Annotated Bibliography

Books:

Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Race, Space, and Riots in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.

The author aims to explore why the ethical and racial aspects of these riots in these three cities differ so much and he concludes that it is due to the historical, political and spatial characteristics of the city that make up for these ambiguities. He aims to show how urban race relations have changed in America due to migration, wars and the civil rights movement. He examines what participants of these "disasters" say about the police and key municipal officials and how each party reacts, acts and adjusts to these crises. How they handle these situations in reflection (or perhaps response) to previous race riots also characterize the "American Dilemma."This book is extremely resourceful and abundant with analysis about the Watts and Rodney King Riots. He examines what happened in the Watts Riots and compares them to the Riots of 1992. He found that these riots "persist in a time warp: they did not achieve their ends but cycled back to equivalent levels of powerlessness." He questions what will the future holds now that Latinos are becoming the majority.

Fulton, William B. The Reluctant Metropolis: the Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles. Point Arena,

CA: Solano, 1997. Print.

Fulton, an urban planner and journalist, explores the history of Los Angeles and how it has changed over the past twenty some years. In this book, he states that instead of trying to “fix Los Angeles” people try to disassociate themselves from the metropolis by tucking themselves away in a “cocoon” of the smaller suburbs of L.A . Fulton argues that Los Angeles is not only void of a physical center, but it suffers from a lack of “political and psychological center” because people refuse to take responsibility for a metropolis and urban landscape that is ultimately theirs. He argues that South Central can’t be brought back unless everyone genuinely cares about it as if those neighborhoods were tied to the fate of their own. This source is useful because it has a very in depth discussion about South Central’s “ghettoized” image, the L.A. Riots of 1992 and the organizations involved in theproject of Rebuilding LA.

Gottlieb, Robert, Mark Vallianatos, Regina M. Freer, and Peter Dreier.The Next Los Angeles: The

Struggle for a Livable City. Berkeley: University of California, 2005. Print.

The authors of this book explore the various social movements (dubbed “Progressive Los Angeles”) that have taken place in Los Angeles in the past twentieth century that have transformed the city in positive ways. They discuss an array of topics such as key economic, social and environmental trends that have shaped LA in addition to the changing political landscape. There is a section in which they discuss Rebuild LA after the 1992 civil unrest. The authors wish to know if LA will fall to balkanization or if it will be transformed to become a more “democratic, just and livable region.” I find this source relevant to my research because it deals with issues that arose after the unrest such as organization problems with Tom Bradley’s Rebuild LA program.

Song, Min Hyoung. Strange Future: Pessimism and the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Durham: Duke UP, 2005.

Print.

Song wrote this book with a focus on the Korean American aspect of the 1992 Riots. However, he argues that by writing about one particular racial group (or even a single ethnicity in that race) allows him to write about issues that can potentially affect everyone. Song argues that the beginning of the 1990s started off with a pessimistic view of the future and how the L.A. Riots fueled this pessimism as shown through critical literary works. He argues that the riots cannot be seen as an isolated event and that the years after the riots allow us to see how this event is connected to larger trends, has changed our perspectives and that mistakes continue to be made. I find this work to be relevant to my research because it offers a Korean American view on the 1992 riots. It also is considered a “cultural and literary studies” work rather than a history book, which I find is essential because it offers different opinions and viewpoints rather than straight facts.

Peer-Reviewed Articles:

DiPasquale, Denise, and Edward Glaeser."Los Angeles and Riot and the Economics of Urban Unrest."

Journal of Urban Economics 43 (1998): 52-78. Web.

This article uses the results of the Watts Riots of 1965 to compare to what transpired with the 1992 riots. This article relies heavily on statistics and data and uses these facts to justify why South Central had the characteristics and therefore was a likely and vulnerable place to fall to riots. This article approaches the riots with empirical data and is less influenced with the social implications of the riots. I think it is important to consider this article because it includes the demographics of the areas that the riots affected and that can show why there was so much tension involved.

Larson, Tom, and Miles Finney. "Rebuilding South Central Los Angeles: Myths, Realities, and

Opportunities." (1996). Print.

