Sea of Associated Causes
In the introduction to our edition of Twilight: Los Angeles, Anna Deavere Smith talks about the inadequacies of thinking about the violence in 1992 as a "riot" or "uprising" or "rebellion." She argues that "beneath this surface explanation is a sea of associated causes," and points to larger trends of a declining economy, urban poverty, a deterioration of public services and education, and decades-long racial animosities in the national and local contexts.
I'm curious about whether--and how--the play and our text, which incorporates characters that did not make the performance version, serve to illustrate this "sea of associated causes." To what extent does it allow us a more complete view of local and national pressures that led to the tragedy? If associations are made, how are they made? How is this associative picture that the work provides us different than the picture that we get from the labels "L.A. Riots" or "Rodney King Riots"?
If the work creates associations, I'm also interested the boundaries of these associations. None of the characters speak to each other; they only speak next to each other. To what extent does the play illustrate the divisions between its characters, even as it seeks to create associations? Do these divisions lead to a sense of fragmentation. If associations persist across these divisions, how does that work?
I'm curious about whether--and how--the play and our text, which incorporates characters that did not make the performance version, serve to illustrate this "sea of associated causes." To what extent does it allow us a more complete view of local and national pressures that led to the tragedy? If associations are made, how are they made? How is this associative picture that the work provides us different than the picture that we get from the labels "L.A. Riots" or "Rodney King Riots"?
If the work creates associations, I'm also interested the boundaries of these associations. None of the characters speak to each other; they only speak next to each other. To what extent does the play illustrate the divisions between its characters, even as it seeks to create associations? Do these divisions lead to a sense of fragmentation. If associations persist across these divisions, how does that work?
After reading differing point of view and finding the struggle or confusion or disappointment, (whatever feelings the characters had expressed) within each monologue, I found that the issue was and is more than simply the unjust beating of Rodney King. "We just felt like we were pawns that were thrown away by the system" said an anonymous juror in the Simi Valley trial. Just as the Watts Riots erupted from a boiling pot of issues so did the LA riots. There had been previous incidents of police brutality and "race-related" issues such as poverty...but after the verdict found all four of the police officers not guilty, I think the African-American community exploded. The tension was building and after the verdict, they burst. Yet, the play tells the stories of many different people during the time of the riots explaining that the "LA riots" were not only violent outbursts but internal struggles for a variety of people living in LA. The plays format is one similar to the Laramie Project in which recounts of the horrific events that occurred are given without interaction between those involved. I think by doing this it further pushes the notion that there are racial tensions separating police officers and black Americans. Even with accounts of innocent officers who were appalled by the actions of their fellow policemen or African-Americans admitting that police are human too and are not all the same (as African-American people are not all the same), they never talk directly to each other displaying the inevitable divide that the riots put in place. And as a link to present day, the racial issues that are associated with police brutality have not diminished but unfortunately occur frequently causing smaller outbursts.
