Understanding the Riots--Six Months Later : Separate Lives / DEALING WITH RACE IN L.A. : THE TIMES POLL / Asking ourselves

The Times Poll questioned residents citywide on their impression of Los Angeles, their neighbors and the deep divisions that fueled last spring’s violence. It was the first survey of those attitudes since a similar poll was taken Immediatley after the unrest.

These excerpts paint a picture of a fragmented city, one that has made little progress putting back together the pieces from the worst urban upheaval of this century.

Six months after the worst urban unrest of this century, Los Angeles remains a city divided, its residents separated by deep fissures that have split along racial, economic and geographic lines.

At a time when fragmentation and Balkanization have become civic buzzwords, Angelenos increasingly see their neighbors as being resentful or indifferent toward people of other races, more suspicious even than in the immediate aftermath of the riots.

Although people are optimistic about the city’s ability to heal itself, a majority see little progress thus far. They are convinced that race relations will get worse before they get better, they are disillusioned about the economy and inclined to leave Los Angeles if given the chance.

That bleak picture is painted by a new Times Poll, which tells a tale of two worlds--and, at times, three and four--that have many obstacles to overcome before they can get along.

If there is a bright side to the survey, it is that attitudes toward interracial relationships are opening, as are the doors of Angelenos’ homes to people of other races.

But the survey also shows that there are sharp disagreements about which groups of people are more inclined to act violently and which groups have too much economic and political power. People are split along racial lines in their views about the fairness of the justice system, about the causes of the violence that erupted April 29 and even about the proper term to describe those events.

“Everybody is suspicious of everybody, from what I can see,” said Claudette Kantor, a Internal Revenue Service secretary from Highland Park who is one of the 1,383 adults interviewed citywide last month for the poll.

“People I’ve known for years, people I work with--blacks, Hispanics and Asians--look at me differently,” said Kantor, who is white. “It’s not even overt, just a look out of the side of the eye that you’ve never seen before, a look that says: ‘Are you really for real?’ I would have hoped we had got beyond that. I find it real sad.”

The Times Poll, conducted Oct. 9-14 by John Brennan, has a margin of error of three percentage points, although that may be a bit higher when comparing responses of different groups. It is the first survey of the city since a similar poll was conducted 10 days after the riots.

In general, the perceptions of blacks and Latinos were similar, reflecting a sense of disenfranchisement and their belief that white people are not particularly interested in giving them a better break.

Those perceptions typically stood in contrast to the views of Asians, and to a greater extent, to those of whites--who were far less likely to believe that any racial group has too much power. Whites and Asians, however, did acknowledge that Latinos and blacks live in poor conditions and that they are the groups that suffer the most discrimination.

Where there was agreement across the board, it tended to be in relation only to just how disheartening life here has become.

When asked how things are going in Los Angeles these days, 83% said pretty badly or very badly--one of the grimmest ratings since The Times began conducting such surveys in the late 1970s. As recently as March, 1991--the time of the police beating of Rodney G. King--the city was almost evenly split, with 48% saying that things were going badly.

One reason for that pessimism may be that nearly one in four people said they are suffering a long-term impact from the tumult. In South and Central Los Angeles, where damage was most extensive, few saw signs of improvement. There was general agreement that civic leaders have done little to help.

A majority of all groups, with the exception of Asians, said they believe that another outbreak of violence is likely. More than eight out of 10 people said race relations are bad and not getting better. Most people said there are too many immigrants--a view held by whites and blacks, and even a majority of Latinos and Asians.

But the poll also showed that improving race relations is not necessarily the primary concern of residents, a growing number of whom see economic gains as more crucial to peaceful coexistence than the somewhat idealistic concept of understanding one another.

Unemployment and the economy are considered to be the most important problems facing Los Angeles, handily outpacing racism, which ranked sixth. Blacks, who six months ago said mutual understanding was the best way to prevent another riot, have shifted their view more than any other group and now lean strongly toward economic gains.

Blacks were also more inclined than any other group to believe that minorities can make more progress by strengthening their own communities, rather than by integrating and coalition-building. When asked which group should be working harder to succeed, all groups cited blacks first--including blacks, who voiced that view the strongest.

