No Justice No Peace
In 1991, Rodney King was pulled out of his car and severely beaten by the LAPD after they chased him down the freeway for not immediately pulling over. King was unarmed yet still brutally attacked by a gang of police officers, which was caught on video by a pedestrian. Even with this video evidence and the long history of police brutality in the Black community, the state court acquitted the police of all charges on April 29, 1992. This sparked an immediate response from the community in South Los Angeles, both massive peaceful protests and outraged rioting and looting which lasted for six days. The rebellion ended with 12,111 arrests, 2,383 injuries, and 63 deaths. Although portrayed negatively in the media, the LA rebellion highlighted racist police brutality as a core problem across the US, presaging the mass protests that would emerge 20 years later in the form of the Black Lives Matter movement.
This CPH poster printed at the worker-owned and union-run Community Printers, Santa Cruz, CA.
This is #208 in the Celebrate People’s History Poster Series.
