美国国家公共电台 NPR LA Riot Documentaries Show Dehumanizing Black People Enables Abuses in Policing

 

RAY SUAREZ, HOST:

Next Saturday marks the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots. The widespread and violent uprising erupted after four police officers were acquitted¹ in the beating of a black motorist named Rodney King. The assault was captured in a widely shown video. The riots lasted six days and resulted in more than 50 deaths and more than a billion dollars of destruction.

Now there are several new TV documentaries to mark the anniversary. We asked NPR TV critic Eric Deggans to take a look at five of them, and I should warn you there's some strong and explicit² language in this piece.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE³: Considering how viral videos have ignited police brutality⁴ protests in recent years, I really wanted to see how these five new documentaries told the story of the first time that happened. But the first riot viewers see in National Geographic's documentary "LA 92" isn't the one from the film's title.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "LA 92")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Thirty-two persons were killed, all but five of them negroes.

DEGGANS: It's Watson 1965. Riots rage when allegations of police brutality spread after white officers arrested a black man for drunk driving. TV newscasters at the time reported on the violence and the casual racism⁵ of police officials.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "LA 92")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Police Chief Parker described Los Angeles negro rioters as monkeys in a zoo, and negro leaders have more than once called for his removal.

DEGGANS: Violence described back then sounds similar to what happened in 1992 when rioting, looting and violence caused an estimated $1 billion in damage and 55 deaths. Turns out, several of these documentaries look back to show how America's long history of dehumanizing poor black people enables abuses in policing which produces an explosion of community anger.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "BURN MOTHER******, BURN")

UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST: (Rapping) Six in the morning police at my door fresh...

DEGGANS: Showtime's pop culture-filled film "Burn [expletive], Burn" adds the voices of performers and artists like Cypress⁶ Hill rapper B-Real. They describe long-simmering tensions between police and young nonwhite people just before the riots.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "BURN MOTHER******, BURN")

B-REAL: We were definitely talking about the corruption⁷ and the brutality. We just thought we had to, you know, take the stance. It was important to us because, I mean, you know, we were the ones getting harassed⁸ every other day.

DEGGANS: Eventually, the film's story returns to Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old black girl killed by Korean grocery store clerk Soon Ja Du after a fight in the store. Du got five years probation⁹ for the shooting months after the Rodney King beating. Director Sacha Jenkins shows tensions rose between black residents and Korean convenience store owners by playing a little bit of Ice Cube's "Black Korea."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLACK KOREA")

ICE CUBE: (Rapping) Thinking every brother in the world's out to take, so they watch...

DEGGANS: Then author Jeff Chang explains how it affected¹⁰ him.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "BURN MOTHER******, BURN")

JEFF CHANG: And a lot of my friends were like we're boycotting¹¹ Ice Cube, but what gave Soon Ja Du the right to take Latasha Harlins' life? And who are we actually defending here?

DEGGANS: The Smithsonian Channel's documentary "The Lost Tapes: LA Riots" includes little scenes footage of the unrest taped by police and some radio broadcasts that includes residents calling into local radio station KJLH owned by soul legend Stevie Wonder.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "THE LOST TAPES: LA RIOTS")

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I'm really angry and really very scared. You know, I just spent the last 10 years of my life in college, but it doesn't really matter because even with a briefcase¹² in my hand and a suit on my back, I'm still just another [expletive] to the cops out there.

DEGGANS: But the most nuanced and surprising documentary comes from director John Ridley. In "Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982 To 1992," Ridley often presents one take on an issue only to flip¹³ the script later. For example, within a documentary that details violence and racism by the LAPD, he also shows a courageous¹⁴ officer. Lisa Phillips was on duty during the riots as she and her partner answered an emergency call violating orders to stay out of the area. Phillips had a request.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "LET IT FALL: LOS ANGELES 1982-1992")

LISA PHILLIPS: I said, partner, look, I'm gay. You probably figured it out, but I'm coming out to you. I've got a lover. Will you call her if something happens to me? And he said don't worry. He's a partner. I got your back.

DEGGANS: Director John Singleton was in Simi Valley for the 1992 acquittal of the officers who beat Rodney King. News clips of him predicting riots back then pop up in several documentaries. Now he's executive producer of A&E's comprehensive film "LA Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later." Singleton talks about the riots as an uprising. After showing white truck driver Reginald Denny pulled from his vehicle beaten and robbed while trying to drive through the riot, "LA Burning" show South-Central residents who call the four black men that attacked him heroes.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "LA BURNING: THE RIOTS 25 YEARS LATER")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: If you ask anybody around here what you think they did was wrong, they will say what they done to that man was wrong, but I think it was time for that. That's what's to come. We don't change the way we interact with the police and they interact with us, y'all might as well just welcome the next riot.

DEGGANS: Taken together, these films show the power of the medium to expose painful truths about race, policing and American society. The question now is what do we do now that we've seen them? I'm Eric Deggans.

1 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

2 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

5 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

6 cypress   

n.柏树

参考例句：

• The towering pine and cypress trees defy frost and snow.松柏参天傲霜雪。
• The pine and the cypress remain green all the year round.苍松翠柏，常绿不凋。

7 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

8 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

9 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

11 boycotting   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They're boycotting the shop because the people there are on strike. 他们抵制那家商店，因为那里的店员在罢工。
• The main opposition parties are boycotting the elections. 主要反对党都抵制此次选举。

12 briefcase   

n.手提箱，公事皮包

参考例句：

• He packed a briefcase with what might be required.他把所有可能需要的东西都装进公文包。
• He requested the old man to look after the briefcase.他请求那位老人照看这个公事包。

13 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

14 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。