“Living and growing up in this community, I’ve seen how other ethnic groups have come in and started businesses while we haven’t done anything to build up this community economically,” said Raymond Collins, 31, a black unemployed Gulf War veteran from Watts who was interviewed for the poll. “That’s where a lot of the frustration comes from. If we become stronger economically, we won’t be looking at other groups as racially biased.”

On the encouraging side, only 11% of people--as opposed to 18% nearly four years ago--said they would disapprove if a member of their family married someone of another racial or ethnic group. More than twice that many said they would approve and most said they would not care.

Equally promising, a majority of people from every racial group said they had entertained someone of a different race in their home within the last six months. Although most tended to entertain people of their own race, there was remarkable mixing: 54% of Asians said they had entertained blacks, 61% of blacks said they had entertained whites, 65% of whites said they had entertained Latinos and 48% of Latinos said they had entertained blacks.

One of the most disturbing results of the poll may be in the divergent views of blacks and whites, whose responses suggested sharply conflicting perspectives on the world.

Substantially more whites pointed to thugs as being most responsible for the spring unrest, while a plurality of blacks blamed a slow police response. Sixty-four percent of whites described the events triggered by the King verdicts as a riot. Sixty-six percent of blacks called it a rebellion.

The majority of whites are satisfied with life in their community and they live where they do because they like the neighborhood. Blacks are the only racial group that is mostly dissatisfied with life in their community. Although 69% of whites concede that blacks are the group most discriminated against in Los Angeles, only 42% of whites think blacks should get a better break.

Twice as many blacks as whites expect the trial against those accused of beating Reginald O. Denny to be biased against the defendants. Twice as many whites as blacks say the trial of the police officers accused of beating King will be biased against the officers. When asked which racial group is most inclined to be violent, a plurality of whites said it was blacks, whereas a plurality of blacks said most groups are pretty much equal in that respect.

About two out of three people overall said the riots were totally unjustified, although the number of whites who believe the riots were partially justified has increased since May.

Although many of the survey’s conflicts tended to split along white-black lines, the poll also revealed rifts between whites and Latinos, blacks and Latinos, and blacks and Asians.

A plurality of all groups said they thought that whites, Asians and Latinos feel least favorably toward blacks, and that blacks feel least favorably toward whites. But when asked themselves, just as many blacks said they feel unfavorably toward Asians, and more Latinos said they feel unfavorably toward whites.

Some of that may be explained by the fact that blacks cited Asians as the group they believe has too much economic power--more even than whites--a perception that may be based on the prevalence of Asian-owned markets in predominantly black neighborhoods.

Latinos, meanwhile, believe that they are more frequent victims of discrimination and much harder workers than most other groups believe them to be--with the exception of blacks, a plurality of whom believe Latinos are the hardest workers. Asians, for their part, tend to be somewhat more optimistic about the state of race relations and their own chances for success.

When asked about their opportunities for adequate housing, education, employment and social acceptance, almost every racial group said they were worse off than almost every other group perceived them to be. The most notable exception was Asians, 88% of whom believed conditions for them were favorable.

Of all the groups, Asians were the least likely to be U.S. citizens, with 62% of those interviewed for the survey saying they were born here or naturalized. Among Latinos, 69% said they were citizens, followed by whites with 95% and blacks with 98%.

HOW THE POLL WAS CONDUCTED

The Times Poll interviewed 1,383 adult residents of the city of Los Angeles, by telephone, Oct. 9-14. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the city and random-digit dialing techniques were used to ensure that both listed and non-listed numbers had an opportunity to be contacted. Trend results are from previous Times polls of the city of Los Angeles. Results were weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age, education and household size. Interviewing was conducted in English and Spanish. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For certain subgroups, the error margin is somewhat higher. Poll results may also be influenced by factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented.

How We Feel About L.A.

“Los Angeles is full of people who no longer have any respect for other people as individuals. It does not necessarily have anything to do with race, it’s just basic respect. We have to start teaching people to get along with one another.”

--Robert Nelson, 62, a retired photographer from Van Nuys

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How would you rate race relations in Los Angeles?

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All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Excellent 1% 1% 1% -% 5% Good 15% 12% 16% 20% 20% Not so good 43% 42% 40% 45% 53% Poor 39% 43% 42% 35% 18% Don’t know 2% 2% 1% - % 4%

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Do you think race relations in Los Angeles are getting better or worse?