ReplyDeleteAnne Deavere Smith's "Twilight" served as a mechanism to provide a wide lens view of Los Angeles during the riots in the 90's. Her characters seem to go off one another coincidentally rather than being a part of "associated groups". Each interview serves to announce a new perspective while simultaneously drawing intended connections to one another. Her ability to inconsequently create a story by simply interviewing random Angelinos involved with the riots and ordering them in a way that resembles a story can be seen as a metaphor to how the citizens of Los Angeles come from incredibly different backgrounds and have incomparable opinions yet still seem to have common morals and beliefs. For example, two interviews that stood out to me in terms of analyzing two perspectives through testimony was the interview of the "Anonymous Young Man" who is described as a former gang member who currently lives with his mother. The other interview shares the perspective of a white "LA-based writer and urban critic". The anonymous gang member explains how he is, "one-man army" (25) and how even walking down certain streets you are "chasin or shootin" (26). Clearly through his lens gang violence and his interpretation of his situation sounds dire especially after the King Verdict. In comparison, Mike Davis describes the riots as "a war with its own children" (28) and describes how the city doesn't want to talk to its kids leaving the kids in a situation similar to a "one-man army". Two completely different Angelinos, one a former gang member explaining the exact same feelings a white writer is describing. By placing two completely different views one after the other the reader is able to compare the situations of both people being interviewed and notice similarities between the testimonies. The fact that a white writer correctly Through using unassociated opinions, the reader is not only able to hear certain sides of stories, but also begin to comprehend how two completely different individuals notice the same problems disregarding race.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing Twilight, I had a wider understanding of the issues leading up to the 1992 LA riots. Every perspective and decision was influenced and formed by personal experiences, which as Twilight addressed, were a vast array of differences. For some, it is easy to point to the LA riots as a societal failure; destructive, violent, utter chaos. “How dare you loot a store that rich people go to?”(132) The riots ignored class barriers and brought noise to the “peace and quiet.” But, the riots did not introduce any new social issues to Los Angeles and instead brought attention to them. Many stories shared similar experiences. The commonalities established the fact that social injustice was prevalent and tainting LA. In her introduction, Anna Deavere Smith highlighted the fact that "the police officers who beat Rodney King were tried in Simi Valley, miles away from social, economic and racial problems in Los Angeles."(xix) Before and during the riots, Los Angeles was a consolidated area of many social issues. The leading social “failure” was the fact that these issues were ignored. "But we're not basing our lives on Reginald Denny neither are we basin' our lives on Rodney King... it shows how a black person get treated in his community. And once brought to light... we see no belief..."(100) Although associated with other angelino interviews, Big Al's excerpt distinctly clarifies that Rodney King embodies the bigger picture and the can be seen as a symbol of the cause, but not the sole purpose. Big Al’s view comes from someone living in LA and living amongst the vivid and dire issues surrounding economics and social behavior in LA. Through her “sea of associations,” Smith was able to use the experiences of the LA riots to expose the fact that social issues had been ingrained into the Los Angeles society and the leading problem was how long they’d been ignored.
ReplyDeleteAnna Deavere Smith's characters in "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" show that, beyond just the beating of Rodney King, the riots in 1992 were initiated by deeply ingrained social issues in Los Angeles. Although spoken aloud, the different monologues seem to be the thoughts of the characters surrounding the causes of the violence. The internal rationalization of each individual exposes either the character's surprise of the situation or their expectation. Rodney King's Aunt, Carmen, addresses her dismay in her monologue when King was victim to such violence. She succinctly states: "You never would have known that something like this would happen to us. And now it's such a shock." (55) Carmen conveys the absolute astonishment that this unfortunate situation posed to Los Angeles as a whole. Since each monologue seems like the thought process of the speaker, miscommunication is bound to occur. Each character has his/her own personal intuition and the differences between each of their processes creates divisions. Judy Tur, a ground reporter for an LA news service, touches on the aspect of social fission due to miscommunication. She says: "What's happening, the white people are getting so angry now that they're going back fifty years instead of being pushed ahead." (98) The characters in "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" reveal that social strifes in Los Angeles during the time leading up to the violence were associations to the beating of Rodney King caused through their internal thought processes which result in miscommunications.
ReplyDeleteTwilight explored the various underlying factors of the LA riots such as the worsening of California's economy, urban poverty, a deterioration of social services and public education, and the continuous racial tension between the LAPD and the African American community. The riots were not purely fueled by the Rodney King trial; “Even though I, I…what’s provoked it—the spark—was the verdict, which was absurd. But that was just the spark— this had been set for years before” (Anonymous Man #2, page 134). The Rodney King verdict was the breaking point and the catalyst for the riots but the “sea of associated causes” had been growing and worsening for years. The titles “L.A. Riots” and “Rodney King Riots” are directly tied to the beating of Rodney King and the police officers who were found not guilty but these riots were from a source much deeper than this heinous crime. Through the stories of multiple people and their response to the riots, Anna Deavere Smith tells a story of something greater than just the reaction to the riots themselves. Each monologue in Twilight gave the individual their own voice and their own story providing the reader with various perspectives of the causes and affects of the riots. Politicians, ex-gang members, and store owners were all voices in the play whose individual perspective contributed to the entirety of the play. Maxine Waters stated, “For politicians who think everybody in the street who committed a petty crime, stealing some Pampers for the bay, a new pair of shoes…We know you’re not supposed to steal, but the times are such, the environment is such, that good people react in strange ways. They are not all crooks and criminals” (161). Her speech at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church is associated with many people of the African American community as well as the greater Los Angeles community and a response to their anger and actions. All races and genders were represented in this play, although they were not directly tied to one another, each person’s story had an underlying theme that made up the entirety of the play.
