A Decade Later, Residents More Upbeat

The passage of time has smoothed some of the edges that the 1992 Los Angeles riots carved into citizens’ psyches.

During the decade that has passed since the city endured three days of looting and burning and 54 deaths, residents gradually have come to view their city more positively, a Los Angeles Times poll has found.

Angelenos express more satisfaction with their communities and the Police Department, and see the city as less racially divided than in the months and first few years after the rioting. Fewer are inclined to view the riots as unjustified.

Blacks continue to have a grimmer outlook on the city than other groups, a historical tendency attributed to a legacy of discrimination. But in this poll, their views generally were less negative than previously.

“People are feeling better about their city than at any time since the riots,” said Susan Pinkus, director of the Times Poll.

The riots, America’s deadliest in the 20th century, broke out 10 years ago today after a jury did not return guilty verdicts against any of the four Los Angeles Police Department officers whose videotaped beating of Rodney G. King stunned the nation.

The violence destroyed businesses and other property in largely poor and minority neighborhoods, and set off a years-long conversation about the consequences of Los Angeles’ diversity and the gulf between affluent and poor residents.

A solid majority--69%--now feels the city has made at least some progress toward the question King posed at his first public appearance on the third day of the rioting: “Can we all get along?” Twenty-six percent said they saw little or no progress, while 5% said they did not know. Five years ago, however, 53% said the city had made progress toward its different racial groups getting along with one another, while 41% said little or none.

Today, the sense that progress has been made cuts across all three major racial groups and registers throughout the city: 74% of whites, 70% of blacks (contrasted with just 45% five years ago) and 60% of Latinos reported progress. Geographically, that sentiment was voiced by 75% of those living in the San Fernando Valley, 69% each of Westsiders and residents of the southern part of the city and 61% of those living in the central neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

“People have become a little more conscious that you need to be a little more patient, a little more observant, that [a member of a different racial group] is a human being,” Laurie Dowling, 45, a San Fernando Valley resident, said in a follow-up interview. Dowling said she attends a multicultural, multiracial church on the Westside.

But a more specific question on the quality of race relations drew less effusiveness.

46% Call Relations Good

Only 46% described race relations as good, while 51% said not good. Among whites, 51% said race relations were good, but only 30% of blacks and 45% of Latinos agreed with that assessment. Still, that is a much rosier view than the prevailing outlook six months after the riots, when 82% of Angelenos felt race relations were not good; five years later, that number, while still a strong majority, had slid to 67%.

A solid majority, 78%, feel Los Angeles has recovered emotionally at least somewhat from the riots, although fewer blacks, 67%, hold that view than do Latinos, 85%, and whites, 77%.

“Everybody has kind of settled down and [is] trying to get along with everybody else, trying to adjust themselves to whatever is going on,” said Shirley Washington, 63, a housewife who lives in one of the South-Central Los Angeles neighborhoods where the rioting was intense.

“I don’t think people are quite as frustrated as they were then,” said Pamela Williams, 68, who lives in the Valley.

Today, slightly more people than previously say the term “riot” best describes the events. Overall, a small majority, 54%, of residents chose “riot” while 33% preferred “rebellion.” Among racial groups, however, whites chose “riot” over “rebellion” 71% to 19%, while blacks favored “rebellion” 55% to 35%--a division that also was reflected in news accounts years after the 1965 Watts riots. Latinos were more narrowly divided: 45% said “rebellion” while just 38% chose “riot.”

People are divided in their opinions on the root causes of the riots--nearly one-third of those surveyed blamed a small criminal element for the looting and burning. Eighteen percent said the rioting was primarily to protest the verdicts in the King beating case.

“Police people did too much to black people, and the black people fought back in the same way,” said Albert Ibaraki, 69, who has lived near downtown Los Angeles for 15 years.

Polly Stevens, 73, a retired teacher who lives on the Westside, said she watched Court TV coverage of the trial of the four officers who beat King and was stunned when none was convicted.

“Many of the rioters were people who would not ordinarily do that sort of thing, but they felt they were entitled” because of the verdicts, Stevens said. “It was a very sorry thing.”

