Voices

“It’s right to rebel.”

“Revolution is the hope of the hopeless.”

Scrawled on brick wreckage of a two-story building across the street from a burned-out Jack-in-the-Box

“Everything I did was (criticized) as being provocative before this incident occurred. . . . No one knew when the verdict was coming. We will admit we were as shocked as everyone and in the first stages of this were overwhelmed.”

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates during a television interview

“We go from the mess-up, to the mop-up, to the makeup.”

The Rev. Cecil (Chip) Murray of First AME Church

“This is our country. It is a patchwork of many people and we need to keep it together.”

Helen Kim, a medical student and member of the Korean American Society

“Humankind has failed humankind.”

Katrina Haines of Mission Viejo, niece of Mathew Haines, who was slain in the riots

“It’s been very quiet tonight with few calls until the last few hours when our spousal abuse calls really started increasing.”

Long Beach Police Cmdr. Anthony Batt speaking during the curfew

“These kids are sophisticated, savvy and logical. They see their neighborhoods neglected for years. They see people come in and take money out of the community and not give anything back. They see themselves treated like second-class citizens. They’re saying this is our time to take back. The attitude is: ‘You do your task force, we’ll continue to burn.’ ”

Robert T. Moore, whose hair-styling business was damaged

“Word-of-mouth I heard is that as soon as these guys pull out, they’re going to start all over again. I don’t think the heat has died down yet.”

Bobby Gantt of Compton

“Our thought process is that we’ll have them here until this has all been settled. We want to make sure everything is under control.”

Officer Bill Frio, a spokesman for the LAPD

“I sure am pleased that things have calmed way down, and I think our actions helped.”

President Bush

“We must not stay on the road we are on. We must not permit this country to drift apart further by race and income.”

Gov. Bill Clinton

“We should all be outraged by the Bush Administration’s cynical inaction on the issues of civil rights, social justice and equal opportunity in America.”

Ron Brown, Democratic national chairman

On filing federal civil rights charges against the four police officers: “Immediately, immediately--because that sends people the signal that justice still lives.”

Ross Perot, independent