From a Photojournalist Perspective

Photo by civilian George Holliday of the cops beating Rodney King

May 1 LA Times cover

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The photos below are from LA Times photographer Kirk McCoy

          What makes the LA 1992 riots unique is the fact that there are hundreds and thousands of perspectives or recollections that people personally had from that day. From photography to video to writing, there is not just one valid angle to come at these riots from. Photography, I believe plays a huge role in the way a story is told and shared for many to see. People get a taste of the many scenes that happened, especially with such a major event like this one. The first photo attached is one taken by George Holliday, the same man who videotaped the whole beating, from his balcony. This photo and the video footage he got are hands down some of the best media evidence from that night of the violence and wrongdoings of the cops. The photo below this of the May 1st front cover of the LA Times after the riots broke out. I can only imagine how intense and emotional it was for the staff at the LA Times to work on that issue. This was one of LA's most historical and memorable events that impacted the city and to be able to work on writing an article or taking the photos for it is probably an experience like no other.

          A perspective I am greatly inspired and intrigued to dive more into is one from a photojournalist's view. Kirk McCoy is a photographer who works for the LA Times and offers an interesting recount of his time getting to photograph the riots. He remembers starting his journey with his fellow photojournalist mate from another publication. They took her car and headed straight to West Adams and Crenshaw; everywhere was a danger zone to be careful of. Anger and violence completely dominated the city. McCoy and his colleague were heavily warned about getting to close to all that was happening, especially his colleague since she was blonde and white. Without surprise, a few moments later, as McCoy was taking photos, he turned around to find his colleague bleeding on the floor after having been hit in the head multiple times from rocks being thrown at her. Even though her reporter signaled for him to come so that they could leave, McCoy decided that it was his city and was only right to stay around longer. Something else that is interesting was when he remembers all the people chasing and running behind cars, cars running into each other, and "anyone who came near a car, who wan't African American, they just thew rocks and bottles at." While being an African American media reporter somewhat helped, carrying around a huge camera, getting in all the action and taking photos was enough for McCoy to get called out on. He got into a huge scuffle with someone and it even ended up being a little bloody in the end. 

          After watching McCoy's video about his stories from photographing the riots, it made me realize just how hard it is to be a photojournalist. The stress and dedication these people put into getting the shot and documenting such a horrible event like this one is not for the faint of heart. It requires a lot of patience and willingness. Being a photojournalist at a time during the riots is suggestive of how media plays a role in society and how people view media related folks. As a photojournalist or anyone in media, it is beyond important to be sensitive, respectful and hold media ethics for where ever you go. For McCoy, it was interesting to hear about how he took in this whole event and produced some of the most visually aesthetically pleasing and nicely composed photos of something so heart wrenching and destructive.

Danielle Del Rosario

Found object: interview of a juror

[interview at 9:30]

This is part of a news piece after the night the riots started, showing clips from other news station showing the after math. During the news piece they had an interview with one of the jurors from the Rodney King trail that started the riots. The first question that the caster asked the juror was if they still stand by their decisions the night after the trail, and her response was "absolutely". She was that King was not being beaten but just resisting arrest, and laughing. But when she first saw the video on the news she was appalled by it, but after attending the trail and hearing the witnesses her opinion changed and blamed King for doing this to himself. The jurors were shown pictures of the injuries King and said that is was not that bad.

It was interesting to see how hers and the jurors changed and how early it was determined. The report also said that the decision was made days before the verdict and stories that $1 million dollars were set aside for police overtime after the trail. This leads to a lot of question about how the jurors made their so quickly, what made them change their opinions, and if the police had any influence to the decisions.

