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American Morning

10th Anniversary Of LA Riots

Aired April 29, 2002 - 07:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Today marks the grim anniversary in the history of race relations in the U.S. It was 10 years ago that south central Los Angeles exploded into violence after a jury acquitted four white police officers in the beating of black motorist, Rodney King. Four days of riots sent shockwaves through the city and the nation. And CNN's Thelma Gutierrez looks back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The jury has reached a verdict, not guilty, not guilty, not guilty, not guilty of the crime of assault by force.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): April 29, 1992...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know I am innocent, and that was the verdict.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: John Anpittamy (ph) is a racist pig.

GUTIERREZ: An hour and fifteen minutes after the verdicts were read, all hell breaks loose in Los Angeles. The next 24 hours is chaos, and South Central turns into a war zone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You will see roaming gangs on the rampage. Stan (ph), that's right, we (ph) didn't even have a chance.

GUTIERREZ: By 6:45 p.m...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is where some of the worst violence is taking place near the corner of Florence and Normandy.

GUTIERREZ: ... the nation watches as Reginald Denny is beaten on live television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there you see the man driving that truck being robbed, not a sign of L.A. police officer or a highway patrol officer or a sheriff's deputy or any kind of law enforcement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is unjustifiable to take advantage of someone, first who is down, secondly, who is innocent.

GUTIERREZ: By 8:00 that night, the violence and destruction reach a feverish pitch. Los Angeles is on fire. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is MC-1, we are cornered by fires.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those fires got started in south central, spread to mid-central, and then north of Wilshire, then on the verge of Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

GUTIERREZ: While buildings burn around the city, as looters empty stores, the faithful gather at the First AME Church in south central that night to pray for peace and calm.

(on camera): It must have been a surreal experience. Inside, people are singing and praying, and outside they are rioting.

REV. CECIL MURRAY, FIRST AME CHURCH: Indeed. It was surreal. But it was real as we find out flames are real. We were planning what to do in case there was an eruption.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): The eruption was enormous and still haunts the Reverend Cecil Murray (ph) 10 years later.

(on camera): Reverend, what was your most vivid memory, the most disturbing memory of April 29?

MURRAY: It is the memory that comes even as we walk right now, here on this bend. That house in the middle was burning. Families were in there. And the mother of the child was weeping and weeping, and the father of the child was just shaking his head asking, how could this be, how could this be?

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Many thought the night would never end.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we are looking at now is wide shot from the helicopter of smoke plume after smoke plume after smoke plume. It is just a horror story to look at.

GUTIERREZ: Daybreak over Los Angeles after a night of insanity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were people throwing things at us. Now, what you do is stand there and take it.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): Have the wounds healed, and do you think that things are any better?

MURRAY: The wounds are in process of healing. They have not healed. And there are isolated moments where you can note progress here on this hill.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): The rioting in Los Angeles continued for three more days; 55 people were killed, 1,100 buildings destroyed 10 years ago today.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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