What really happened during the Los Angeles rebellion?

        According to the article "The Los Angeles Rebellion: A Retrospective View," by James Johnson, Cloyzelle Jones, Walter Farrell, and Melvin Oliver it describes how it was back in 1992 during the rebellion. Not only was it tough times for Los Angles residents but to live in the South Central area during that era was quite frightening for many living there. All three of the professors discussing this particular article discussed every detail that was taking place in the riot by addressing what economic issues were occurring during the rebellion and how hard it was to not get a job due to being of colored. 

Being familiar with this historic event and reading more about it got me to deeply understand the concept of what exactly went on during the riot not just the rebellion itself. Being one of the most historic events having to do with racism has a real impact on me, because knowing that Rodney King got beating to death by four LAPD in April of 1992 due to his color of skin is very intriguing especially after being videotaped while beating Rodney. Not only was race riots occurring at that time but the authors also mentioned that there was a lot of arrests arranged by the ethnicity of the person in which also led to arresting illegal aliens and sending them back to their country. I found it very interesting how many of the immigrants that were being arrested and deported back were mainly Latinos, with a fewer number of other ethnicities, in which in total of deportations were 477. 

       Johnson, Jones, Farrell, and Oliver brought up a really captivating point that caught my eye which was the seeds of the rebellion and how in most parts of the South central area was predominantly Black and Latino. It’s amazing how most of the main facilities were located in the heart of L.A. but as the riots caused to much chaos to the community, the owners of these different employment opportunities and decided to change locations to the Mexico border, San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley, and El Segundo. These areas increased employment rates higher than it was before which was interesting to me because I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley and to know that it wasn’t how it used to be is very interesting. 

  With all the different turmoil that the city of Los Angeles went through with all kinds of looting, burning, violence, and the numerous of arrests were eye opening to the residents of not only the city but the county that what was happening was a big controversial issue. With the LAPD being on duty wasn't enough at that time that they needed 10,000 National guard and 3,500 military soldiers to be on duty for a huge riot. I found it very interesting how much of property damaged was done that estimated to be about $785 million to $1 Billion, the whole Los Angeles county was definitely affected by it. Education was so bad at that era that the authors mentioned that approximately 63% and 79% was the drop out rates for adolescents in going to high school in South Central due to many students believing they needed a job instead of their education.

-Cristal Canedo