Alexander Bradtke

Teamwork Achieves Greatness

"The highway north was emptier today than I've ever seen it. We were the biggest crowd around-eight adults and a baby-and other people kept away from us. Several of the other walkers were individuals and couples with children. (Butler 247)

"First, he didn't like us. That was obvious. He didn't like us at all. I thought he might resent us because we were united and armed. You tend to resent the people you're afraid of. I told him we kept a watch, and that if he could put up with that, he was welcome. He shrugged and said in his soft, cold voice, "Oh, yea." (Butler 291)

"We help each other. A group is strong. One or two people are easier to rob and kill." Yeah." He looked around at the others. There was no great trust or liking in his expression, but he looked more relaxed, more satisfied. He looked as though he had solved a troubling puzzle." (Butler 302)


In these passages, there is a common theme of teamwork over individualism. This theme is highlighted very much over the course of the novel, Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. Survival as a group increases the chances of every individual's chances of staying alive in a setting of explosions, looting, killing, and stealing. Every individual that has tried to do great things by themselves for a short period of time has fallen to the violence of groups with bad intentions. At the same time, individual efforts within a group towards a goal has defeated many occasions that challenges their existence. In this journey towards the life they dreamed of, this group of different character types prove again and again that there is no contest that a team will always achieve more than an individual.



Barry Huang

"Hellrazor" by 2Pac: The Relation to the 90's

[Intro]

Major! Hell motherfuckin' yeah

This one goes out to my nigga Mike Cooley, hell yeah

Mama raised a hellraiser

[Verse 1]

Born thuggin'

Heartless and mean, muggin' at sixteen

On the scene watchin' fiends buggin'

Kickin' up dust with the older G's

Soakin' up the game that was told to me

I ain't never touched a gat that I couldn't shoot

I learned not to trust the bitch from the prostitutes

Taught lessons, a young nigga askin' questions

While other suckers was guessin', I was gangsta sexin'

Elementary wasn't meant for me, can't regret it

I'm headed for the penitentiary and cuttin' classing

I'm buckin' blastin', straight mashin'

Mobbin through the overpass laughin'

While these other motherfuckers try to figure out, no doubt

They jealous of a nigga's clout, tell me Lord

Can ya feel me? I keep my finger on the trigger

'Cause some nigga tried to kill me

And mama raised a hellraiser, everyday gettin paid

Police on my pager, straight stressin'

A fugitive my occupation is under question

Wanted for investigation, and even though

I'm marked for death, I'ma spark 'til I lose my breath

Motherfuckers, every time I see the paper

I see my picture, when a nigga's gettin' richer

They come to get ya, it's like a motherfuckin' trap

And they wonder why it's hard bein' black

Dear Lord can ya feel me, gettin' major, unhh

[Hook]

Mama raised a hellraiser, stress gettin' major

Lord be my savior, unnh

Mama raised a hellraiser, stress gettin' major

Lord be my savior, unnh

Mama raised a hellraiser, stress gettin' major

Lord be my savior, unnh

Mama raised a hellraiser, stress gettin' major

Lord be my savior, unnh

Mama raised a hellraiser

Stress gettin' major, unnh

Mama raised a hellraiser, stress gettin' major

[Verse 2]

Tell me Lord can ya feel me, show a sign

Damn near running outta time, everybody's dyin'

Mama raised a hellraiser, can't figure

Why you let the police beat down niggas

I'm startin' to think all the rich in the world is safe

While the po' babies rushin' into early graves

God come save the youth

Ain't nothin' else to do but have faith in you

Dear Lord I live the life of a Thug, hope you understand

Forgive me for my mistakes, I gotta play my hand

And my hand's on the sixteen-shot, semi-automatic

Crooked cop killin' Glock, tell me Lord

Can ya feel me? Show a way

I'm prayin' but my enemies won't go away

And everywhere I turn I see niggas burn

Every nigga that I know's on death row

My younger homie's seventeen and he paid a price

Little young motherfucker doin' triple life

Though I tell him in his letters, it's gettin' better

If my nigga knew the truth he'd hit the roof

Just heard ya baby's mama was smoked out, fuck the drama

Wanna break my Loc out, smokin' blunts

Gettin' drunk off that Tanqueray gin

'Bout to break my nigga out the fuckin' pen'

