UNDERSTANDING THE RIOTS / PART 3 : WITNESS TO RAGE : ‘I am screaming at the television, Where are the police?’

I happened to be home and watching television when the King verdict came in. I just sat on the bed with my mouth open and shook my head.

I knew there would be a harsh reaction. It’s like an analogy to an alcoholic. You have to hit rock-bottom before you decide it’s time to do something about your problem. And I think that a riot is hitting rock-bottom.

That afternoon I called my sister and my mother called me. We wound up being on a three-way call. My mother was crying. And we were all saying, “I don’t believe they did it.” My mother said, “It’s going to be worse than ’65. Go get Aja (my daughter) from school. There’s going to be trouble tonight.”

So, I went and got my daughter. We went to McDonald’s and got a “Happy Meal.” Ha, ha, ha. And then we came home. And I stayed glued to the television for the rest of the evening. That’s when I started hearing the horns blowing. In protest of the verdict, people in the street were honking their horns all up and down Crenshaw Boulevard, which is just two short blocks from our house. It was a constant. Everybody was laying on the horns and this went on for hours. Then I started hearing gunshots. It sounded like people were driving by and shooting.

I turned the lights out. We were starting to get the pictures of Florence and Normandie, where bottles and rocks were being thrown. Fifteen minutes later, they were pulling people out and they were beating them. And I’m watching this on television and it’s incredible to me.

And I am screaming at the television, “Where are the police?! Where the hell are the police?! I don’t believe this!” I’m just screaming at the top of my lungs, to myself and to the television. This is on live TV! This is not tape, this is live! And there are no police. There’s no ambulance. There’s no firemen. What the hell is going on?

I understood the rage, but I was more scared than anything. How close to home was it going to get? And then, what was going to happen to the brothers? That’s the thing that just kept ringing through my head. It was like a powerful statement for all black people. But, especially for the men. Every black person knows that it’s the men that get stopped. It’s the men that get harrassed for no reason at all.

Anyway, it’s just my daughter, who is 9, and me--and I was scared. But I need to be strong and brave for my daughter. I don’t want her to be as scared as I am. But, it’s kind of hard to hide that from her.

Now, I was hearing more and more of the helicopters. And the gunshots must’ve gone on for a good hour. And I called 911, and nobody’s answering 911. I called and called and called and I tried for 20 minutes.

Finally, the phone rang and it was picked up and I was put on hold for 10 minutes. I’m thinking, If someone was coming through my door right now, I’d just be a goner. So once the person came on the phone and said, “Yes . . . 911, can I help you?” I told them, “People are shooting around my house. There’s something going on. I don’t know what it is. Y’know what’s happening. What are you guys doing?”

And the woman says, “We are aware of the looting and the shooting in your area and the police will do the best they can.”

And I go, “What does this mean?”

Now at this point my daughter and I are on the floor, ‘cause we don’t know where the bullets are going to come from. They sound so close. You don’t know what’s going to happen. I said, “My daughter and I are on the floor. So, what are you telling me? Are police out there. Are they doing anything?” Because on the other hand, I’m watching television and there’s no police on TV. So, I’m sure that there’s no police around me.

So she says, “I said, the police will do the best they can.” Click. And she hangs up on me.

I have a good job, but I don’t have enough money to go buy a house in Beverly Hills or Simi Valley, not that I’d want to live in either one of those places. Actually, when I think about it, even if I had the money, I’d just buy a house in, maybe, Baldwin Hills, which is just down the road. It’s my community. I like it here. I have never felt closer to this community than I do now. The American dream may be that when you can afford better you move, but that’s not my dream.

The Rodney King issue directly speaks to the African-American experience. But once the riot began and the momentum started to going, then it became a “have-nots versus the haves” situation. The black rage opened the door of opportunity for other people--for other minorities and poor people to come in and say, “Wow . . . I want to get a piece of this, too.” And that’s why we saw pictures of not only African-Americans, but we saw Latinos and we saw white people looting.

There’s no doubt in my mind that shooting and looting and burning strikes fear in the heart of everyone. I was definitely one who was afraid. But even more so in the hearts of white America. And in the hearts of this staunch right-wing, law and order people. That’s the easy way out. Lock ‘em up. We’re done with it. I really hope that that doesn’t happen. Because then all that means is that later on down the road, there’s going to be a new breed of people and they are going to have another riot.