Liberals with Attitude: The Rodney King Beating and the Fight for the Soul of Los Angeles

LIBERALS WITH ATTITUDE DOCUMENTS THE SIXTEEN MONTHS IN 1991-92 between the brutal beating of Rodney King by four police officers that was captured on a home video camera and the resignation of LAPD chief Daryl Gates. Gates was reviled by local Black and civil liberties communities because of the pattern of racism in the department, and he was uniquely powerful because of the structure of the Los Angeles City Charter.

The triumphant effort to get Gates to step down and to amend the City Charter to prevent another unaccountable chief was led by Tom Bradley, the first Black mayor of the city. Bradley assembled a team that included future US secretary of state Warren Christopher, the local ACLU, and Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Members of the local media, the burgeoning “gangsta rap” culture of LA, and civil rights activists were among those supportive of Bradley’s agenda.

Author Danny Goldberg was the chair of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California during those years and was personally acquainted with the leaders of the fight against Gates. He interviewed several dozen people who were involved in the events, and got access to the papers of Stanley Sheinbaum, who was the president of the Los Angeles Police Commission. Goldberg’s insider saga demonstrates that cooperation between the political left and center is required to overcome white grievance and unaccountable power.