I feel like it's 1992 all over again

[WC NBA Fan]

I posted this on a different Clipper forum but I'll post it here as well.

I found it interesting that it's been 28 years since the Rodney King riots.

The Watts riots were 27 years prior to that so an almost exact same gap in years between civil unrest.

For those of you who were alive in 1992, what do you remember most about the riots? Where were you when they broke out? Where did you live?

From a Clipper perspective, their home playoff games against Utah were moved to the Anaheim Convention Center since the Honda Center was still under construction at the time. They tied the series at 2-2 but ultimately lost the deciding game in Utah. I remember seeing Karl Malone, Delaney Rudd and Mike Brown at the Fox Hills Mall just a couple days before the riots broke out and game 3 was about to be played.

I sometimes wonder if that's why I was always sort of a proponent of the team moving to Anaheim even though a lot of people didn't want it to happen. The game in Anaheim was a much needed breath of fresh air during that tumultuous time and will always serve as a special time in franchise history.

Doc Rivers was the point guard for the Clippers in his one and only season with the team. He was the go to spokesperson for the team and just like during the time right after Sterling's V Stiviano tapes came out, he was the voice of reason and a calming influence. We are blessed to have him with the organization.

[esqtvd]

In 1992, people were getting attacked for the color of their skin. Reginald Denny. Koreatown. That was race war. That was some scary sh"t.

By the time the riots ended, 63 people had been killed, 2,383 people had been injured and estimates of property damage were over $1 billion, much of which disproportionately affected Koreatown, Los Angeles.

Unlike the Rodney King thing, 99% of Americans feel the same way about what happened to George Floyd. There is no controversy over the underlying issue. In 2020, the races are burning and looting side-by-side. Violence against persons is incidental, almost always even unintentional. This is severely messed up, but thankfully it's a different animal, especially here in LA.

[WC NBA Fan]

In 1992, people were getting attacked for the color of their skin. Reginald Denny. Koreatown. That was race war. That was some scary sh"t.

By the time the riots ended, 63 people had been killed, 2,383 people had been injured and estimates of property damage were over $1 billion, much of which disproportionately affected Koreatown, Los Angeles.

Unlike the Rodney King thing, 99% of Americans feel the same way about what happened to George Floyd. There is no controversy over the underlying issue. In 2020, the races are burning and looting side-by-side. Violence against persons is incidental, almost always even unintentional. This is severely messed up, but thankfully it's a different animal, especially here in LA.

Great points. It should also be noted that the LA riots were a reaction to the not guilty verdicts of the cops. We still have a chance to get things right this time. I guess my concern is that there is so much of a call to get the other 3 guys nailed as well as Derek Chauvin. That's gonna be tough, especially if they have a good legal team.

[BenchOnaQUEST]

Interesting comparison... wish I could relate, but I was only 6 yrs old in '92.

[Akklaim1]

I'm getting out of the country if Chauvin gets acquitted

[Young Sterling]

The interesting thing about the fact that $1 billion in property damage occurred, is a lot of savvy business owners used that as a means of acquiring money through insurance to rebuild (and make even nicer) so burning **** down might not be the best way to get someone back. As a matter of fact, a lot of fraud is perpetuated by claiming insurance money from fires. Just an interesting practical point I thought I'd share as an attorney who only does insurance recovery...

As to the stances ppl are taking I'm honestly shocked at Lebron's stance on all of this. Laura Ingraham told him to shut and dribble and I thought he of all ppl would side with his current/former teammates (Kyrie and Avery B.). I really love how outspoken Avery Bradley, Dwight Howard, Lou Will, Pat Bev, PG13 and Trez have been to be completely honest. Kobe's wife said it the other day on Twitter, her husband wore the "I can't breathe" shirt and athletes have been bringing awareness to these problems for a long time. Avery Bradley said, people are definitely AWARE of the issue of race, that's not the problem. The problem is those same ppl aware about the racism in America are also unwilling to do anything about it. If anybody remembers Muhammad Ali, he literally took a hiatus from boxing during his Prime to fight for social justice at the Supreme Court level. The reason the Draft doesn't happen anymore is because Ali fought and won at the SC to ensure that nobody could get drafted against their will to fight for a cause they felt was unjust/immoral. He sacrificed his PRIME for that. The thing that kinda shocked me about Lebron's statements is it seems like he knows he doesn't have too many shots at preserving his Legacy and is choosing to chase his own Legacy, instead of using this moment to collectivize and make some meaningful change. It's surprising to me that guys like Ali would sacrifice their primes (and are the reason why many of us weren't forcefully drafted into the Iraq/Afghanistan wars which were completely for oil. Thank the man!) whereas guys like Lebron who are in the Twilight of their career, can't even consider something like that. He was even told to "Shut up and Dribble" and is literally doing that. My racist friends agree with Lebron. They're dying to see some basketball. We've had these talks. They don't actually care about how he feels. It's like how many Houston fans are super racist, but they sure are rooting for the Beard to drop 30+ every game.

