For millions who’ve watched it since Monday, George Floyd’s final plea to the Minneapolis police officer now charged with his murder was an echo of Eric Garner’s dying words: “I can’t breathe.”
For the second time in six years, those words have become a rallying cry for protesters across the country, including hundreds in Los Angeles, where demonstrators stopped traffic on the 101 Freeway on Wednesday evening and again on Friday.
But for some black Angelenos, footage of Floyd’s killing and the civil unrest that has followed in Minneapolis are also painful reminders of a much older tape. Nearly 30 years after the police beating of Rodney King, the rage and despair remain familiar — but hope for justice has ebbed.
“I don’t feel better, and it troubles me to say that,” said Kerman Maddox, a public affairs consultant who lived near the epicenter of the uprising in 1992 and covered the riots as a reporter in South L.A. “It’s worse today than it was back then.”
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Protesters stand on top of a burned LAPD cruiser as another burns at 3rd St. and Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles Saturday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A building on Melrose Ave is on fire Saturday night.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Police move in to arrest protesters in the Fairfax District in Los Angeles Saturday night.
( Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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A couple consoles each other knowing they will be arrested along with protesters on Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles Saturday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Police and groups including Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and Build Power stand off at Pan Pacific Park on Saturday, May 30, 2020.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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A police car is spray-painted with the name Floyd during a demonstration at Pan Pacific Park on Saturday.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles police arrest a protesterat W 3rd St and S Fairfax Ave. in the Fairfax District on Saturday.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Two women hug each other knowing they will be arrested along with other protesters on Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters yell at LAPD officers at 3rd St and Fairfax Ave on Saturday.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters yell at LAPD officers at 3rd St and Fairfax Ave on Saturday.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A skateboarder falls over a small fire set by protesters on 3rd St. in Los Angeles Saturday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A protestor is arrested by LAPD officers at 3rd St. and Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles Saturday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester kicks in the door of a Whole Foods Market in the Fairfax District Saturday,
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Police arrests looters at Whole Foods Market in the Fairfax District Saturday.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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A LAPD police car is engulfed in flames as protest turned violent Saturday in the Fairfax District Saturday.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester falls to the ground after being shot with a rubber projectile from LAPD officers at 3rd St. and Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles Saturday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester runs for safety after being shot with a rubber projectile from LAPD officers at 3rd St. and Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles Saturday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A protestor refuses to be arrested as he holds his dog at 3rd St. and Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles Saturday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Looters run from the Apple Store at The Grove on Saturday.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Chief of Police for Los Angeles, Michel Moore, tells protesters that the Fairfax District is closed Saturday.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester is arrested in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles on Saturday, May 30, 2020.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Police yell at protester in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles on Saturday.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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As police watch, protesters demonstrate at the Farmers Market Saturday.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters gather at Pan Pacific Park on Saturday, May 30. The peaceful protest turned violent later in the day.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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A caravan of cars protesting the killing of George Floyd rally in front of LAPD Headquarters on Saturday.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Looters ransack a Walgreens store along Broadway in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers react to a firecracker thrown by protesters on Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Police arrest two men and a woman for violating the curfew along Broadway in downtown Los Angeles Saturday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers stand outside a looted store on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Shop owners put up plywood at Superare Fight Shop after looters and vandals ransacked businesses along Melrose Ave. in the Melrose District on Saturday.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Looters and vandals ransack Spokes ‘N Stuff at Melrose Ave. and Ogden Dr. in the Melrose District on Saturday.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters break windows along Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Orange County Sheriff deputies maintain a police block as a firecracker thrown by a protester explodes behind them during a protest Saturday in Santa Ana.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
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As fireworks explode in the background, Michelle Usher of Santa Ana, middle, prays in the street at the intersection of McFadden Avenue and Bristol Street in Santa Ana Saturday night.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester confronts Orange County Sheriff deputies who formed a police block to push demonstrators away from the intersection of McFaden Avenue and Bristol Street Saturday in Santa Ana.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester wipes tears as she listens to an impassioned speaker during a demonstration against the death of George Floyd during the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday in Orange.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
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Looters run from a jewelry store as LAPD officers approach in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Looters run from a jewelry store as LAPD officers approach in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester yells out along 2nd and Spring streets in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester throws a fire department firehose on a fire in the middle of the street in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters gather around a fire in the middle of the street in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, May 29, 2020.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester breaks a window with a bat to a business in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A looter steals liquor bottles from Terroni restaurant on Spring St. in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters raise their arms at LAPD officers on Spring St. in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester blocks an LAPD vehicle from passing along 1st Street in Downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A protestwr trips and falls as LAPD officers approach on Spring St. in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters hold hands as they walk through a construction site to escape LAPD officers in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A Starbucks is looted along Spring St. in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A looter steals extra virgin olive oil from Terroni restaurant in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Police keep their eyes on protesters in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, May 29, 2020.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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A firework is ignited as protesters demonstrate in downtown on Friday, May 29, 2020, in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester raises his arms as LAPD officers approach on Spring St. in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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An MTA bus is vandalized in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters start a fire on Seventh Street in downtown Los Angeles on Friday night.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Looters break into a Rite Aid store in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, May 29, 2020.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times
)
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Looters take liquor and beer from a Rite Aid store in downtown Los Angeles.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Looters take jewelry from a store in downtown Los Angeles Friday night.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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A police officer keeps an eye on protesters in downtown Los Angeles Friday night.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Police move past a fire set by protesters in downtown Los Angeles Friday night.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Looters look for jewelry on the floor at a jewelry store in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Looters run from a jewelry store as LAPD officers approach in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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A police cruiser drives past a fire in the middle of the street in downtown Los Angeles Friday night.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester throws a wooden pallet on a fire on Seventh Street in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Protestors are arrested by Los Angeles police in front of City Hall early Saturday morning.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A man smashes the window of a business in downtown Los Angeles Friday night.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters scale a chainlink fence to escape from police in downtown Los Angeles Friday night.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Police fire percussion rounds to clear protesters from Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles.