One-fifth cited economic injustice as the root cause, while another one-fifth said it was a combination of all three factors. About three-fourths agreed that the riots were not just about the verdicts, but reflected the culmination of injustices felt then by most blacks every day living in the city.

While two-thirds of all residents--and 88% of blacks--disapproved of the verdicts, a majority, 58%, said the riots were unjustified, and the responses for each of the three racial groups were about the same as residents as a whole. Five years earlier, a significantly larger proportion of residents--71%--felt the riots were unjustified.

“I don’t condone the crimes that were committed,” said Valley resident Ernest Fuentes, 77, “but most of the people who did these bad things had no other way of expressing their frustration.”

Fuentes, an ambulance driver for the city during the 1950s and ‘60s, said he witnessed many incidents of police brutality and discrimination against blacks in those days and does not believe racism has been overcome within the LAPD.

One-third of residents who lived in or near the riot zone said there were businesses in their neighborhoods that still have not reopened. In the southern quadrant of the city, which includes many of the hardest hit neighborhoods, 55% reported unreplaced businesses, as did 65% of blacks.

LAPD Comes Under Fire

The rioting was a watershed event for the Police Department as much as for the city as a whole because it brought to the surface long-smoldering resentment and accusations of police racism. The rioting--and the LAPD’s slow initial response to it--cost a longtime police chief his job, tarnished the department’s image and spawned an ongoing drive to reform the department.

Not surprisingly, a Times poll taken shortly after the riots showed only 40% of residents--and only 23% of blacks--approved of how the LAPD was doing its job.

In the current poll, however, the LAPD’s performance got a thumbs up from 62% of Angelenos, including a narrow majority, 51%, of blacks and from 65% of whites and 60% of Latinos. Moreover, 81% said they had a favorable impression of the department’s efforts to hold down crime in their communities. Police got high marks throughout the city. But among racial groups, somewhat fewer blacks (69%) rated the department’s activities favorably than did Latinos (85%) and whites (84%).

Blacks also expressed a different experience with the LAPD’s community outreach efforts. Only 48% said they viewed the department’s activities favorably, while the department’s efforts got favorable marks from 74% of Latinos and 62% of whites.

But a majority--57%--of Angelenos believe racist feelings are at least somewhat common among LAPD officers. Not surprisingly in the wake of the Rampart Division corruption scandal and intense debate over “racial profiling” in traffic stops and arrests, that view is most strongly held by Latinos (68%) and blacks (65%), while 48% of whites agreed.

The poll also revealed wide differences in how the various groups perceive the incidence of police brutality. Roughly two-thirds of blacks and Latinos said police brutality was either fairly or very common, while only 28% of whites thought so.

As for the King beating’s long-term impact on the LAPD, nearly half (45%) of Angelenos felt the department had become a better institution because of it, while 11% felt it had made the department worse and 33% said it had no impact. That is very similar to findings of a Times poll taken in spring 1997, the fifth anniversary of the riots.

If Angelenos have mixed feelings about their Police Department, their views of their own communities and circumstances are more positive than at any time since the riots--84% said they were at least somewhat satisfied with their communities. Shortly after the riots, 59% said they were satisfied and, five years later, 73%.

Jobs Are Still a Concern

Jobs and the economy continue to be a concern for nearly half of Angelenos, however: 49% said the availability of jobs and economic opportunities in their communities was not good, while 43% thought it was. But views varied widely among racial groups--nearly two-thirds of blacks and Latinos rated economic opportunities poor while only one-third of whites did so.

“It’s just very difficult to get a job,” said Gloria Atkins, 66, who lives in the city’s harbor area. “There needs to be more training and more facilities for people to get the training for these jobs.”

Atkins said she learned firsthand about job scarcity when she was laid off more than a year ago as a manager for a high-tech firm and could not find another job. She reluctantly went to work for her brother’s firm.

Residents continue to put crime near the top of their list of problems facing the city--33% said it was the most important and 17% said gangs

were; traffic and education were the No. 1 concerns for 15% and 14%, respectively, of those interviewed.

