How do we know the riot wasn’t predominantly carried out by the black community as a form racial backlash? There was no way to take a completely accurate census of the crowds. However statistics were done on the 12,000 people arrested during the riots. A report from RAND (1993) reports 43% of those convicted of felonies were classified as Latino with no ethnic link to Rodney King or …show more content…
The truth is, while racial tension was a major contributing factor to the riots, it wasn’t the only cause. However, little press coverage mentioned these underlying causes. In fact, quite the opposite was true. Shah Shah, professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison noted that, “On the very first day of the riots, the Los Angeles Times labeled the incidents as ‘race-related violence.’ Five Subsequent stories also framed the disturbances primarily or only in racial terms.” Meanwhile, socio-economic issues that contributed to the riots were all but ignored. As Shah put it, “there was little talk in the initial mainstream press coverage about economic inequality, legal injustice, or police brutality, until the media shifted to an analysis frame weeks after the