathering the information by which to make a determination about whether or not they can prosecute. They have to wait until after the trial had taken place in Los Angeles, and now they are free to make a determination about whether to prosecute under the civil rights laws of this country. They have two laws: conspiracy to violate civil rights and violation of civil rights statutes that they can prosecute under. We urge them to prosecute and we urge them to move with all due speed, with all due haste to do so. I indicated that I thought that the situation, not only in Los Angeles, is very volatile and it is not going to subside easily, but I still think there’s an opportunity this weekend for it to spill over into other communities in this country. We tried to urge them to move not only quickly, but to understand the danger that we’re confronted with. As I stand here, nine people are dead. My last count this morning before I tried to get some sleep was fifty-something fires raging all over Los Angeles. The fires started in my district, and one of the largest was right around the corner from my house. There are scores of injuries, and still anger and frustration, and people who plan on staying on the streets and expressing their outrage and anger in any way they deem necessary. There are those who would like for me, and others, and all of us to tell people to go inside, to be peaceful, that they have to accept the verdict. I accept the responsibility of asking people not to endanger their lives – I am not asking people not to be angry. I am angry and I have a right to that anger, and the people out there have a right to that anger. We don’t want anybody killed. None of us believe in violence. But there’s some angry people in America, and young black males in my district are feeling at this moment that if they could not get a conviction with the Rodney King video available to the jurors, then there can be no justice in America.” |
Background
On March 3, 1991, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers attacked Rodney King, a Black man, after he refused to pull over for speeding. A bystander filmed the incident from an apartment complex on the street. The graphic video shows four officers, three of whom are white, violently attacking King, kicking him in the neck and hitting him with batons at least 56 times. Around a dozen officers stood around and watched the beating. The local news aired the video, which shocked the nation.
The four LAPD officers were charged with excessive use of force. Due to unrest in Los Angeles following the release of the video, the judge ordered the trial to be moved to Simi Valley, a predominantly white town outside of the city. The jury found the officers not guilty on April 29, 1992. Protests started across the nation immediately after the announcement was made.
In South Central Los Angeles, where over half of the residents were Black, anger with the LAPD and the justice system erupted into violent protest after the Rodney King verdict. Angry protestors stopped traffic, attacked drivers, set fires across the city, and looted stores. Sixty-three people died and hundreds were injured.
About the Document
The video is an excerpt from a press conference held by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) the day following the verdict. Maxine Waters has represented the district that covers South Central Los Angeles since 1991. While she was in Washington, D.C., the day of the verdict, she attended several protests in Los Angeles over the following days, even leading the crowd in “no justice, no peace” chants. Maxine Waters argued that the violent protests were rooted in the challenges faced by the community, and that Black people had a right to be angry over the verdict.
The Rodney King incident occurred during Maxine Waters’ first term in Congress. She was reelected to a 16th term in 2022 and is one of the longest serving members in the House of Representatives. She has served as the chair of the powerful Financial Services Committee since 2019.
Vocabulary
- Congressional Black Caucus: Group of Black members of Congress that focuses on representing the interests of Black Americans.
Discussion Questions
- What feelings and emotions does Maxine Waters express in her statement? How do you think her constituents felt about the verdict? How does she deflect the stereotype of the “angry Black woman’?
- Maxine Waters was the only woman on the stage. Why is that significant?
- Why does Maxine Waters consider the verdict to be an incorrect decision?
- What next steps did Maxine Waters suggest for the federal government to take?
- What does Maxine Waters say about the violence that erupted in Los Angeles? Do you agree with her point of view?
- Why was this case particularly shocking for the American public?
Suggested Activities
- AP Government Connections:
- 3.6: Amendments: Balancing individual freedom with public order and safety
- 3.8: Amendments: Due process and the rights of the accused
- Include this resource in a discussion about police violence against Black Americans with students today. How do they think the discussion has changed since 1992? What effects might new technologies like cell phone cameras have had?
- Pair this resource with the testimony of Anita Hill. What did both women have in common? How were they perceived as outspoken Black women in politics?
- Consider the role of women in politics during this period by combining this resource with a hearing about music censorship, the Year of the Woman, Anita Hill’s testimony, Geraldine Ferraro’s acceptance speech, Hillary Clinton’s speech, and the life stories of Sandra Day O’Connor and Barbara Lee.
- For a larger lesson on the contributions of Black women during this period, combine this resource with the first female hiphop MC, Anita Hill’s testimony, punk feminism, and the life stories of Audre Lorde, Lois Curtis, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, and Barbara Lee.
Themes
ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE; POWER AND POLITICS
