L.A. Riot: 30 Years After The Fire - Then and Now
Much has changed in the time since the 1992 L.A. riot. But the spirit is still there.
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La Brea Ave. was one of many streets where businesses burned during the 1992 Los Angeles riot.
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Since 1992, much of the community has changed, and visitors may see murals like this in the area rather than blight.
Photo By Earl Gibson III for BET.com
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National leaders like Rev. Jesse Jackson had come to Los Angeles to talk to the angered community and to offer hope where there was despair.
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Today, leaders like John Hope Bryant and Rep. Karen Bass, who worked as a community organizer in 1992, are still working to better the area and provide opportunity.
Photo By Earl Gibson III for BET.com
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Many in the community affected by the violence simply wanted to know why the officers who beat Rodney King would not be punished.
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Today, King's daughter Lora Dean King, CEO of the Rodney King foundation, is dedicated to providing solutions where people once found none. Here she speaks as a 30th anniversary tour of the area gets under way on April 29.
Photo By Earl Gibson III for BET.com
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A young man and woman stand and watch the devastation as a building burns in the distance. More than $1 billion in damage was left and many old structures were destroyed.
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However, some places still remain. This 76 gas station was there at the corner of Florence and Normandie in 1992 and has stayed on the same corner for 30 years, remaining a symbol of the epicenter.
Photo By Earl Gibson III for BET.com
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Black and Latino people in Los Angeles had a very real fear of police in 1992 which fueled frustration against them. Even before Rodney King, complaints were rampant about police brutality from a majority white LAPD.
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Today, while relations with the LAPD are not perfect, there is a marked difference. The department is now more than 65 percent people of color, although only about 9 percent are Black and the area still deals with police violence. Still thanks to a consent decree, the number of complaints compared to 1992 are significantly lower.
Photo By Earl Gibson III for BET.com
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Much of the area destroyed in the violence were in marginalized Black communities with little in the way of opportunity. Many of the resources and jobs burned with the buildings.
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