I'm a Brown skinned South Asian attorney, and I have plenty of White/Jewish attorney friends who have that "shut up and dribble" mentality. Now this is not to say they're all racist or anything like that, I have very open minded friends with good hearts who actively promote social justice reform and fight the good fight. But I'm not going to pretend that most of the ppl I listen to are Trump supporters and pretty racist, and many are the type to hide the racism deep down but let out while they vote. (If you're offended by this, please note I can give you example after example of how these same ppl have discriminated against me and you will then understand the meaning of the term "offensive". This is what I have come to learn through my personal experiences and observations which have been shared with me by other minorities. If you're offended, try to be a positive force of change instead so this ISN'T an issue going forward please). Law is a very racist profession and the reason anyone even respects me is because of my successful practice and the money I make, but I never for one second don't believe these same ppl wouldn't look down on me if I didn't have money/influence. As a matter of fact, I HAVE been told insanely racist things being in that profession as I rose up and while I attended school by ppl whom I thought would be more empathetic considering similarly shared histories of oppression. Something definitely needs to change and bringing "awareness" with T shirts hasn't done anything except bring awareness. It doesn't do ****. Using leverage as Black athletes to institute reform IS the way to go. I'm not Black, but that's what needs to be done.

[esqtvd]

I'm a Brown skinned South Asian attorney, and I have plenty of White/Jewish attorney friends who have that "shut up and dribble" mentality. Now this is not to say they're all racist or anything like that, I have very open minded friends with good hearts who actively promote social justice reform and fight the good fight. But I'm not going to pretend that most of the ppl I listen to are Trump supporters and pretty racist, and many are the type to hide the racism deep down but let out while they vote. (If you're offended by this, please note I can give you example after example of how these same ppl have discriminated against me and you will then understand the meaning of the term "offensive". This is what I have come to learn through my personal experiences and observations which have been shared with me by other minorities. If you're offended, try to be a positive force of change instead so this ISN'T an issue going forward please). Law is a very racist profession and the reason anyone even respects me is because of my successful practice and the money I make, but I never for one second don't believe these same ppl wouldn't look down on me if I didn't have money/influence.

I'm a semi-retired legal recruiter [headhunter] for lawyers. I do not discuss politics with my law firm clients but I can assure you that although the legal profession is strongly Democrat-leaning--after all, lawsuits are their business--even among my Republican-leaning client law firms [though most are Democrat]--any gentleman such as yourself with a strong practice would not meet a closed door. He will get the red carpet.


I know Peter Kalis personally. He invented the sub-specialty of "insurance recovery" at K&L Gates back in the 1980s. He became chairman of the firm. Plus I know people at Cozen O'Connor. I know all the players in your field. Hit me up by PM. I can get you in somewhere and make a couple bucks myself.

Sorry you were disrespected. You overcame a lot and now it's time you cash in.

Anybody who has tried to keep you down in your career is strictly minor-league. In the big leagues, your minority status will be plus. This is not 1959. Yeah, there are still jerks out there but they're the losers. In 2020 there are many more people willing to help you up than keep you down. Let me help.


Tom

[Don Tommy]

My high school didn’t have a pool, so every day we would get on the bus and head down to a local one where the pool team would practice, and the team manager (me) would flirt with the girls until it was time t9 hand them their towels! The corner we got off on was the same one where the Rodney King incident occurred, and it was during my senior year.
I was working at a grocery store, and when we had a 10 o’clock curfew, our assistant manager thought it would be a good idea to stay open until 10. Until a few of us, including my Dad, got pulled over by the National Guard for breaking curfew. That lasted one day.
Rodney King walked into that store a year later. I played ball all the time, I even played against Don McClain one time in high school. Rodney King is a big man! I was pushing shopping carts and I wasn’t even in the store and I heard he was here. Normally, that stuff only happens to celebrities who make millions of dollars a year. We passed by each other and I didn’t know what to do, so I just said “Hi Mr. King” Man did I get made fun of for that. “If he wasn’t on drugs, none of that would have happened!” “Yeah, but... At what point was enough enough?” Plus, I was raised to treat everyone with respect, no matter their color. And it wasn’t so much something I learned at home, it’s something I learned from being one of a handful of white kids in my junior high. It’s not that hard to get along if you just... get along! (No one told that to my brother)
I had been a Clippers fan for a few years by that point and even though I wouldn’t be able to see as many games, I wanted them to move full time to Anaheim so we wouldn’t have to listen to Laker fans as much

[TrueLAfan]

I saw Game 4 of the Playoffs. Yup, I was there. Partial season ticket holder, so I got in when they squeezed everything down to the Convention Center. Tied for the greatest Clipper game I ever saw.

(The other one was the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 1989—Bulls/Clippers. We just blew the Bulls away; it really looked we were going to grow into a Playoff team. The Sports Arena was packed—everybody came to see the Bulls, but we (Clip fans) were loud while put them away. Harper was unbelievable. People forget how great Harper was before his injury; he was just becoming an All-NBA level player. We were, like, 1-5 when we got Harp, and we were a couple of games under .500 when he went down, but gelling in a big way. That injury broke my heart. But the Bulls game was truly epic.)

Anyway, esqtvd is right. This situation is nothing like 1992. The Rodney King situation emphasized all the things that have been discredited in the recent George Floyd and other incidents. The media was allowed to make King look like a criminal and a fool and they did just that. Kept the “well, it was bad—but he’s a bad guy!” narrative up, glossing over the reality of the situation. Society puts up with that less and less; we’re at a tipping point now. That idea doesn't get the same kind of traction; it's embarrassing it gets any at all. A few days ago, in response to a post supporting BLM, someone on my facebook page made a random comment that was basically "...but the statues!" I said what I think most people realize now; you're comparing the way an entire race was been treated for three centuries to a bunch of pieces of rock. Your priorities are, to put it nicely, wrong. I don't think that I'm out of line saying that, and that shows why I think this movement is going to stick. If 57 year old white guys (like, say, me) are not just accepting but actively standing up and fighting for this attempt at change, I think there might be some social shift.