Were the LA Riots of 1992 a form of Social Protest?

Question

Were the LA riots of 1992 a form of Social Protest? Meaning were they a response to unfair treatment of minority's because the everyman is not listened to?

Or were they just senseless violence, anarchy, and destruction?

PLEASE do not go on a tirade. Just tell me what you think and why. Thank you.

Answer 1

I think it was a form of protest.  Albeit a negative form.  The LAPD had a history of discriminatory treatment and I think the Rodney King beating and subsequent acquittal just really sent the message to the community that African American's are not worth defending....so they they were enraged and they took it out on the city.

Answer 2

I lived through riots when Martin luther King Jr. died ... They were just senseless violence , anarchy and destruction ... ... I had many black friends at the time and was invited to come along and join in the fun .  I'm white .

    Social protest .. I don't think so.

Answer 3

I believe they were a form of social protest. Good old fashioned Marxist uprising... I think people had reached their breaking point. If it had only been one thing, the riots wouldn't have happened, I feel.

Listen to April 29,1992 by Sublime. It really sums up the way a lot of people were feeling at the time, from the people I've talked to.

Answer 4

a form of stupidity in LA.

Answer 5

The L.A. Rodney King riots were a social protest for all of a few hours. The real people were in churches praying, staying home, and staying out of it.

The senseless acts of violence were perpetrated and perpetuated by gang members and idiots looking for an excuse to destroy and steal and think they could get away with it.

It stopped being about Rodney King somewhere around 2AM.

And no it wasn't happening on every street in Los ANgeles. The riots were only happening within a 5-mile section of South Central L.A., primarily in heavy gang territory. The rioters were gang members using the trial as an excuse to commit crime, not really about social unrest. 90% of the population in L.A. were staying home, staying out of it, and minding their own business, really. Most of us thought the media was really over-dramatizing the whole thing. If the media had shut up, the riots would have ended sooner.

And no, km76, it was not a message by LAPD to the African American community that they were not worth whatever. 90% of the African Amercians I talked too agreed that Rodney King was a criminal offender of multiple accounts, a drug addict who had been in trouble with the law several times before, and was clearly out of control when he was being beaten on camera. There were few African AMericans rampaging in the streets, most of them were at home or in their churches praying for peace. The actual rioters causing the damage, and the fires were the African AMerican gang members on day one. Day two was the Asian and Mexican gang members looting, day three was the illegals cleaning out and looting what was left. The actual riots were caused by a few members of some anti-American African group on the stepd of the courthouse with bullhorns trying to incite the crowd into a riot to perpetuate their propoganda, but it wasn't truly a racial riot, because the only ones setting the fires were the stupid gang members. The looting was done by people trying to get free schtuff, and they were people who did not even care about the whole socio-political garbage, they were just stealing free stuff. The truth is very very few people were actually rioting for a social cause, it was the media who was portraying all of the criminal acts as a riot for a social cause. It was the media who kept reporting it as happening all over L.A. when it was only happening in a small area of L.A. It was the media who was making it look like everybody was angry when in truth, only the gang members were angry, and not everybody in L.A. is a gang member!

The truth is only the people looking for trouble were causing the trouble. Most everybody else wanted nothing to do with it and stayed out of it. Those who perpetuate racism throw it up as an example of racism. Those who still hate the U.S. and "white people" are the ones who perpetuate the racism behind the act. Really.

Answer 6

Anarchy is not senseless and is rarely destructive.

Just saying...