For millions who’ve watched it since Monday, George Floyd’s final plea to the Minneapolis police officer now charged with his murder was an echo of Eric Garner’s dying words: “I can’t breathe.”
For the second time in six years, those words have become a rallying cry for protesters across the country, including hundreds in Los Angeles, where demonstrators stopped traffic on the 101 Freeway on Wednesday evening and again on Friday.
But for some black Angelenos, footage of Floyd’s killing and the civil unrest that has followed in Minneapolis are also painful reminders of a much older tape. Nearly 30 years after the police beating of Rodney King, the rage and despair remain familiar — but hope for justice has ebbed.
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“I don’t feel better, and it troubles me to say that,” said Kerman Maddox, a public affairs consultant who lived near the epicenter of the uprising in 1992 and covered the riots as a reporter in South L.A. “It’s worse today than it was back then.”
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Protesters stand on top of a burned LAPD cruiser. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters stand on top of a bus stop at the Los Angeles Civic Center to demonstrate for justice Wednesday night. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Protestors turn on their cell phone flashlights at Los Angeles City Hall at 9 pm on Wednesday as part of a silent protest against the death of George Floyd. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester confronts National Guardsmen as thousands of protesters march down Spring Street in Los Angeles to demonstrate for justice in the George Floyd murder by cop case Wednesday. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters dance on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday night. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Thousands of protesters march down Spring Street in Los Angeles Wednesday night to demonstrate for justice in the killing of George Floyd. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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LAPD Cmdr. Gerald Woodyard takes a knee with protesters and L.A. clergy during a march in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Khalil Mitchell speaks to protesters kneeling near a police line, preaching calm and working to preserve a peaceful protest on Monday. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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In Hollywood, hundreds of protesters march Monday against police brutality. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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AJ Lovelace, a director and writer, and others keep potential looters from entering a dry cleaning store as they attempt to march peacefully. “We need peace and we need someone to talk to each other,” he said after the looters fled the scene. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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Demonstrators in Riverside retreat as county sheriff’s deputies fire nonlethal rounds on Monday after law enforcement announced an unlawful assembly. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in Riverside. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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An arrest in Hollywood during a protest Monday. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A demonstrator, injured while trying to flee the firing of nonlethal rounds, lies on the ground in Riverside. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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An LAPD officer arrests a looting suspect in an alley behind a Hollywood Boulevard store. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Riverside County deputies advance on demonstrators on Monday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Fireworks thrown by a protester explode at the feet of Riverside police. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco takes a knee with demonstrators. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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A watch and jewelry store is looted in Van Nuys on Monday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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A looting arrest in Van Nuys. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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AJ Lovelace, director and writer, tries to stop looters from breaking into a Walgreens in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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An LAPD officer arrests a suspected looter in an alley behind a Hollywood Boulevard store. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Police advance on a line of protesters in Hollywood, firing rubber bullets. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Arrests are made of those out after curfew in Hollywood. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A store is looted in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in Hollywood. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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People out after curfew are arrested Monday at Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Arrests in Hollywood. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Protests in Westwood. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Volunteers help clean up the mess left by looters in Long Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Protest in Hollywood. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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National Guardsmen outside Santa Monica Place. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Gilbert Haro and sons Richard, 8, and James, 6, help clean up in Santa Monica. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters face off with police in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Santa Monica stores were the target of looting on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Suspected looters in custody in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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L.A. County sheriff’s deputies in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Sake House employee Jared Settles can’t bear to watch as the restaurant burns in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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An arrest in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Broken glass from a looted store covers the sidewalk in Santa Monica. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Cecelia Rosales, who said she was homeless, walks past a line of police officers in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A man guards a convenience store in Santa Monica. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Looting erupted Sunday in Long Beach. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Police and protesters face off in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A police officer inspects the damage to a Santa Monica supermarket. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester is treated after being struck by a rubber bullet. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Looting in Long Beach on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Looting in Long Beach. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A suspected looter in Long Beach. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Smashing windows in Santa Monica. