Sparked by public anger over the 1992 acquittal of the LAPD officers accused of beating up Rodney King in Los Angeles, federal charges were eventually brought against the officers, accusing them of violating King’s civil rights. About a year after the LA Uprising, Officer Laurence Powell and Sergeant Stacey Koon were found guilty while the other two were acquitted. While local communities braced for more violence, the streets remained largely calm.

In the months and years that followed, political commentators on the right increasingly linked the incident to a “poverty of values,” to quote then Vice President Dan Quayle. President George Bush asserted that the actions during the uprising were “purely criminal.”

On April 27, 2012, Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar spoke with Joanne Kim, COO (Chief Operating Officer), Leslie Cooper, Development Director, and Maria Muniz, Community Organizer, with the Community Coalition, about what has changed, or not, since 1992.

Visit www.cocosouthla.org for more information.

Watch a video of the interview here:

Martina Steiner recorded this interview.