1992 Los Angeles riots

The 1992 Los Angeles riots, also known as the LA riots, the Rodney King uprising or the Rodney King riots, was sparked on April 29, 1992 when a mostly white jury acquitted four police officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. Thousands of people in Los Angeles, mainly young black and Latino males, joined in what has often been characterized as a race riot, involving mass law-breaking, including looting and arson.

The riots in popular culture

Music

• Sublime's song "April 29th 1992" is based on accounts of the riots.
• Dr Dre's song "The Day The Niggaz Took Over" featuring Snoop (Doggy) Dogg, RBX & Daz Dillinger (formally known as "Dat Nigga Daz"), describes the specific situation from a black "thug" perspective and includes live interviews by people from the street.
• Ice Cube's song, "We Had To Tear This Motherfucka Up" was written as a statement on the verdict and expressed sentiments similar to those of the alleged rioters. Most of his 1992 release, "The Predator", was in some way evocative of the riots and King.
• Porno for Pyros' self-titled debut album was wholly inspired by the riots.
• Downset song "Anger" from their self-titled debut album was inspired by the riots.

Film

• The 1991 film Grand Canyon, which reflected on the divide between people of different race and class in L.A., was widely seen as a prefiguration of the riots, particularly in a scene with a white driver who was nearly carjacked by young black thugs, then rescued by a black tow-truck driver.
• The 1994 film Floundering explores the alienation and disaffection the main character sees in his neighborhood of post-riot Venice Beach.
• The 2002 film Dark Blue, about police corruption, is set during the riots, and includes archival footage of both the Rodney King and Reginald Denny beatings.
• Spike Lee's 1992 Film "" opens with a scene of the Rodney King beating, juxtaposed with a burning American flag that burns down and forming the letter X. All the while, the voice of Malcom X (played by Denzel Washington) speaks in a tirade fashion in which he denounces the "white man" as the oppressor.
• Paul Haggis' Crash (2005 film) about the interactions of strangers against the backdrop of modern Los Angeles and racism between whites, blacks, hispanics, and asians.

Other

• An episode of the popular television series L.A. Law was set on the day of the riots.
• The 2004 PlayStation 2 videogame ' contains a riot in the fictional city of Los Santos that occurs after a group of police officers are acquitted of various crimes including corruption charges. Los Santos is based on 1992 Los Angeles.
• According to IMDb, the movie Falling Down (1993), starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall, was filmed during the L.A. riots of 1992.