Burnt Offerings: How the City of Angels Engulfed Any and All Involved in the Rodney King Affair and Los Angeles Riots

This thesis analyses the first modern case of police brutality and race relations - the beating of Rodney King and the 1992 Riots that followed. The roots of the gravity of this situation can be found in the the leadership of the city during that time. The thesis tells the story of the juxtaposition of the black, Democratic Mayor of Los Angeles (Tom Bradley) and the white, Republican Los Angeles Police Chief (Daryl Gates). Though both have a very mixed legacy, both men were highly effective in their respective fields and goals. It is their inability to work together and constant strenuous relationship that ends up dooming the political career of both men and eliminating the stability of the city of Los Angeles