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THE TIMES POLL : L.A. Strongly Condemns King Verdicts, Riots

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TIMES STAFF WRITERS

By wide majorities, white, black and Latino residents of the city of Los Angeles condemn last week’s verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating case and the rioting that followed, according to a Los Angeles Times Poll.

The poll found that 71% of Los Angeles residents disagreed strongly with the verdicts rendered by the Simi Valley jury in the trial of four Los Angeles police officers. And it found that 75% believed that the violence sparked by the verdicts was “totally unjustified.”

The poll, supervised by Times Poll director John Brennan, interviewed 888 city residents Sunday and Monday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

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A majority of African-Americans--58%--joined in the condemnation of the rioting. About one-third--32%--considered the violence partially justified, and virtually all blacks in the survey--97%--said their neighborhoods suffered some damage.

Almost half the blacks surveyed did not think that the violence was inevitable, a view shared by the majority of city residents. And blacks were more optimistic than other groups that something good will come of the tumult of last week.

“Everything that usually turns real, real bad flip-flops over and starts turning good,” said Lonnie Carter, a 66-year-old retired auto mechanic who is black and was among those surveyed. “I think whole lots of good will come out of it. I think everybody will start living more closer together and stop having disagreements.”

Results of The Times Poll show that members of the city’s three largest ethnic groups held similar views on a number of issues relating to the King verdicts and the riots.

For instance, almost 80% said they sympathized with the anger of the black community over the verdicts, and there was a widely shared view that the local criminal justice system is biased against blacks and Latinos. But the poll also revealed marked differences, particularly in the attitudes of blacks and whites toward the causes of the unrest and about who bears responsibility for the violence.

City leaders got low marks for their handling of the crisis last week. Nearly three-fourths of all residents said the leaders reacted too slowly. Also, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates came in for stronger criticism than Mayor Tom Bradley.

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A plurality of the people questioned--48%--said that Gates hurt rather than helped the situation after the verdicts, with only 12% saying he helped. Meanwhile, 13% cited Gates as among the causes of the rioting.

Regarding Bradley, 50% believed that the mayor had no effect on what happened after the verdicts, with 20% saying he made things worse. Only 5% said he was one of the causes of the riots.

“One thing that must happen is that Gates must go,” said Henry Richardson, 50, a retired equipment inspector for the Los Angeles Unified School District. “He has no sympathy for minorities. He is one of the problems. No one is going to respond positively to him. He’s still making idiotic statements. He needs to get on out of there.”

Richardson, who is black, added: “I don’t think Bradley has an effect on the city one way or another right now.”

A majority of residents--53%--disapproved of the way the Police Department handled itself in the days after the verdicts, while 43% expressed their support of that effort.

An overwhelming number of residents--80%--thought that the police reacted too slowly when violence broke out last Wednesday evening. Asked why they thought the police response was slow, a plurality of blacks said they believed that the delay was deliberate, while a plurality of whites and Latinos said the police were not prepared for the massive outbreak.

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Along with the 71% who disagreed strongly with the King verdicts, an additional 10% said they disagreed somewhat. Just over 70% felt that the videotape of the police beating was evidence enough to convict the four officers accused in the case. And almost 70% said they viewed the jury as biased in favor of the officers.

Two-thirds of city residents said that the local criminal justice system needs some measure of improvement, and 37% said it ought to be overhauled. Also, 61% said they viewed the legal system as unfair to blacks; 54% said it is unfair to Latinos.

Nearly 90% of those surveyed applauded the U.S. Justice Department’s decision to begin an investigation that could lead to prosecution of the four officers for violating King’s federal civil rights. And 58%, including a majority of blacks surveyed, said they are confident that justice will be done if the four policemen are tried on such charges.

The poll found that among all residents, 21% considered last week’s rioting “partially justified.”

Robert Knowles, 48, a white resident of Silver Lake, was among those who described the rioting as partially justified, except for the murders and beatings of people in the streets.

“But running through the streets and setting things on fire, I can understand that,” Knowles said. “I can understand how the rage got out of hand.”

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As a press coordinator for Los Angeles County supervisorial campaign of state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), Knowles said he has come to know the black community. In discussing blame for the disturbances, he said: “You can blame (the rioters) in a legal sense, in a criminal sense, but I think a lot of people didn’t intend to commit violent acts and got caught up. I didn’t think it was (a response) so much to the King verdicts but to the economic, the lack of jobs . . . not knowing what else to do.”

Anslom Beamon, 43, a black woman who lives on 103rd Street in Watts, decried the violence but said she understood the anger and frustration that prompted the ransacking of stores.

“It’s wrong to take from anybody,” she said. “But what do you do when you don’t have?”

Although she did not take part in the looting, Beamon said she cannot blame those who did, especially the young people who grow up in such underprivileged surroundings.