ReplyDeleteThe 1992 LA Riots consisted of much more than people being upset with the beating and verdict of the Rodney King trail, but rather a collection of incidents that occurred over time to create an explosion of violence and unrest. Instances of police brutality and misconduct had been an issue in Los Angeles for many years before the Rodney King incident even occurred. As Rudy Salas, Sr. states in the text, "the insanity that I carried with me started when I took the beating from the police". (2) From the perspective of many minorities in Los Angeles the Rodney King beating caused the population to not approach the incident as a first time matter, but rather as the last straw and this was the cause of a large amount of the outrage during the '92 riots. Another example of how these associations led to the 1992 riots would include the statement from Allen Cooper. Cooper details in his statement how police beatings had occurred long before the Rodney King incident. He states, "it's been twenty, thirty years, and people suffered beatings from law enforcement. It ain't nothin' new. It was just brought to the light this time". (100) These experiences are very important because it is important to note that these experiences were not shared by everybody and this was another important aspect that led to much of the frustration during the '92 riots. Elaine Young a successful real estate agent is a perfect example of this disconnect as she details her actions during the riots. She details her experiences spending her time finding refuge at the Beverly Hills Hotel and the "struggles" there. One of her more ridiculous statements occurs when she states, "Well let me put this out of my mind for now and go on." So that was the mood at the Polo Lounge". (152) While many others were out rioting, getting hosed, attacked, and beaten Ms. Young's time was spent down finding shelter at the "Polo Lounge" and I believe this is a perfect example of the huge disconnect between during people at this point of time in Los Angeles and as well speak about the different types of associations that caused outraged during the 1992 LA Riots.
ReplyDeleteA Riot is defined as “a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd.” To define the events that took place after the beating of Rodney King as, the “Rodney King riots” diminishes them to a reaction to this one event. A single isolated event cannot cause an uprising of this magnitude. The titles given to this series of events belittle and ignores the decades of oppression, racism, poverty and civil abuses of Black, Brown and poor people. Throughout the book there are examples of “associated causes” that contributed to the violent reactions that took place after the beating of Rodney King and the verdict that claimed the innocence of the police who beat him. Through these monologues, Anna Deavere Smith also explores how these social issues had been building up. “Today, as we stand here in 1992, if you go back and read the report it seems as though we are talking about what that report cited some twenty something years ago still exists today.” (161) Maxine Waters monologue directly emphasizes the idea that, yes, people are angry and hurt by the verdict and the beating, but this was not an isolated incident. It is our society that permits these acts of police brutality. It is our society that is built on the oppression of these people, and the beating of Rodney King was a moment of too much pain and a city that had enough. While the monologues are told by different people speaking parallel to one another as opposed to one another, they are still contributing to a pool of associated causes.
