A repeat of Rodney King? Local leaders say L.A.’s latest unrest is nothing like 1992
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The clashes between National Guard troops, police and protesters in recent days have evoked memories for some Angelenos of the deadly riots that erupted after LAPD officers were acquitted of brutally assaulting Black motorist Rodney King in 1992.
But leaders who were involved in dealing with the uprising more than three decades ago say what has unfolded with President Trump’s deployment of soldiers to Los Angeles and surrounding communities bears no resemblance to the coordinated response that took place then.
“It’s not even close,” said former LAPD chief and city councilman Bernard Parks, who was a deputy chief in the police department during the 1992 unrest. “You get a sense that this is all theatrics, and it is really trying to show a bad light on Los Angeles, as though people are overwhelmed.”
The chaos of 1992 unfolded after four LAPD officers who were videotaped beating King the prior year were not convicted. It took place at a time of deep distrust and animosity between minority communities and the city’s police department.
Federal troops and California National Guard units joined forces with local law enforcement officers to quell the turmoil, but not without harrowing results. More than 60 people were killed, thousands were injured and arrested, and there was property damage that some estimate exceeded $1 billion.
What has played out recently on the city’s streets is significantly more limited in scope, Mayor Karen Bass said.
“There was massive civil unrest [then]. Nothing like that is happening here,” Bass said on CNN on Sunday. “So there is no need for there to be federal troops on our ground right now.”
1. A demonstrator is arrested as protesters and police clash downtown Monday . (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) 2. Los Angeles police officers in riot gear prepare to clear a street in Downtown Los Angeles on Monday. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) 3. Blood spots on the ground near the Metropolitan Detention Center, in Los Angeles on Sunday. (Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times) 4. National Guard are stationed at the Metropolitan Detention Center, on Sunday. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
As of Wednesday evening, several hundred people had been arrested or detained because of their alleged actions during the protests, or taken into custody by federal officials because of their immigration status. On Tuesday, after the 101 Freeway was blocked by protesters, buildings in downtown Los Angeles were vandalized and businesses ransacked, Bass imposed a curfew in the city’s civic core from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. that is expected to last several days.
Mayor Bass announced Tuesday that a curfew would be put into place for one square mile of downtown Los Angeles from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Zev Yaroslavsky, who served on the City Council in 1992, recalled that year as “one of the most significant, tragic events in the city’s history.”
He described the riots as “a massive citywide uprising,” with “thousands of people who were on the streets in various parts of the city, some burning down buildings.”
Yaroslavsky, who was later on the county Board of Supervisors for two decades, said that while some actions protesters are currently taking are inappropriate, the swath of Los Angeles impacted is a small sliver of a sprawling city.
“All you’re seeing is what is happening at 2nd and Alameda,” he said. “There’s a whole other city, a whole other county that is going about its business.”
Another significant distinction from 1992, according to people who lived through it, was the bipartisan coordination among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican, and Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley requested assistance from then-President George H.W. Bush.
That’s a stark contrast from what started unfolding last week, when Trump’s administration sent ICE agents to Los Angeles and federalized the state’s National Guard without request by the state’s governor, which last happened in the United States in the 1960s.
“The biggest difference is that the governor requested federal help rather than having it imposed over his objection,” said Dan Schnur, a political professor and veteran strategist who served as Wilson’s communication’s director in 1992. “There were some political tensions between state and local elected officials. But both the governor and the mayor set those aside very quickly, given the urgency of the situation.”
Loren Kaye, Wilson’s cabinet secretary at the time, noted times have changed since then.
1. Critics say police gave up when the rioting erupted in 1992, letting big chunks of the city burn while looters and hoodlums ruled. Street cops say commanders held them back, fearing violent clashes would produce an endless stream of Rodney Kings. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 2. A National Guardsman stands at alert near graffiti that spells out support for Rodney King, April 30, 1992. (Los Angeles Times)
“What I’m worried about is that there aren’t the same incentives for resolving the contention in this situation as there were in ’92,” he said. Then, “everyone had incentives to resolve the violence and the issues. It’s just different. The context is different.”
Parks, a Democrat, argued that the lack of federal communication with California and Los Angeles officials inflamed the situation by creating a lag in local law enforcement response that made the situation worse.
“You have spontaneous multiple events, which is the Achilles heel of any operation,” he said.
“It’s not that they’re ill-equipped, and it’s not that they’re under-deployed,” Parks said. “It takes a minute. You just don’t have a large number of people idly sitting there saying, okay, we are waiting for the next event, and particularly if it’s spontaneous.”
Protests can start peacefully, but those who wish to create chaos can use the moment to seek attention, such as by burning cars, Park said. The end result is images viewed by people across the country who don’t realize how localized the protests and how limited the damage was in recent days.
“The visuals they show on TV are exactly what the folks in Washington want to be seen,” Parks said.
On Monday, the president deployed hundreds of Marines from Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms. State leaders have asked for a temporary restraining order blocking the military and state National Guard deployments, which is expected to be heard in federal court on Thursday.
California on Tuesday asked a federal court for a temporary restraining order blocking President Trump’s deployment of National Guard forces and Marines in L.A.
Trump, speaking to U.S. Army troops at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday, said that he deployed National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles “to protect federal law enforcement from the attacks of a vicious and violent mob.”
The president descried protesters as leftists pursuing a “foreign invasion” of the United States, bent on destroying the nation’s sovereignty.
“If we didn’t do it, there wouldn’t be a Los Angeles,” Trump said. “It would be burning today, just like their houses were burning a number of months ago.”
Newsom responded that the president was intentionally provoking protesters.
“Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities — they’re traumatizing our communities,” Newsom said. “And that seems to be the entire point.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed President Trump for intentionally inflaming tensions at protests in L.A. and targeting hardworking immigrant families in federal raids.
Activists who witnessed the 1992 riots said the current turmoil, despite being much smaller and less violent, is viewed differently because of images and video seen around the world on social media as well as the plethora of cable outlets that didn’t exist previously.
“They keep looping the same damn video of a car burning. It gives the impression cars are burning everywhere, businesses are being looted everywhere,” said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable.
Hutchinson, an activist from South L.A. who raised money to rebuild businesses during the 1992 riots, said he was concerned about the city’s reputation.
“L.A. is getting a bad name,” he said.
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