Reflections of a Riot Victim

As I look out over the city today I see black plumes of several fires burning off in the distance and can’t help but feel sorry for the people who live in those communities who are quickly losing what stability those neighborhoods had. Families displaced, businesses lost . . . dreams shattered. I feel like I’m watching a movie . . . I can’t believe this is all really happening. When is this all going to end?

I understand that there are many concerns which require immediate attention, but one thought keeps invading my mind--a thought which I have not heard addressed, yet--and that is that one of my biggest hopes is that people who were not prejudiced before all of this turmoil began do not become so now. I am a 27-year-old white female and I too was a victim of the rioting. I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The emotional level was still running quite high. I was injured by three black men who tried to pull me from my car. People have got to understand that this upheaval is not the result of one race or another but of a few punks of many races (and that includes whites) who had no honor or respect for anything, or anyone, to begin with.

I would also like to let you know that I think the right thing was done in holding law enforcement officials back during the first 48 hours. Anyone believing that it would have only made matters worse was right. There was, in fact, the very real possibility that half our law enforcement may have ended up dead. During those first hours, the rioters seemed to be daring the police to stop them and in that instance any police officers--no matter how many in number--would have been targets, there would have been bloodshed on both sides. . . . Those rioters were just waiting for the police to show up and dare them to stop them. It would have just given them the opportunity they wanted to really lash out.

I commend Mayor Bradley’s resourcefulness and determination during these last hours. He did the very best anyone could have done in an impossible situation--one that caught us all off guard.

There should be no blame for the “lack of or retreat of police officers at the scene.” If anything, I feel grateful that they’re still alive to “fight another day.” However, I do hope someone tells Mr. Gates what a putz he is for taking so casually the very real “possibility” of rioting that he could go fund-raising for the day.

In becoming a victim myself, I have been forced to examine my beliefs and convictions regarding humanity and I don’t like what I see. I don’t hold any grudges against my attackers, nor do I harbor any feelings that would stereotype them along with the races they represent. However I do believe that “humanity” as a race is becoming more barbaric than the wildest animal I know of. We have been destroying our planet’s resources as well as our planet’s inhabitants for too long now and for what . . . stupid reasons. It must stop! If we don’t start helping one another, teaching one another, talking to one another, listening to one another, this will never end. It starts with you, and it starts with me, and it starts with our friends, and our families and hopefully, if we’re lucky, we can get the word of peace and equality spread before our world comes crashing down around us.

I have a personal challenge for everyone reading this--if you tell five people it’s OK to be of a different race, then I will too. And if we’re lucky we might have the whole world convinced by the time our great-grandchildren are born. I know this is probably wishful thinking, but right now I can’t think of anything better to wish for . . . can you?

JANENE C. DOCKENS

El Segundo