Aschinger,+Wesley

Wes Aschinger  Mr. Griffin per. 6  IB History  November 9, 2010

 **__Part A __** __**Plan of Investigation **__  The beating and trials of Mr. Rodney King forever change the city of Los Angeles and the country of the United States of America. It was hard to research non bias information on the internet. Sometimes I would read articles that would defend the officers in the beating, saying that Mr. King was the person that was attacking and in other articles I would read that all the police officers were racist and were not their to protect the public but to terrorize it instead. The way I got around this problem was not picking a side but to describe the out come of this controversial event. I found two great sources on the out come of the trials, The book __Bullets, Bombs and Fast Talk__ and a news article from the days that followed the beating and trial of Rodney King.

__**Part B Summary of Evidence **__  Through the long research that I did about my topic I learned about how the beating of Rodney King and the turn out of his trial case not only effected the city of Los Angeles but the whole country of the United States of America. The events in Rodney Kings life effected most of the police force in the country. This is because this is the first event in American History that actually displayed the police brutality that was happening. It was showing that there was not only racism but violent racism still happening in modern day America. It created the fear of police officers (the ones that are supposed to be preventing the fear) for the African American population in America.  After the police officers that were being accused for the beatings of Mr. King were found not guilty by the court the violent Los Angeles Riots were started. It caused chaos and fear for those who live in the Los Angeles area. Mr. Botting who experienced the riot himself and was an active FBI agent during what he described as a “Race War in America” in his book Bullets, bombs and fast talk: twenty-five years of FBI war stories. Many people all over America watched on there television sets to see that the riots had caused 53 deaths, about a thousand people injured and over a billion dollars wasted in property damage.  The beatings of Rodney King and the Riot that followed it influenced many artists like the rap group N.W.A and the band sublime to write songs about what they experienced and believe about the Rodney King story. One of N.W.A’s actually describes what happens the situations about most African American citizens in Los Angeles. The song was inspired by the Rodney King beatings and is seen as one of the best rap songs ever made. The riots also prompted various responses from the Korean-American community, including the formation of activist organizations such as the Association of Korean American Victims, and increased efforts to build collaborative links with other ethnic groups.

**__Part C Evaluation of Sources __** **Botting, James. __Bullets, Bombs and Fast Talk.__ 2008. Potomac Books, 2008.** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Bullets, Bombs and Fast Talk ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">is a first account experience of the Los Angeles Riots that began on April 29th, 1992. The riots followed after the trials acquitted the police officers that were accused of beating Rodney King. The book follows James Botting a Team Leader of the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Team. He is in the cross fire of a riot that destroyed most of the large city of L.A.. Botting wrote the book to show how bad the riot really was. Its purpose, to make sure that this kind of thing would not happen again and to show the lessons learned from the outcome of an amateur camera man’s video. The photographer clearly captured an African American man being a victim of police brutality by several Caucasian police officers. Botting’s story only tells what he and several other law enforcement officers experienced during this riot. They only experienced the street to street combat of the riot and not the fall out of the crisis. //

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> **Schlief, Shelley. __Rodney King Beating Trial: A Landmark for Reform.__ 2004 Pop Culture Universe** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> The news article __Rodney King Beating Trial: A Landmark for Reform__ featured on pop culture universe explains how the Rodney King beating and the riots that followed it was one of the first steps to stopping the racial police brutality in the United States. Shelley also describes “ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> the videotaped beating of King was a landmark in the history of law enforcement, and the basis for police reform across the nation.”(Schlief, 1). Schlief explains how this police brutality would not have changed if the video tape wasn’t released to the public. She also explains how the police were seen as the “bad guys” and not the ones protected citizens and keeping the peace. The article states that the safety of many people would be in danger if the video was not released.

**__<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Part D: Analysis __** **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal;"> The Rodney King beating has changed the city of Los Angeles and the United States of America in many ways. When the citizens of Los Angeles and the United States saw the video tape of police officers beating a supposed innocent man, there was a loss of trust in the people whose job was to protect the innocent. ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">When police use violence, they commonly blame deviant, violent suspects (Lawrence 2000,p. 14, 37, 179). The police could also not be trusted because the officers did not believe that they had done anything wrong. Stacey Koon, the officer in charge of the arrest, said that the LAPD policy had been followed throughout. The policy specifies a series of options, with escalating use of force: presence; verbalization; commands; firm grips; pain compliance; impact techniques; and deadly force (Skolnick and Fyfe 1993, pp. 37-42). Koon had also said “I had been in charge of the officers, but Rodney King had been in charge of the situation” (Koon 1992, p 45). Not only were the police using excessive force on an alleged innocent man but through Koon’s statement he makes it apparent that they cannot even control crime.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> The riots that followed the trial of the officers for the alleged beating of Rodney King were devastating for the city of Los Angeles. The riots were like no other in the history of the world. The rioting started in the evening of when the police officers were ruled not guilty. The rioting went on for days. The national guard was called in to help try restore order, but the national guard wasn’t working. Eventually the government had to bring in the army and the marines. Fifty-three people were killed, more than two-thousand injured, and Estimates of the material losses vary between about $800 million and $1 billion. There was also a lot of businesses damaged. Approximately 3,600 fires were set, destroying 1,100 buildings, with fire calls coming once every minute at some points. Some journalist covering the story at the time had called it a mini civil-war. It was an embarrassment for the LAPD in both the Rodney King Beating and the failure to control the public outbreak that was the riot.

**__<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Part E: Conclusion __** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> The beating and trials of Mr. Rodney King forever change the city of Los Angeles and the country of the United States of America because of the embarrassment that it caused not just the LAPD but all the police enforcements in the U.S.A. The American protectors looked like the enemy during this horrible event. And they were unable to stop the riots that they arguably started. Causing American lives to end and lots of money blown in the city of Los Angeles.

__ ** Part F: Sources ** __

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">1. Lawrence, Regina G. 2000. //The Politics of Force: Media and the Construction of Police// //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Brutality. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Berkeley: University of California Press. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">2. Skolnick, Jerome H. and James J. Fyfe. 1993. //Above the Law: Police and the Excessive Use of// //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Force. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">New York: Free Press. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">3. Koon, Stacey C. with Robert Deitz. 1992. //Presumed Guilty: The Tragedy of the Rodney King// //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Affair. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Washington, DC: Regnery. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">4. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Botting, James. __Bullets, Bombs and Fast Talk.__ 2008. Potomac Books, 2008.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">5. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Schlief, Shelley. __Rodney King Beating Trial: A Landmark for Reform.__ 2004 Pop Culture Universe