Today in Labor History April 29, 1992: People rioted in Los Angeles and protested in other major cities in response to the Rodney King verdict. Despite video footage of police brutally beating a defenseless King, the jury acquitted all the police officers involved. Over the next three days 64 people died and hundreds of buildings were destroyed. However, the LA riots in also included an anti-Asian pogrom. 2,300 Korean businesses were looted or burned and hundreds of Koreans suffered from PTSD. Those who died included 2 Asians, 28 African Americans, 19 Latinos and 15 whites. In San Francisco, African American youth chased cops down the street with bats. And protesters shattered the façade of Bank of America with a concrete bus bench. I also remember having to duck behind a car to avoid being shot by a scared shop owner near Chinatown, as young men ran out of his store with 12-packs of beer. The violent police assault on King was one of the first to go viral in the digital age. It inspired hundreds of protests and ushered in a new era of citizen journalists documenting police brutality that contributed to the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #PoliceBrutality #police #RodneyKing #lapd #blm #BlackLivesMatter #Riot #AntiAsianHate #BlackMastadon

#MiamiBeach spring break #curfew extension #canceled!

It’s going to be shit-show next week! #MiamiPD needs a #RodneyKing moment!

#springbreak #beachdrive #ghetto #stopandfrisk

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/miami-beach-votes-against-extending-spring-break-curfew/2997435/

#Miami beach needs "stop and frisk"! This is out of control. Or hire Memphis Five to take out the trash! Why punish the rest with new rules. Get tough on thugs!

#springbreak #oceandrive #ghetto #stopandfrisk #RodneyKing #miamibeach

Today in Labor History March 3, 1991: An amateur video caught LAPD beating Rodney King. Four officers were tried for excessive force. The jury acquitted three and reached no verdict for the fourth. Within hours of the acquittals, riots erupted in cities across the U.S. The biggest was the Los Angeles riots, which lasted six days and killed 63 people, and injured 2,383. The National Guard, Army and Marines came in and ultimately quashed the riots.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #PoliceBrutality #RodneyKing #riots #lapd #acab

If not now, when: Demonstrators renew calls for national police #reform, and for more accountability in the handling of police #brutality — particularly against Black Americans. The #violent nature of #Nichols' death has drawn comparisons to the brutal beating of #RodneyKing, which initially prompted calls for #changes in #policing back in 1991!!!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-09/a-history-of-protests-against-police-brutality

Oh, yeah, thanks, #Liberals, #WhiteModerates, and #Democrats for falling back into your historical alignment with right-wing racist reactionaries after the massive #GeorgeFloyd rebellions had given this country a glimmer of hope.

With your pearl clutching and histrionics about shoplifting and crime waves, rushing to outflank each other with anti-defund the police showmanship, electoral recalls of anyone deemed "soft on crime" or "too woke," bullshit about needing even more cops with even bigger budgets for "training," refusing to seriously invest in historically marginalized communities, you all have a hand in the stasis that is American injustice, from #RodneyKing in 1991 to #OscarGrant in 2009 to #TyreNichols in 2023.

If you never grow a spine and stand up for true equal rights and justice, own your racist instincts and commit to moving the country forward, we'll just keep reliving this same nightmare over and over again. Are you really comfortable with that, because every indication is that you are?

#TyreNichols
"His bones, from his wrist from them beating them with the cuffs on, you could see his bones coming out of his skin"
#BWC footage will be released on 27JAN2023.
I don't remember the #RodneyKing #Riots, but this is way worse.
This young man wasn't tripping on PCP, he was legitimately scared for his life.

Era la noche del 3 de marzo de 1991. El Hyundai desarrollaba una gran velocidad por una de las tantas autopistas que rodean Los Ángeles. Detrás del vehículo, una jauría de patrulleros se abalanzaba sobre la presa. Una vez detenido el coche, #RodneyKing, alcoholizado, se vio rodeado por el grupo de uniformados. Entre todos, decidieron “explicarle” que no eran esas las condiciones para manejar. Utilizaron como argumentos golpes e insultos racistas que se vieron captados por la indiscreta cámara de George Holliday, un vecino que registraba oculto desde su balcón la escena de la tunda. Un año más tarde, cuando los policías terminarían absueltos, estallarían numerosos disturbios en la ciudad con el luctuoso resultado de 63 muertos.
#EfemeridesRock