Summary

This news special, hosted by Dan Rather, focuses on the aftermath of the riots in Los Angeles following the verdict in the Rodney King trial. This program features reports from correspondents Richard Roth, Connie Chung, John Blackstone, Randall Pinkston, Terry Smith, Harold Dow, Juan Vasquez, and Jerry Bowen. Topics discussed include the following, among others: King's comments upon his release from the hospital; the situation in Los Angeles two days after the shocking verdict in the King case; the anger that merchants and shop owners feel about the looters who are destroying their businesses; the way Magic Johnson led a team of celebrities into the streets to begin cleaning up; the way the rage and violence has spread to other cities across the country; the real victims in the wake of the violence; the way monetary damages pale compared to the mental and emotional damages; children's thoughts about the verdict and the violence; the experience of being a policeman in a city where violence is a way of life; the reason some policemen broke the "code of silence" following the King verdict; the way civil unrest hit Miami in the late 1980s when policemen were cleared of brutality charges; changes that Mayor Xavier Suarez implemented in Miami to create racial harmony among community members and the police; weapons that are being used against the police and society; actions that citizens have taken to protect themselves and their families; and the way total strangers are helping one another out. Next, Rather leads a panel discussion with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), and Professor Shelby Steele (San Jose State University), who address the following topics: actions that must be taken to change society and strengthen race relations in this country, and the reason that Los Angeles citizens seem unaware of the "ripple effect" that the violence is having on the rest of the country. Includes commercials and promos. This program is closed-captioned.

Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Marc Haas and Helen Hotze Haas Foundation, 1997.