“It’s only the people without tomorrow that can do violence to today.”
1992. Geraldo Rivera is on the Arsenio Hall show in the time-frame of the Los Angeles riots, with unrest intensifying after a jury acquits 4 officers who beat and arrested Rodney King. The conversation moves on to the riots, what was going on with police chief Daryl Gates, who claimed not to know what was going on? Is blaming the media for sensationalizing blaming the messenger? How is it possible that 15 helicopters can be filming someone getting beaten to death and authorities are nowhere to stop the violence?
This is a very interesting segment between Arsenio and Geraldo, moving into politics and the state of the country. Can the country solve its race problem?
“…the string that connects the people of the inner city to the system, is a tiny fragile string right now…”
“… why are they not talking about what is obvious to everybody? That every day that goes by, the inner city gets poorer…”
“…usually, the violence and the chaos is confined to the inner city, and usually it doesn’t make the evening news. Now it’s spilled over..”
Later in the segment Geraldo talks about his book Exposing Myself, of which the proceeds were donated to help a class from Harlem go to college.
The L.A. riots continued for six days and were tempered when the California national guard and United States military deployed troops to stop the violence. Inner city strife continues to be a major issue in urban centers across the country.