ReplyDeleteWith Smith's "Twilight" organized as a series of interviews, it allowed me to dive into the deep-rooted issues leading up the LA riots and and reasoning behind some of the actions taken. These deep-rooted issues (declining economy, urban poverty, a deterioration of public services and education) were most definitely present on a local and national level leading up to the riots and it is clear that their presence had an impact on the resulting outcome, "the story of race in America is much larger and more complex than a story of black and white" (xxi). The interviews throughout the text give a different perspective, a different way to learn about such a defining moment in the history of Los Angeles. Each interview was unique in that each person was of a different background, occupation, culture, etc., all factors that contributed to their view on the riots. While the content of each one varies, all the interviews seem to come to the conclusion that the riots had a profound effect on not only the Los Angeles community, but on a national level as well. With labels such as "LA Riots" or "Rodney King Riots", our understanding of what happened is limited. There is no background given, so we are not aware of the other causes that led to such a destructive event. The associative picture that the text provides allows us to consider the other race-related issues at the time and how, though not directly related to the beating Rodney King, still had a role in contributing to the riots that ensued. Because the characters never speak directly with one another, this can be translated as the very prevalent division that still exists between different groups. Communication and understanding is so important and the lack of these two principles is part of what ultimately led to the riots, "The fact of the matter is, whether we like it or not, riot is the voice of the unheard" (162). In the context of the interviews, the absence of direct communication among the characters shows the very real race issues that existed then and still exist today.
ReplyDeleteThe words “riot” and “uprising” come with their own associations. They suggest that the crowd of people participating lose control, that society becomes anarchical, that the instances of violence and mayhem are a reaction to one thing, such as the Rodney King trials. They also suggest that those who participate in the killings and lootings might already be criminals (whether they’ve stolen before or are gang members, etc.) because their instincts tell them to be violent rather than to run and hide. One of the events that fueled the public’s perception of the “riots” was the videotaped beating of Reginald Denny by the L.A. Four. The public saw black men beating a white truck driver, throwing a brick at his head. The public reacted. Allen Cooper, the ex-gang member, ex-convict, and activist in the national truce movement argues, however, that the public’s reaction to the Reginald Denny beating and the government’s conviction of the L.A. Four ignore the tensions that created distress in the first place—namely, the treatment of black people in society. He says that in the jail system “you got people beat worse than that/ point blank,” not to mention that beatings like that of Rodney king by law enforcement have been going on for thirty years (100). He breaks down the idea of a “riot” by showing that the violence is rooted in race relations, not solely the Rodney King trial, and that there are other instances of violence (often worse, and against black people) that the public neglects. When the public fixates on this Reginald-Denny-type, general picture of “riot,” the violence loses context; the picture and “soap opera” reaction are “delusions to the real problem” (102). Furthermore, the public focuses on convicting black people rather than addressing the problems that lead to their distress. Black people are seen as criminals. “Riot” is a cycle.
ReplyDeleteAnne Deavere Smith offers deeper rooted meanings and causes of the infamous LA riots in "Twilight" because of the many perspectives she is able to capture throughout the text. Each individual's testimony serves to illustrate different factors that lead to the horrific beating of Rodney King and the aftermath that followed. It is within these testimonies that Smith reveals the "Sea of associated causes" that lead to the riots. An association that Smith claims lead to racial tensions was a lack of community, a theme that is seen through the testimony of Katie Miller, a bookkeeper and accountant from South Central. In her testimony, Miller states, "[the rioting in Korea town] was due to lack of getting to know the people that come to your store" (129). A unique association that Smith raises is the lack of trust within the inner city communities. By using testimony to show that there was a lack of relationships between people of different races within inner city communities, Smith shows a mean reasoning for the riots within communities, and provides an associated cause to the riot as a whole. In a testimony later in the text, Maxine Waters, a United States representative from California's 43rd district, states that a reason for the uneasiness and tensions of the inner cities stem from a rapidly increasing unemployed workforce. In her statement, Waters states, "We now got young people who are twenty, twenty-two years old who have never worked a day in their lives... These are the young people in our streets and they are angry and they are frustrated" (168). Here, Waters makes a good point. With unemployment rising within the inner cities, so do the tensions of the unemployed. Without access or a path to paying jobs, inner city youth were both "frustrated" and helpless, boiling with anger. This boiling anger, Smith claims, is another associated reason to why the riots occurred. By some, the Los Angeles riots were seen as a rash outcry to a lost verdict. Smith ensures this is not the case. Through numerous testimonies, Smith shows that inner city tensions, lack of community, lost relationships and a jobless workforce were all causes that lead to the riots, and that the roots of the riot was much deeper than most believed.