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Getting better 14% 12% 10% 18% 24% Getting worse 39% 42% 39% 38% 25% Staying the same 45% 42% 49% 43% 51% Don’t know 2% 4% 2% 1% -%

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Do you live where you live now because you want to be there or more because you have no choice?

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Want to 56% 63% 49% 50% 55% Have no choice 43% 35% 50% 49% 4% Don’t know 1% 2% 1% 1% 1%

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How often do you visit or travel on local streets through South Los Angeles or South Central or Watts?

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Live there 5% 1% 19% 7% 2% Daily 11% 4% 41% 9% 6% At least once a week 13% 10% 15% 14% 6% Several times a month 6% 7% 5% 5% 9% About once a month 9% 5% 7% 13% 12% Once every few months 5% 5% 2% 5% 8% A few times a year 10% 13% 3% 9% 10% Yearly 3% 3% 1% 3% 11% Less than once per year 13% 17% 2% 13% 13% Never been there 25% 35% 4% 22% 20%

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Is Los Angeles in the process of healing itself from the divisions and conflicts caused by the Rodney King beating, or are those conflicts and divisions getting worse?

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Healing itself 16% 15% 15% 16% 17% Things getting worse 25% 21% 30% 30% 13% Staying the same 55% 61% 52% 49% 61% Don’t know 4% 3% 3% 5% 9%

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The same question was asked on July, 1991.

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Healing itself 25% 28% 21% 23% 26% Things getting worse 23% 19% 28% 26% 26% Staying the same 47% 48% 49% 46% 46% Don’t know 5% 5% 2% 5% 2%

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How We Feel About One Another

“The rioting was so bad, I didn’t really want to watch it on TV, especially because it was my own race and I hated to see them doing that. But over the years, it has happened with all races. There is always a small percentage that is capable of being violent.”

--Norman Smith, 56, a groundskeeper for county-owned golf courses from West Los Angeles: *

Would you approve or disapprove if someone in your family married a person of a different racial or ethnic background?

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Approve 28% 22% 31% 34% 24% Wouldn’t care 59% 61% 62% 57% 64% Disapprove 11% 14% 6% 8% 8% Don’t know 2% 3% 1% 1% 4%

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The same question was asked on January, 1989. All Respondents

All Approve 14% Wouldn’t care 65% Disapprove 18% Don’t know 3%

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Do most white people want to see minorities get a better break, or do they want to keep minorities down, or don’t they care?

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Get a better break 36% 49% 24% 26% 29% Keep them down 23% 16% 33% 31% 13% Don’t care 35% 30% 38% 37% 45% Don’t know 6% 5% 5% 6% 13%

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During the last six months have you entertained a white, Latino, black or Asian person in your home? (Up to four replies were accepted.)

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Anglo 75% 92% 61% 61% 78% Latino 68% 65% 51% 80% 53% Black 58% 58% 80% 48% 54% Asian 45% 49% 27% 38% 88% None 10% 7% 12% 13% 4%

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Do you think any one of these groups-- Whites, Asians, blacks or Latinos--is getting more economic power than is good for Los Angeles? (Up to two replies were accepted.)

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians No groups 42% 54% 26% 32% 40% 48% Yes, whites 26% 17% 36% 33% 20% 9% Yes, Asians 28% 16% 43% 37% 17% 22% Yes, blacks 6% 4% 1% 10% 8% 5% Yes, Latinos 7% 8% 12% 4% 17% 6% Don’t know 8% 10% 10% 7% 14% 15%

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Which one of the following groups in Los Angeles--if any--is more inclined to be violent, or are all pretty much equal? (Up to two replies were accepted.)

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians No group 7% 7% 11% 4% 3% Anglos 3% 3% 6% 3% 4% Asians 4% 4% 4% 6% 2% Blacks 45% 49% 23% 52% 42% Latinos 40% 40% 27% 46% 43% Equal 37% 35% 48% 34% 36%

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How We See the Riots “A lot of people I know of every race are angry that people went out and burned things down and looted and put other peoples’ lives in danger and now we’re the ones who have to pay for it. It takes years to get over that resentment and I don’t know if you ever do.”