“We were just getting back what was rightfully ours,” she said. “We don’t get half the opportunity that they give anybody else.”

Richardson, the retired school equipment inspector, was among the majority who could find no excuse for the rioting. The verdicts triggered anger stemming from many past injustices, he said, but for many of the rioters there was no social or political statement.

“Most of those people who joined . . . did it for fun,” said Richardson, a Wilshire District resident. “They saw things out there to be taken, and they took things out of the stores. It didn’t have anything to do with that Rodney King incident.”

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When people were asked by the poll who or what was responsible for the violence, 27% blamed it on thugs, gangs and agitators; 19% cited anger over the King verdicts as well as a generalsense of rage and frustration, and 16% pointed to poverty, bad economic conditions and lack of jobs. Only 8% singled out racism as a cause of the violence.

Blacks and Anglos were not in accord on the subject of responsibility, with 37% of whites and only 10% of blacks blaming the violence on thugs and gangs. Conversely, 13% of whites cited rage over the King verdicts, compared to 22% of blacks and 24% of Latinos.

The three ethnic groups also tended to see things somewhat differently when asked if responsibility for the rioting lay more with society or with the residents of South-Central Los Angeles, where much of the violence occurred.

Overall, more than 60% blamed society, but 35% of whites and 30% of Latinos pointed to South-Central residents, as opposed to 9% of the blacks.

Almost 70% of those surveyed expressed optimism that the city could heal itself. Blacks were the most hopeful and whites the least.

Kate Templeton, a black resident of the Crenshaw District, said of the healing process: “I think it’s starting now. A lot of people are just upset and really appalled at what’s happened. They don’t want this. They want to get along with everyone. They don’t want this devastation in their neighborhoods. And they’re going forward to help in their communities and other communities with the cleanup.”

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Although virtually all of the blacks surveyed said their neighborhoods suffered damage during the rioting, 67% of Latinos and 48% of whites said their neighborhoods were at least slightly damaged.

Yet, 37% of whites--a bit more than any other group--said they felt physically threatened during the violence last week. Among both blacks and Latinos, 33% said they felt threatened.

Asked what the healing process will require, 28% of all those surveyed said it will involve renewed efforts among groups to communicate, get together and understand one another. Just over 20% stressed the need to improve the economy; 12% said education must be improved; 11% called for a harder crackdown on gangs, drugs and lawlessness, and an equal number spoke of the need for more government financial aid.

Ben Baca, 46, a Latino who works as an auto painter for the city of Los Angeles, expressed long-range optimism about the city’s prospects, saying: “After World War II in Europe, everything was so devastated, and people managed to put their lives together. It takes time. This is nothing compared to that. (But) it will leave a scar, let’s put it that way.”

How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll interviewed 888 Los Angeles adults by telephone May 3 and 4. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the city. Random-digit dialing techniques were used to ensure that listed and unlisted numbers were contacted. Interviewing was conducted in English and Spanish. Results were weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age and household size. The margin of sampling error for percentages based on the total sample is plus or minus four percentage points. For certain subgroups, the error margin is somewhat higher. Certain subgroups, such as Asians, are included in the citywide sample but are not of sufficient size for independent analysis.

THE TIMES POLL: Verdicts in Rodney King Case and Violence in the Streets

A broad consensus of Angelenos opposed the verdicts but felt that the resulting violence was unjustified. THE VERDICT

Do you agree or disagree with the jury’s verdict of not guilty in the Rodney King beating trial?

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ALL WHITE BLACK LATINO Agree strongly 8% 12% 4% 5% Agree somewhat 5 8 -- 2 Disagree somewhat 10 12 3 12 Disagree strongly 71 58 93 77 Don’t know 6 10 -- 4

THE VIOLENCE

Do you think the violence that has occurred on the streets of L.A. after the King beating trial verdict is totally or partly justified, or totally unjustified?

ALL WHITE BLACK LATINO Totally justified 3% 3% 5% 3% Partly justified 21 15 32 21 Totally unjustified 75 81 58 76 Don’t know 1 1 5 --

THE ANGER

How angry would you say you are about the violence that has occurred in recent days on the streets of Los Angeles?

ALL WHITE BLACK LATINO Very angry 63% 68% 50% 63% Moderately angry 22 19 30 22 Not too angry 7 5 6 7 Not angry at all 6 7 10 6 Don’t know 2 1 4 2

THE RESPONSE

Would you say the LAPD reacted too quickly to the violence that broke out in the hours after the King beating verdict was announced, or too slowly, or just about as they should have?

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ALL WHITE BLACK LATINO Too quickly 1% 1% 2% 1% Too slowly 80 75 82 84 As they should 16 21 14 13 Don’t know 3 3 2 2

The Times Poll interviewed 888 residents of the city of Los Angeles, with a margin of error of four percentage points in either direction.

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