Fights for Equality (race riots throughout history)

One of the most memorable and terrifying race riots was the Rodney King Rebellion. This race riot occurred just ten years ago, signifying that raci

al tensions still exist today. On April 29, 1992, Rodney King, a drunken motorist, refused to stop for police officers who had signaled him to stop, and he led them on a high speed chase (Knight, 244). Once King was caught, the police beat and then arrested him, hitting him a total of 56 times. As racial tensions were not thought to be prevalent during the era, this riot posed a shock to the public, who crowded at the scene in curiosity. Once a large enough group of angered African-Americans had gathered around, many of them became involved in the riot and fires were set and stores were looted. A total of 50 people had been killed, thousands were arrested, and there was a shocking bill of one billion dollars in property damage (Waller, 45). As a result of this rebellion, the Mayor of Los Angeles imposed a curfew for the city, and schools and businesses closed. Many people were fearful of what had happened, as this was an unusual event of the 1990s, and people were afraid more rebellions would follow. After the rebellion had ended, the Rodney King case went to court. The judge ruled that King’s civil rights had been violated; ergo, three out of the four police officers responsible for the beatings of King were found guilty and were charged. Many thought this rebellion truly showed the “vast differences in how whites and blacks perceived each other” (Newsfile). Even after the riot, tensions existed for quite some time; “six months later, 82 percent of the Los Angeles population said the tensions still existed, a year later 79 percent said so, and in 1997 66 percent [of the population] thought the tensions still existed” (Knight, 49). As time continues to pass by, the racial tensions between Caucasians and African-Americans are slowly decreasing.

The Rodney King Rebellion, the Tulsa Race Riot, and the Detroit Race Riot of 1967 were each influenced by racial tensions amongst the black and white populations. Although some of the riots were more severe than others, each oc

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