Mama raised a hellraiser, uhh, yeah

C'mon, uhh, mama raised a hellraiser

Uhh, dear Lord can ya feel me, stress gettin' major

(Lord be my savior, unnh)

[Hook]

Mama raised a hellraiser, stress gettin' major

Lord be my savior, unnh

Mama raised a hellraiser, stress gettin' major

Lord be my savior, unnh

Mama raised a hellraiser, stress gettin' major

Lord be my savior, unnh

Mama raised a hellraiser, stress gettin' major

[Verse 3]

Dear Lord can ya hear me, it's just me

A young nigga tryin' to make it on these rough streets

I'm on my knees beggin' please come and SAVE ME

THE WHOLE WORLD done made a nigga crazy!

I got my three-five-seven can't control it

Screamin' die motherfucker and he's loaded

Everybody run for cover, aww shit

Thug Life motherfucker, duck quick

Now am I wrong if I am don't worry me

Cause do or die gettin' high 'til they bury me

Dear Lord if ya hear me, tell me why

Little girl like LaTasha, had to die

She never got to see the bullet, just heard the shot

Her little body couldn't take it, it shook and dropped

And when I saw it on the news how she bucked the girl, killed Latasha

Now I'm screamin' fuck the world, in the end

It's my friends, that flip-flop

Lip-locked on my dick when my shit drop

Thug Life motherfucker, I lick shots

Every nigga on my block dropped two cops

Dear Lord can ya hear me, when I die

Let a nigga be strapped, fucked up, and high

With my hands on the trigger, thug nigga

Stressin' like a motherfuckin' drug dealer

And even in the darkest nights, I'm a thug for Life

I got the heart to fight now

Mama raised a hellraiser why cry

That's just life in the ghetto, do or die

2Pac is a rap artist who rapped about racial issues of the black community (known as black consciousness) among other topics. In his song, “Hellrazor”, he reveals some of the struggles he has faced as a black man in the 90’s. In the beginning of the first verse, he talks about the violent influence of guns in the black community when he says, “Heartless and mean, muggin' at sixteen/On the scene watchin' fiends buggin'/Kickin' up dust with the older G's/Soakin' up the game that was told to me/I ain't never touched a gat that I couldn't shoot” (2Pac). In these lines he is expressing the effect that white supremacists had on the black community when they planted humongous amounts of guns into ghettos with the intention of making the bloods and crips violent toward each other. In the film, “The Fire This Time”, the young black man explained that the guns were shipped in trains and would stop in the projects. Then people would come out and grab as many as they wanted. This is a tactic that the white government chose to influence the gangs to incite violence upon each other. Purposefully this train was set to come into the projects, where gang banging was fluctuating and young black boys were beginning to get curious about guns.  In his lyrics, I believe that he purposefully included the fact that he could shoot multiple guns when he was sixteen because guns were very accessible in 1992.

In the second verse of “Hellrazor”, 2Pac rhymed, “My younger homie's seventeen and he paid a price/Little young motherfucker doin' triple life.” In these lines he means, rather than the government policy using social welfare money to rehabilitate communities, create better infrastructure, or integrate preventative programs for youth, they prioritized that welfare be reserved for penal institutions, and the advancement of law enforcement so as to fill up the quotas of prisoners; purposefully after they planted the weapons causing the crimes in those communities. The effects are seen through the poor infrastructure in our communities, the lack of jobs, the 1 in 4 lifetime likelihood of imprisonment for black men, poor and eurocentric education, felon disenfranchisement, and ever still present police brutality. Black folks and many other marginalized groups were already placed in a low position in society, the prison industrial complex is simply slavery in another form. Except now it is more palatable to the general public and is disguised as justified punishment. Thus, pushing these marginalized  communities further below the poverty line; as CEO’s, and government officials bask in the wealth acquired from the literal blood sweat and tears off the most vulnerable in America.

-Jazzie Wycoff