ReplyDeleteIn the opening commentary of Twilight: Los Angeles, Anna Deavere Smith excerpts a speech given by Maxine Waters in which the congresswoman describes how the same issues that LA recognized during the Watts riots were still present and ingrained in society 20 years later in 1992. This observation clearly indicates that in those years, the severity of society’s prejudice and the underlying problems that defined Angelino lives did not register with the people or the government, and as a result the same actions of hate repeated themselves and little effort was made to improve conditions. Throughout the play, Smith acknowledges that the “story of race in America is much… more complex than a story of black and white” (xxi): she reveals some of its complexity through her interviews with people of many races, socio-economic backgrounds, and different roles within the city. While the story of and events following the Rodney King beating greatly angered the African-American community, she points out that Korean merchants, the Latino population, and countless others were equally involved. “This is the city we are living in. It’s our house….our own house burning” (200)—this interview conducted with an LA film director illustrates the pain of living in a city that is fighting itself, and how once it begins, everyone becomes involved. A later interview with a Korean woman reveals her anger at the injustices committed against “innocent Korean merchants” (247) in an attempt to prove that the Rodney King verdict was an injustice to society—her lament, among many others, shows a different perspectives of what occurred during the chaotic days after the court’s ruling. Although the characters in the play are divided in the sense that they may come from different communities or have very different points of view, the way the interviews are ordered in the play shows that they all still have something in common: they were either directly or indirectly affected by racial issues or by the turmoil that unfolded as a result of all the issues plaguing Los Angeles at the time (declining economy, poverty, problems with public services, police brutality). Rather than simply labeling the violent acts that took place in 1992 as a “riot,” the greater picture provided by the personal experiences of hundreds of different individuals allows us to better understand the background behind the violence, the “sea of associated causes” that resulted in a public outburst, and the importance of recognizing how many people were affected by this tragedy.
ReplyDeleteThe LA riots in 1992 should not be solely remembered as the violent outbreaks after the beating of Rodney King but should be recognized as a social cry for a change...a change that still needs to develop. When people use the term riot, it contains a negative connotation and assumes that there had been peace prior to the riot. In reality, police brutality has been occurring many times prior to the beating of Rodney King. The LAPD had and still has too much power and tend to use that power over the citizens "They almost shot them. They were pissed off, too angry...They almost shot my mom, my wife, and my sister...they will ask everybody questions, and the other guys don't know how to speak English. Then the police don't like that. So slap 'em in the face- that guy got slapped three times" (100)...Riots are not just for fun or just for violence; they have a purpose, there is a background. There was zero local and national pressures for police to strike Rodney King more than 50 times. However, there was a local and national "pressure" for victims and protesters (of police brutality) to strike back more violently.
ReplyDeleteTwilight: Los Angeles by Anna Deavere Smith most definitely talks about the plethora of causes that culminated in the 1992 LA riots, which I think is a benefit to understanding the history of LA, especially that instance. I agree that equating the Rodney King Riots with the La Riots is wrong. The LA Riots encompass a lot more than just the mental image that the term, "Rodney King Riots" brings. In the riots there was a lot of anger directed at the judicial system as seen the responses the mass. As expressed on page 73, countless years of pent up hate and contempt towards the legal system began to unravel, in this instance towards the jurors in the hate mail they received. And while Rodney King was a major part of the LA Riots, his beating was nothing new. The only difference was that someone caught them on film, which is expressed on pages 100 and 101. Previously, events like this (the beating) would happen and never even reach the court. The fact that there was proof, there was court and national attention, there was chance that justice would be served, and yet nothing happened only created further outrage. The other part of the riots not immediately thought off when mentioning Rodney King is the vast amounts of indifferent looters. Several people took advantage of the riots and looted along side it, not necessarily with or in support of the King or further minority dilemma. However, I do believe saying LA Riots is perfectly fine to describe the events in 92. It was everyone's riot, everyone in LA's riot. A time of yes rebellion. Perhaps not the rebellion of the mass prejudice and discrimination that African-Americans commonly received in the Justice system. Maybe it was a fight against the fires as it was for the firemen, or street war for the various Korean shop owners. However everyone had a their own personal fight. Even as deep as fighting to support the rebellion or not. The unfortunate reality is that by the time the riots were over, nobody was innocent and I think the term LA Riot fits that thought quite nicely. This was LA's Riots.