-- Judy Lobensommer, 47, owns business supplying packaging materials to manufacturers, from Hollywood Hills

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How have last spring’s riots in Los Angeles affected the feelings of most people in your neighborhood toward those of other races and ethnic groups?

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Sympathetic/Open 20% 21% 25% 16% 18% Resentful/Closed 32% 34% 21% 38% 19% Indifference 40% 35% 49% 41% 51% Don’t know 8% 10% 5% 5% 12%

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The same question was asked in May 12.**

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Sympathetic/Open 36% 32% 48% 34% Resentful/Closed 23% 27% 9% 22% Indifference 28% 22% 32% 36% Don’t know 13% 19% 11% 8%

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Because of last spring’s riots, do you feel more or less self-conscious about your race?

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians More self-conscious 30% 29% 23% 34% 26% Less self-conscious 4% 1% 8% 7% 5% No difference 65% 69% 67% 59% 68% Don’t know 1% 1% 2% -% 1%

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Do you think the violence that occurred on the streets of Los Angeles this spring was justified?

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Totally justified 4% 4% 8% 5% 2% Partially justified 29% 27% 32% 30% 32% Totally unjustified 64% 67% 53% 64% 64% Don’t know 3% 2% 7% 1% 2%

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The same question was asked in May.**

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Totally justified 3% 3% 5% 3% Partially justified 21% 15% 32% 21% Totally unjustified 75% 81% 58% 76% Don’t know 1% 1% 5% -%

**Because of sampling limitations, the May poll did not break out the responses of Asians.

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Who or what is most responsible for the riots? Is there something else that is responsible? (Up to two replies were accepted.)

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Police slow to respond 23% 20% 27% 24% 20% Thugs 19% 22% 10% 17% 27% Rage 14% 14% 18% 14% 10% No jobs 13% 18% 13% 9% 9% Chief Daryl Gates 10% 8% 9% 11% 6% News media 8% 9% 3% 8% 15% Jury 8% 5% 14% 9% 6% Justice system 8% 6% 12% 8% 9%

Note: Top eight responses are shown.

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Which word do you think better describes the civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles last April: “Riot” or “Rebellion?”

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Riot 52% 64% 26% 46% 66% Rebellion 40% 28% 66% 47% 25% Other* 2% 2% 2% 2% 6% Don’t know 1% 1% 3% 1% -%

*Includes “neither,” “other” and “both” categories.

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How We See Discrimination

“My parents are from mainland China and I was brought up to believe we have to try our best and hardest and prove we can make it in America. I think Asians have that ethic, that code that is completely different from a lot of other Americans.”

--James Toy, 26, an alarm system installer, from El Sereno:

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In which ways, if any, have you experienced discrimination during the time you’ve lived in Los Angeles? Up to three replies were accepted.

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Jobs/Promotion 31% 25% 48% 33% 27% Strangers 27% 20% 27% 32% 33% Business/Retail 19% 10% 32% 26% 13% Education 13% 10% 14% 19% 10% Housing 10% 6% 21% 11% 6% Government 10% 8% 14% 10% 11% None 32% 45% 13% 24% 28%

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These days, do you think racism is mainly something white people are guilty of in America or are other groups guilty of racism as well?

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians White people 5% 3% 9% 6% 4% Other groups as well 92% 95% 88% 92% 87% Don’t know 3% 2% 3% 2% 9%

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Do you think whites are discriminated against the most, or Asians, or blacks, or Latinos? Is there another group that you think is discriminated against almost as much, or not? Up to two replies were accepted.

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians No group 7% 9% 2% 8% 9% Anglos 5% 7% 2% 5% 5% Asians 7% 4% 16% 5% 18% Blacks 72% 69% 85% 73% 58% Latinos 56% 48% 53% 71% 40% Some other group 1% 1% 1% -% 6% Don’t know 7% 9% 5% 3% 7%

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How close are we to eliminating discrimination against blacks and other minorities in America?

All Anglos Blacks Latinos Asians Close 20% 17% 10% 29% 26% Not close 78% 79% 90% 70% 73% Don’t know 2% 4% -% 1% 1%

How the Poll Was Conducted: