As Los Angeles Burned, The Border Patrol Swooped In
People gather in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Los Angeles during rioting following the acquittal of four police officers in the beating of Rodney King in 1992. The neighborhood looks similar today as it did 25 years ago. It’s still more than 80 percent Latino, with lots of immigrant families from Mexico and Central America. Gary Leonard/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Gary Leonard/Corbis via Getty Images
The Pathfinder bookstore on Pico Blvd. burns in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles during the riots in 1992. Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty Images
Recent days have seen many news stories about the 25 year anniversary of the Rodney King uprising in Los Angeles. Many forget that Latina/o immigrants were part of the story.
NPR highlights the impacts of the Rodney King violence on Latina/os. Looking back at the 1992 Los Angeles riots, people often remember tensions between African-Americans, white law enforcement officers and Korean small business owners. That story gets even more complicated when you step into Pico-Union — a neighborhood that was, and still is, predominantly Latino.
In the wake of the Rodney King verdict, riots broke out around the city. The first day, they erupted in South Central; by the second, they had spread north to Pico-Union. And while people all over the city had to deal with looting, fires, and general chaos, many residents of Pico Union had to deal with an additional fear — the threat of deportation.
Mike Hernandez was the neighborhood’s city councilman in 1992. He said that in the 25 years since the riots, Pico-Union hasn’t changed that much. The area is still more than 80 percent Latino, with lots of immigrant families from Mexico and Central America. And, in 1992, a majority of Pico-Union constituents were living below the poverty line in crowded conditions. Hernandez said he knew long before the riots started that Pico-Union was just as combustible as South Central LA. “We had twice the density here of Manhattan,” Hernandez said. “And our fire station here, Fire Station 11, was the busiest fire station in the nation.”
KJ