Believe it or not, Los Angeles was just waiting for an event like the Rodney King verdict to explode. All that was needed was that one spark to ignite the anger in the citizens of South Central and cause the area to explode. One of the recent and most significant riots took place on the streets of Los Angeles on April 29, 1992. The case was controversial because Rodney King was a black male beaten with excessive force by four white Los Angeles police officers. The not guilty verdict of the four officers may have been the initial cause, but the riots were not about Rodney King and the issue of racism; rather they were more about the class tension between poor and rich. The riots were due to all the underlying festering rage that had been building up in the residents of Los Angeles and the disbelief that police, even when caught on tape, could get away with such brutality. Although many people believe the riots were caused solely by the King verdict, in reality, these widespread brutal actions were a justified protest to the social injustice and economic inequality in which people live.
             It was obvious that the media focused on the issue of discrimination and portrayed the riots as black rage on the streets due to the not guilty verdict of the four Los Angeles policemen that were facing excessive force charges. As we saw in the TV news channel: "The live broadcast from a hovering TV news helicopter of a black man striking unconscious with a brick, kicking, and then dancing over the body of white truck driver Reginald Denny"(Whitman). The bloody images of the riots indeed proved the violent side of it. In addition, the six days of rioting resulted in the death of 52 people, the injury of 2,383 people, and the arrest of 16,291 people. There was an estimated around $1 billion in property damage in Los Angeles County, not since the Watts riots of 1965 was there so much damage (USA Today). Just to look at the figures and the med...