The LA riots were about stealing stuff.
I remember a couple of things.
#1 Tom Bradley (then Mayor of LA) comes out from a party dunk on air and asks how there could not be riots yet?
#2 Reporters were interviewing people in the riots, most said Rodney who?
This was the massive criminal elements that is present in most inner cities in this case activating for profit in the LA streets.
Those with guns protecting their property were left alone.
Being there is lots of racism in the inner city, you saw black gang members looking to attack anyone else that did not look like them as well in that area at that time.
And even black on black
Yep. I remember that.
Just an excuse to riot, loot, and for blacks to kill (mostly) other blacks.
Oh and countless reporters blaming GHW Bush for the riots, because he "didn't care" about black people.
A couple of things that will enrage me for the rest of my life:
We can argue until the end of time about why King didn't just STOP, and why his comrades in the car obeyed officer's orders.
Fine, maybe King didn't "deserve" to be hit by cops.
HOWEVER Reginald Denny did absolutely NOTHING wrong, and racist thugs nearly killed him with cinder blocks.
To me, that is off the charts worse than anything that King received.
That was an assassination attempt on an INNOCENT man.
That in a nutshell is the biggest story of the riots.
Literally an out of control lynch mob running amok.