Info

Original Title: LA 92
Director: Daniel Lindsay & T.J. Martin
Release: 2017

The L.A. Riots, 1992

Following the review of All Eyez on Me, that show the police brutality and racial tension from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, I think this review would be at the right moment.

This one going to be brief, but it is going to be the first (and not the last) review of a Documentary.

This powerful documentary starts by showing us footage, interviews, and news about the previous riot in the Los Angeles area, The Watts Riots from 1965.

From there we fast forward seeing the continuous racial segregation and police brutality towards minority groups, especially black. That includes the videotaped beating of Rodney King and the murder of the 15-year-old Latasha Harlins.

Latasha was shot in the back of the head following an altercation with a Korean owner of a convenience store. The jury found the store owner, Soon Ja Du, guilty and recommended the maximum sentence. The disgusting Judge Joyce Karlin, thinking it is okay to kill black kids, just gave her probation and a 500 dollars fine.

Two weeks before, four members of the LAPD cowardly beat the taxi driver Rodney King. The event, caught on tape, was not enough for the jury and the four were found not guilty. The case remains one of the most famous cases of miscarried justice in the US.

The day-to-day beatings and humiliations, in addition to these two events, culminated with the violent riot.

The documentary shows us all of it. The repercussion, how the press reported what was unfolding and a lot of footage ‘in loco’. The tension between part of the black community and the Korean community, the LAPD inability to act, the actions of the National Guard and etcetera.

We also see many groups trying to make peaceful statements and the unity of the various races that live in the city. Rodney King himself asking for the end of violence and saying “can’t we all just get along?!”.

After all the turmoil was calming down, we get back to see all the images of 1992 with the audio of 1965, tracing the parallel between ’65, ’92 and even now, questioning that the next riot might be a question of time.

LA 92 is a raw documentary, showing real footage, people dying, people killing, buildings burning, people trying to defend themselves and their property. We see injustice from both police and from the common people that direct their hate towards the wrong individuals.

Even knowing about the events, much of the footage was new to me and I never get used to and desensitized by the murder of Latasha Harlins and beatings of Rodney King.

9 Moons and more pictures below.