This publication gives me a very good sense of what South Central Los Angeles was like after the L.A. Riots of 1992 and the effects of this riot on South Central’s economic status. In the immediate aftermath, it seemed like South Central would only suffer more from urban decay. The authors have brought to light some of the reasons why the region has been slowly recovering from the riots and what this means for the community. They argue that there are five myths about Los Angeles that they would like to dispel: 1) There is no underclass, 2) there is a mass emigration of businesses, 3) businesses aren’t making a profit, 4) residents are mismatched for jobs that are available and 5) African-Americans are losing jobs to Latinos. The authors want to show that residents and business owners want to rebuild, but it is difficult when those myths about South Central hinder revitalization.  This publication offers some solutions to rebuilding South Central, which can be compared to how this area has actually recovered over the years.

News/Magazines:

Anthony AsadullahSamad. "What Has Changed Since 1992: On One Hand... Not Much, On the Other

Hand... The Whole World. " Sentinel 3 May 2007,Ethnic NewsWatch (ENW), ProQuest. Web. 17 May. 2010.

Samad argues that many people have moved on since the LA Riots and people have rebuilt. But he argues that the only part of the city that hasn’t been rebuilt is South Central Los Angeles. He believes that only investing money into the area will change “one of the saddest on-going living commentaries in the true politics of subjugation.” I think this source is interesting because it takes a perspective that is quite the opposite of many of the works I have read. I don’t necessarily agree with what the author wrote, but he offers many examples of the areas that have been rebuilt over, or as he says has been “replaced.”

Herman, Max. "TEN YEARS AFTER: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF SCHOLARSHIP ON THE 1992 LOS ANGELES

RIOT. " Race, Gender & Class 11.1 (2004): 116. Alt-Press Watch (APW), ProQuest.Web. 16 May. 2010.

Herman analyzes various journal articles and book chapters written about the LA Riots of 1992 and have divided these authors into positivists, multiculturalists, or postmodernists, depending on how they examined the riots. I find this newspaper piece relevant to my research because it discusses the different approaches that many scholars took towards evaluating and explaining why the riots took place.

Monroe, Sylvester. "The Struggle Over Who Will Rebuild L.A." Time.com. 13 July 1992. Web. 16 May

2010. <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,976003,00.html>.

I find this article from Time magazine to be relevant because it was published a few months after the riots occurred and it discusses the various individuals and programs that wanted to rebuild LA. The article briefly summarizes the different goals that some of these organizations what to achieve for revamping South Central Los Angeles. I read a lot about these organizations and the people responsible for them so it was interesting to see what other organizations were involved so I could further research and see how they impacted the renewal of Los Angeles in the aftermath.

Other sources:

Can We All Get Along? 1992. Photograph. Los Angeles. Time.com. 11 May 1992. Web. 16 May 2010.

<http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101920511,00.html>.

On the cover of this Time Magazine is a famous quote from Rodney King. This quote, accompanied with the photograph of policemen running through the flaming streets, has brought into focus the need to address American politicsand how people need to commit to equality in a place where persistent inequality and discrimination still exist.

Gray, Madison. ""The L.A. Riots: 15 Years After Rodney King": Henry Keith Watson." Time Magazine, Apr.

2007. Web. 16 May 2010. <http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1614117_1614084_1614515,00.html>.

I consider this another source because there was one quotation that really surprised me, which was Henry Watson’s words regarding his involvement in the beating of Reginald Denny: "It was rage and anger, not just about Rodney King, but the injustices that were going on during that time," […]"Nobody specifically sought out Reginald Denny to cause him any harm. He got caught up in the moment, just like everyone else." Amidst all the commotion, people let their rage and emotions take over and I think this important to consider because much of the unrest was because of tensions and rage about the social order.

Los Angeles Riots.CBS. Los Angeles, 29 Apr. 1992. 30 Apr. 2007. Web. 16 May 2010.

<http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2738802n>.

This footage contains snippets of what happened during the LA Riots and maps out key areas that were destroyed during the riots. I find this relevant to my research because I can see what areas were badly damaged and compare them to how they have recovered since then. Not only that, but the video shows how chaotic and restless the mobs were.