After the LA Uprising: What Has and Hasn't Changed Since the Rodney King Verdict
It was an outcome seemingly no one expected: four Los Angeles Police Department officers found not guilty of assault in the beating of a black motorist, Rodney King.
The attack on King, recorded on a camcorder in 1991, was not unique in terms of the way LAPD interacted with the city’s black residents. Accusations of police brutality had dogged the department for years. What was different was that the assault on King was captured—and replayed over and over on television sets across the country.