UNDERSTANDING THE RIOTS / PART 3 : WITNESS TO RAGE : IN CHARGE : ‘History doesn’t often accord second chances and we’d better take ours.’

About 3:30 Wednesday, I wrote this in my diary: “Verdicts incredible. Disorder imminent.”

The next entry is between 5 and 6: “Riots breaking out.”

That night I was up worrying, as probably half the city was. While pacing around, I went to the shelf and got down a volume of what’s called the McCone Commission Report, some of which I helped to write.

A couple of things that we wrote then seemed quite relevant to me. And, as I looked at it early that Thursday morning, I felt very sad and bleak. One sentence said, “The avenue of violence and lawlessness leads to a dead end.” Another read: “The time for bitter recriminations is past. It must be replaced by thoughtful efforts on the part of all to solve the deepening problems that threaten the foundation of our society.” I think that’s particularly valid now, though it was written 27 years ago.

On Thursday, which was the worst day in many respects, we decided to close our office at 3:00 and by about 3:30 nearly everyone was gone but me. Our executive director came in and said, “You know, either you’re going home or we’re going to take you home.” So, I did go home to Coldwater Canyon, where I began stewing about how serious conditions were.

At 5:00, I called the mayor’s office. Up to that point, I’d been reluctant to intrude in any way. I know how busy people are at a time like that. But I thought it had reached the point where I ought to call. I had driven home along Beverly Boulevard. There were fires everywhere by that time and the National Guard still wasn’t in place. I was really concerned for the city and about whether it had sufficient law enforcement. Even though I didn’t want to intervene, I did.

I called, and asked to speak to the mayor. I asked him whether they had considered calling in federal troops. He said that the state National Guard was on the scene by then, and they were opposed to bringing in federal trrops. I said that, in my experience, such opposition is typical.

I urged him to alert the federal officials that the city might need federal forces because there’s a fairly long lead time in identifying the necessary units. I’d been through that bull in Detroit and Chicago, where there were riots while I was serving in the Justice Department.

The mayor then authorized me to alert the federal officials on his authority. I spent a good part of Thursday night contacting people in Washington, who would know to begin identifying units and trying to save that three or four hours that was necessary. I felt things were out of control Thursday night. The National Guard was very slow to move in and that’s fairly typical too. The National Guard is not very effective in these situations.

Moreover, what was occurring here was considerably more severe than I expected. There was clearly a disarray in the top management that first night. This was a result of the transition in the department with the chief’s three top aides retired, on vacation or not on communicating terms. So the people who the chief relied on to run the department, at the time our commission evaluated its work, were simply not available to help manage this crisis. That produced a real gap in leadership at a critical time.

The disarray in the Police Department has a lot of echoes from the testimony we heard, but that being said, the degree of disarray still suprised me in view of the positive reputation of the department.

I was also not aware that the mayor and the police chief had not been speaking to each other for a year. That fact has shocked people. Everyone was aware that it was a tense relationship, but that dramatic a break does grab one’s attention

On Thursday, earlier in the day, we’d had an event in the (Transamerica) Occidental Tower in support of Charter Amendment F, the police reform measure. Basically, it had turned into a unity meeting. There was a marvelous turnout, including Cardinal Roger Mahony. But it was an ironic place to have it, because the press, quite understandably, was more interested in looking out that tall building’s windows to see the fires breaking out.

Anyway, I talked about how Charter Amendment F could be an essential part of the rebuilding process and that it ought to be supported as a way to begin the healing. Then Cardinal Mahony made very helpful remarks. Several other people spoke in a very supportive and warm way. But it was all so eclipsed by the dramatic events outside that I just had to feel that, at that moment, we were a little bit irrelevant.

At this moment, though, I don’t think that any of us--or our efforts--are irrelevant. The McCone Commission Report, I mentioned earlier was not a magnificent document or a tremendous sociological study. But, essentially, it was right in its insistence that widespread unemployment and bad relations between the police and community create a witches’ brew of anger and frustration and alienation and despair.

That was true then, and it’s true today.

Los Angeles now has a second chance to deal with these problems. You don’t often get second chances in life. It’s going to take a tremendous effort. But the main thing is not to let down on it. The whole community must mobilize and all of its people will have to be willing to make sacrifices.

History doesn’t often accord second chances and we’d better take ours.