ABSTRACT
On April 29, 1992, the acquittal in Simi Valley, California of four Los Angeles Police Department officers of charges related to the widely televised beating of Rodney King, a black motorist, set off more rioting in South Central Los Angeles. Rodney King's beating was broadcast throughout the world, as was the jury verdict that stimulated the rioting. The small sample of Mexican-Americans interviewed after the 1965 rioting received only summary treatment, and in any case their attitudes were almost identical to those of whites. Blacks much more than other ethnic groups believe that the rioting was a racial protest. Perhaps the dominant interpretation of the 1960's rioting was that they were black protests against police brutality, racial discrimination, poverty, and other social conditions that impacted particularly on them. Television technology had made enormous strides since 1965, reflected in both the King videotape and the zoom lenses in helicopters that allowed for close-up coverage of the rioting from a safe distance.
