“Can we get along?” – Rodney King. These words came out from the very person who was the ignition of the Los Angeles riot in 1992. The aftermath of the riots was severe mostly for the society, and this is illustrated very brilliantly both in a script and by the performance by the famous playwright Anna Smith Deavere in her work titled Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. The play was performed on Broadway in 1994 and received many praises including from one New York Times reviewer, David Richards, praised her performance saying, “She does people’s souls.” The play is a collection of monologues composed by real people who were directly or indirectly involved in the riots. The characters include famous interviewees like LAPD chief Daryl Gates, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an anonymous juror of the King trial, victims including Reginald Denny and instigators. The most prominent theme throughout the play is the violence of both sides- the police and the society. The interviews portray a set of violent behavior such as police abuse of black people and community violence against innocent victims. The interesting point in all these interviews is the point that the playwright seems to make: all the people have some excuse or an understandable reason for the pain they cause on the other side. Nevertheless, the reader and the audience asks: where is the humanity?
Smith’s play is helpful in understanding and questioning the thoughts and feelings of different perspectives behind the racial tensions and the police brutality.
Smith’s play is good in illustrating the racial tensions that were felt by the society at in wide ranges – black, white, Korean, Hispanic, and Mexican-. Smith can echo the discrimination and the subduing of the minorities in a more emotional and on personal terms. For instance, she interviews Rudy Sales, Who is beaten by LAPD when he is a teenager, almost to the point where he becomes deaf. Sales express his hatred for white people with an emotional statement where he says; “I realized I had an enemy / and that enemy was those nice white teachers.” Many instigators had such reasons and excuses for their actions in the riots. The fact that he was not given equal economic rights, or that police raped her, or that she/he was abused both verbally and physically are all the reasons that filled up the racial tension until the beating of King. After the verdict, the tension that had filled the brim exploded in the form of looting shops and firing the neighborhoods. If we are to look at the reasons, from which we understand from Smith’s very real interviews, the actions are understandable, even at time heart-wrenching. However, as a reader, we still feel as though there is something that could have been done differently, something that could have been more humane than the burning of houses of innocent victims.
The brutality of the police, more specifically of LAPD, mostly on black people is very vividly articulated in the interviews. Theresa Allison was the mother of a former gang member Dewayne Holmes. She provides a very clear example of police brutality where she says, “When they killed Tiny / when I say “they,” I mean the police. / They shot forty-three times. / Five bullets went into Tiny.” Although the actions of the instigators are still not humane, nevertheless her words give us a unique and thorough look into the feelings of police brutality, and this allows us to understand the actions of the instigators. Smith’s excellent performance gives the audience the opportunity to see the aftermaths and the trauma of the victims who experienced the violence at first hand. Smith’s Twilight highlights this police brutality in a way that allows the public to feel the pain and suffering it inflicts on individual lives. Smith, very objectively, tries to give the viewpoint of both sides. At which point she provides the interview of the former LAPD officer Stanley Sheinbaum, who describes his own experience with a group of gang members. Stanley has a peaceful talk with the group and after returning to his partner, who questions his loyalty. Stanley answers, “Why do I have to be on a side? There’s a problem here.” His words are very good at criticizing the mentality of the police: us vs. them. This mentality has a problem, just like Stanley states, and at its core lies the inhumaneness in perceiving a society as separated into two groups: police and the public. Overcoming this mentality would give a community where the police protect the public.
The multiple perspectives of individuals during the riots in Smith’s work provide an insight into how many individuals felt and dealt with their situation. Smith covers a variety of instances leading up to the Rodney King incident and also after the trial, which both reflect on the diversity and tension of a city in chaos. The dialogues of the individual’s present similar and different points, none of which prove more right than the other. The individuals in the Los Angeles Riot continually took actions out of context, creating further tension both interracially and intraracially, thus resulting in an aftermath that was severe for those who were innocent and a trauma that took several years to repair. The racial tension that was supposed to be overcome and passed away with the rebuilding of the riots continued, although as small incidents. People did get over the riots, but the mark was left in history.
The LA Riots of 1992 were one of the most catastrophic, violent and depressing times in American history. Twilight gives a personal and individualistic perspective to the information that is presented, from which the understanding an empathy for the climate of LA in the early 1900’s is increased. Smith’s performance serves to be a personal and poignant perspective in analyzing the growing tensions that resulted in the riots. The work serves as an objective insight into the private lives of the victims and the instigators, which helps to illuminate the emotional side of the riots and enlighten the political and economic underlying causes. The actions of both the public and the police make the reader question what is right and wrong. The beating and abusing of the cops are wrong, that is a given; the looting and firing of the public are wrong, that is also a given. But what about the causes? The police are abusive verbally and physically because they have been inside a community that has had racial problems ever since it was built. The African-American slave issue, although seemingly resolved, stayed and still stays as an issue in The United States. The violence of the public, more specifically of the black community, is understandable given that they have been in an environment where they have been verbally and physically abused because of the color of their skin-something they have no control over. However one needs to ask the question here: what is the human part of this problem for both the sides? Where does the humanity rules start to apply? And how do we know the starting point? At this point, I suppose, comes in the factor of our consciousness. What does our inner voice tell us to do? And what can we do to listen and apply our inner voice?