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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An arrest in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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People walk away with surfboards in Santa Monica on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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People rush out of a looted store in Santa Monica. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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Cheers for protesters in downtown Los Angeles. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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City Hall on Sunday. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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A shattered storefront on Melrose Avenue on Sunday. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Smashed windows on La Cienega Boulevard. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Downtown L.A. on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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People carry merchandise from a looted store. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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A person carries items from a looted store in the Fairfax District on Saturday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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A couple of protesters embrace on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles Saturday. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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People protest Saturday at Pan Pacific Park. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters gather around a fire in the middle of a downtown L.A. street on Friday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Police fire percussion rounds to clear protesters from Grand Avenue in in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester remains defiant after being pushed to the ground by police on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters are arrested by Los Angeles police in front of City Hall on Saturday. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block the 110 Freeway. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters take to the streets Friday in downtown L.A. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters are escorted off the northbound 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester is escorted off the northbound 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters climb over a barrier during the May 29 protest in downtown L.A. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block the 110 Freeway northbound and southbound in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers assume a defensive stance as a protester approaches them on the 110 Freeway on May 29. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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During a May 29 protest, Los Angeles police patrol the 110 after having moved protesters off the freeway. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester rides a skateboard on the 110 Freeway. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block the 110 Freeway northbound and southbound in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester confronts LAPD officers on Friday in downtown L.A. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester lies hurt on the 101 Freeway near downtown Los Angeles on May 27. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
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An injured man gets up with the help of emergency workers during a protest May 27 in downtown L.A. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Disturbing as it was, Maddox said the Rodney King tape had felt briefly revelatory — at last, he and others believed, white Americans would be forced to confront how police treated black men.
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“My first response was, finally someone caught it on videotape,” Maddox said. “Some of us had been the victim of that ourselves, but there was never a camera. We thought, finally we’re going to get justice, because it’s clear what’s going on, it’s clear as the nose on your face.”
Even after a Simi Valley jury found the officers not guilty, Maddox consoled himself that the riots would make such police violence singular.
“When you saw the destruction after, you thought people got the message, and this will never happen again,” Maddox said. “But it happens over and over and over again and nothing seems to change. Nothing seems to get better.”
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Watching the civil unrest in Minneapolis, he said he felt the same pain and rage as when his neighborhood was ripped apart around him in 1992. But as the father of a teenage boy, that outrage is now shot through with terror.
“Back then, they used to beat the crap out of us, but they didn’t kill us,” he said. “Now when my 13-year-old son goes to the park, I worry ... is someone going to call the cops on him?”
U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) was already working on police misconduct through the Community Coalition, her South L.A. social justice organization, when video of Rodney King being beaten surfaced. In an interview Friday, she recalled widespread hope that the tape would mark a turning point for communities like hers.
“I remember feeling that — it was visceral,” the congresswoman said. “With the invention of the video camera, we were sure we would finally get justice. Since then there’s been I don’t know how many recordings of black people being shot in the back, shot when they are running. In the overwhelming majority of cases, officers were either not charged or not convicted.”
On Friday, former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder in connection with Floyd’s killing. But videos of the incident appear to show several officers standing by as Chauvin pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck, and Bass said they too must be arrested and held responsible.
“These officers stood and assisted in the commission of a crime, they deserve to be arrested too,” Bass said.
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In the meantime, she urged her constituents not to lose hope.
“In spite of how we feel, we have to soldier on,” she said. “I want to see despair expressed in action that moves things forward.”
That’s the message Dominique DiPrima has emphasized to callers this week on her early morning talk radio show on KJLH. The longtime Angeleno was still living in her native Bay Area when the verdict was handed down in 1992, but she remembered protesting in the streets of San Francisco.
Since then, she said, police violence has been “a constant conversation” in her work.
“What I’m hearing the most is frustration, like when is this going to stop?” DiPrima said of the recent calls to her show. “I’ve had some people say we’ve got to start shooting back. And I’ve had people saying they give up.”
Though she said the task of reform feels Sisyphean, she pointed out that recent protests have brought concrete change.
“When people get on the phone and say all we do is protest, I say [State Assemblywoman] Shirley Weber passed a bill that changes when police can use deadly force,” DiPrima said. “We now have a sheriffs’ oversight committee with subpoena power — that doesn’t happen without Black Lives Matter.”
Still, she said, that progress had come at an enormous cost — both in lives lost, and those weighted down by the struggle to hold law enforcement accountable.
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“A couple of years before his death, I got the opportunity to interview Rodney King at KJLH and it was really very haunting,” DiPrima said. “Because you could see the weight of that: not just the incident and being beaten, but the weight of carrying that for us.”
