Broken Promises

Why is it that fifteen years after the Rodney King
riots not much has changed since then. Promises
were made but not kept. Supermarkets said that
they would rebuild bigger and better have not lived
up to those promises. Who says black folks don't have
patience. African-Americans have been put on hold
long enough. Every other race that has been dealt
with unjustly in the American society has been apoligized
to and compensated for the wrongs that have been done
to them. But still black folks patience must constantly
be tested. Well if thats the case then we are being
disrespected and being pushed out of character.


Although a 15th anniversary typically does not carry the emotional cachet of, say, a 10- or 25-year milestone, hundreds of residents gathered Saturday at two South Los Angeles events to call attention to a community still racked by the poverty and violence that fueled the 1992 Los Angeles riots.The message from both gatherings on the eve of today's anniversary was stern and angry: The city's southern neighborhoods are still largely ignored.

A standing-room-only crowd at the Community Coalition lambasted city officials for failing to close nuisance liquor stores and motels that the nonprofit group has pinpointed as hot spots of illegal drinking, drug dealing, prostitution and violence.Six months ago, coalition members gave city Planning Director Gail Goldberg a list of the 21 "most egregious" businesses and pleaded for their closure or improvements within six months. They learned Saturday that public hearings have been held or set for only eight stores, frustrating many who said they expected more from the city."We have heard this so many times," an angry Manya Anderson, 58, told Goldberg as nearly 200 people looked on at the coalition's offices on South Vermont Avenue.

"We are dying. This community is dying. The bottom line is, this never would have been allowed in any other community."Resident Jackie Garrett, 60, was equally discouraged."I feel like we're living in Iraq," she said. "Tell me we lost the war in Iraq — we lost the war in L.A."Across town at First AME Church on Harvard Boulevard, civic leaders warned 70 to 100 listeners that the conditions that sparked the riots still fester, despite the myriad post-riot promises of better jobs, schools and supermarkets. Many promises never materialized, leaving some residents embittered and resigned.





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