The poll of 1,163 Los Angeles city residents was conducted April 18 through 22, and has a margin of sampling error of three percentage points in either direction.

*

Times staff writer Sandra Murillo contributed to this report.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Ten Years After

How would you rate race relations in Los Angeles today?

Oct-92 Oct-93 Apr-97 Now

(6 months (18 months (5 years (10 yrs

after) after) after) after)

Excellent

1% 1% 3% 3%

Good 15% 19% 27% 43%

Not so

good 43% 41% 45% 42%

Poor 39% 38% 21% 9%

Compared to 10 years ago, race relations in Los Angeles havengeles

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Gotten better 50% 52% 36% 57%

Gotten worse 12% 9% 25% 14%

Stayed the same 28% 26% 35% 26%

Didnearst live

here then 6% 8% 2% 3%

(volunteered)

During the riots, Rodney King appealed to the people of the city of Los Angeles by saying, “Can we all get along?” Over the last 10 years, how much progress have the different racial and ethnic groups in the city made in getting along together?

All Whites Blacks Latinos

A lot 7% 11% 9% -

Some 62% 62% 60% 60%

Not too much 20% 18% 15% 31%

None at all 6% 4% 16% 4%

Is Los Angeles primarily a segregated city--with different racial and ethnic groups each living in their own neighborhoods--or is Los Angeles an integrated city--with different racial and ethnic groups living together in mixed neighborhoods?

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Segregated 42% 50% 47% 34%

Integrated 36% 30% 38% 38%

Some of both 19% 17% 12% 26%

(volunteered)

“The riots after the Rodney King beating trial verdict were not just about the not guilty verdict of the four white police officers, but the culmination of injustices felt by most blacks every day living in Los Angeles.” Agree or disagree?

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Agree 73% 75% 78% 69%

Disagree 16% 17% 16% 17%

Don’t Know 11% 8% 6% 14%

Has Los Angeles healed itself from the divisions and conflicts caused by the Rodney King beating?

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Healed itself 39% 35% 29% 12%

Things have gotten worse 6% 4% 15% 21%

Things have stayed the same 50% 56% 52% 64%

Has Los Angeles recovered emotionally from the riots?

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Not recovered at all 17% 18% 30% 48%

Recovered totally 22% 28% 11% 5%

Recovered somewhat 55% 50% 56% 42%

Since the riots, Los Angeles has changedngeles

All Whites Blacks Latinos

For the better 51% 55% 43% 51%

For the worse 6% 8% 9% 3%

Remained about the same 36% 33% 46% 38%

How often do you think about the riots?

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Often 7% 8% 15% 5%

Not too often 36% 28% 30% 48%

Not often at all 55% 62% 54% 47%

Do you agree or disagree with the jury’s verdict of not guilty against the police officers accused of beating Rodney King 10 years ago?

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Agree 18% 20% 5% 23%

Disagree 67% 63% 88% 66%

Donearst know 15% 17% 7% 11%

Since the riots, how effective have the civic leaders of Los Angeles been in getting to the roots of the problems to improve the situation of blacks and other minorities that led to the riots?

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Very effective 3% 4% 9% 2%

Somewhat effective 45% 50% 43% 40%

Not too effective 27% 24% 25% 34%

Not effective at all 14% 13% 19% 13%

Don’t know 11% 9% 4% 11%

Note: “-” indicates less than 0.5%. Numbers may not total 100% where “Don’t know” responses are not shown.

How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll contacted 1,163 adults in the city of Los Angeles by telephone April 18-22. The main sample was supplemented with an additional sample of 125 African Americans, increasing that subgroup to 262, which was then weighted to its proportionate share in the city. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the city. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and unlisted numbers could be contacted. The entire sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age, education and area of city. The margin of sampling error for the city of Los Angeles is plus or minus 3 percentage points; for African Americans it is 6 points. For certain subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by other factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. Asians were interviewed as part of the entire sample, but there were not enough to break out as a separate subgroup.

Times Poll results are also available at http://161.35.110.226/timespoll