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ReplyDeleteIn Smith's "Twilight" she entertains all different aspects of the people, the community and the reactions during the LA riots. What I thought was interesting was that the book wasn't solely focused on just the Rodney King beating or just the riots that took place thereafter but also brought up past racial issues and discrepancies within Los Angeles and how all of that bottled up anger and resentment toward the society finally came out. When Smith interviews older African American residents in Los Angeles there was a pattern between what most of them said about the riots, "What Rodney King... It been-- it's been twenty, thirty years, and people suffered beating from law enforcement. It ain't nothin' new. It was just brought to light this time" (100). Police brutality and prejudice of blacks had been around since the beginning and through the evidential Rodney King beating, the community finally had a tangible reason to lash out that could be seen by everyone in a through a national lens. No matter how many different interpretations there are, every word or phrase used has an inherent association to it whether or not it's deliberate. The association to the words "LA riot" is violence, uprising, race wars etc. However, she brings up the side of the riots as not coming from such a malicious place and ironically from a place of fear and hopelessness, "the fact of the matter is, whether we like it or not, riot, is the voice of the unheard" (162). Smith offers a contrasting association to the word "riot" and interestingly dives deeper into the why whether than the what. The association with the words "law enforcement" is corruption, authority and abuse. In the book Smith really brings light to these different associations and perspectives when interviewing the people versus the police. It's also very interesting because usually the word "police" or "law enforcement" has a positive connotation to it expressing protection and good faith but Smith describes the associations to law enforcement in a totally different light. These interviews unpacked the negative association the minorities of the city have with the police force and even so how the country as a whole sees to that, "I think you're seeing across the country the credibility of the police is more uncertain, but still for the most part people want to believe the police officers" (76). "Twilight" opened up another understanding of the LA riots and society that entertained ideas that weren't so black and white but rather brought up dissimilar associations with the same topics.
ReplyDeleteDivisiveness and segregation are keywords when looking at the LA riots of 1992. Both of which are terms that Anna Deavere Smith explored in "Twilight: Los Angeles". It is clear from the separated monologues that the case of police brutality and Rodney King was not the only causes of the riots in LA. I believe that the format Deavere used to structure her argument is a metaphor for the segregated yet diverse nature of Los Angeles. Although many different backgrounds are found throughout LA, they are all separated into their own respective communities, yet are all still part of a whole. In the same way, all of the characters came from separated backgrounds yet had all been associated with the riots in some way. The Watts riots occurred almost 30 years prior in LA and still none of the issues were addressed and no one's questions were answered. The low income demographics in LA were left without any aid after their homes and communities were essentially destroyed. One of the larger aspects of the lead up to the LA riots was previous infractions committed by "bad apple" cops and their refusal to take ownership of their actions, "Prior to this we lost upper-body-control holds involved in 1982. If we had upper-body-control holds involved in this, this tape woulda never been on... The reason that we lost upper-body-control holds because we had something like seventeen to twenty deaths in a period of about 1975-76 to 1982" (62). Sergeant Charles Duke of the LAPD blamed part of the rise of the LA riots on the public's susceptibility to death while in an inhumane chock hold. Additionally, the media played a massive part in how the beating of Rodney King and the LA riots in general were portrayed. The media can use biased perspectives to show only what they want to be seen, "They basically feel that it is a black-on-black crime, if it's a n***er killin' a n***er, they don't have no problem with that. But let it be a white victim, oh, they gonna. . . they gonna go to any extremes necessary to basically convict some black people" (171). People tend to use Occam's Razor Principle when laying blame on someone, and when they have been told their whole lives that black people are not victims but perpetrators, that is how they will be seen.
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