(Luis Sinco/Luis Sinco)
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A protester remains defiant after being pushed to the ground by police on Grand Avenue in in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters are arrested by Los Angeles police in front of City Hall as they demonstrate in downtown on Saturday.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A police officer arrests a protester.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Police try to contain protesters in downtown Los Angeles.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Protestors are arrested by Los Angeles police in front of City Hall Saturday morning.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters are arrested by Los Angeles police in front of City Hall as they demonstrate in downtown Saturday morning.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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CHP officers protect themselves from protesters on the northbound 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block the 110 Freeway downtown.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters march onto the 110 Freeway.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters are escorted off the 110 Freeway.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester is escorted off the freeway.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters climb over a fence near the 110 Freeway.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters on the freeway.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters block traffic as they momentarily occupy the northbound lanes of the Harbor Freeway.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters on the Harbor Freeway.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers assume a defensive stance as a protester approaches them on the Harbor Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester grimaces in pain.
( Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester stands above the northbound 110 Freeway.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Traffic backs up after protesters block the northbound lanes of the Harbor Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers escort a protester off the northbound lanes of the Harbor Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles police patrol the 110 freeway after chasing protestors off Friday, May 29.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester rides a skateboard on the 110 Freeway.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters on the 110 Freeway.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters packs Wilshire Blvd overlooking the 110 freeway on Friday, May 29.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers form a human barrier against protesters gathered near the intersection of Fifth and Olive streets in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Police restrain a protester near the intersection of Fifth and Olive streets.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester celebrates after vandalizing a police cruiser.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Garbage lands on police officers as they confront protesters near the intersection of Fifth and Olive streets.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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An LAPD officer prepares to push protesters back.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protestors are arrested by Los Angeles police in front of City Hall as they demonstrate in downtown Friday night.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters face off with a large law enforcement presence in downtown Los Angeles Friday.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Protestwrs demonstrate in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, May 29.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A protester confronts LAPD officers.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters raise their hands a police block their way in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Elyssa Wells calls out as she and others sit on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Dozens of protestors stand off with police May 28 on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Police speed along Third Street in downtown Los Angeles in response to a demonstration by hundreds of people.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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LAPD officers hold the line against dozens of protesters on Grand Avenue.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Dozens of protesters, many with the Black Lives Matters-LA movement, stand off with police.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester jumps in the street to block an oncoming California Highway Patrol vehicle in Los Angeles.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester tosses a bottle of water on a CHP vehicle as other protesters swarm the car at a rally in front of LAPD headquarters.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters link hands May 27 across the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles in a demonstration over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Two people stand on a police vehicle during Wednesday’s Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Los Angeles.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Harina Yacob, 26, of Los Angeles wears a mask reading, “Please, I can’t breathe,” which Floyd is heard saying in video of a police officer kneeling on his neck.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester lies injured on the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
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People tend to the injured protester on the 101 Freeway near downtown Los Angeles.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters cheer as the injured demonstrator is helped to his feet by firefighters.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters link hands and raise their arms on the 101 during Wednesday’s protest.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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People stand on the side of the 101 Freeway during the Black Lives Matter protest.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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The marchers exit the freeway, but they continued to protest off Aliso Street.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Black Lives Matter protesters march in downtown L.A.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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The killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis sparked this and other nationwide protests.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Myche Barriere, 23, left, and Annika Sillemon, 16, carry signs at Wednesday’s protest.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters surround a California Highway Patrol cruiser in downtown Los Angeles.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
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Kika Villareal, 27, left, and daughter Aubrie join Wednesday’s protesters downtown.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Black Lives Matter protesters gather in downtown L.A.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester sits at the intersection of South Hill and West 2nd streets during the L.A. protest.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones/Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters watch the demonstration at South Hill and West 2nd streets.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester silently approaches an officer.
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
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L.A. protesters make their presence known.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters on a downtown Los Angeles street.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters cross Broadway, heading toward Hill Street.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
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Jaime Carter holds a U.S. flag as a fellow protester torches it.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Disturbing as it was, Maddox said the Rodney King tape had felt briefly revelatory — at last, he and others believed, white Americans would be forced to confront how police treated black men.
“My first response was, finally someone caught it on videotape,” Maddox said. “Some of us had been the victim of that ourselves, but there was never a camera. We thought, finally we’re going to get justice, because it’s clear what’s going on, it’s clear as the nose on your face.”
Even after a Simi Valley jury found the officers not guilty, Maddox consoled himself that the riots would make such police violence singular.
“When you saw the destruction after, you thought people got the message, and this will never happen again,” Maddox said. “But it happens over and over and over again and nothing seems to change. Nothing seems to get better.”
Watching the civil unrest in Minneapolis, he said he felt the same pain and rage as when his neighborhood was ripped apart around him in 1992. But as the father of a teenage boy, that outrage is now shot through with terror.
“Back then, they used to beat the crap out of us, but they didn’t kill us,” he said. “Now when my 13-year-old son goes to the park, I worry … is someone going to call the cops on him?”
U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) was already working on police misconduct through the Community Coalition, her South L.A. social justice organization, when video of Rodney King being beaten surfaced. In an interview Friday, she recalled widespread hope that the tape would mark a turning point for communities like hers.
“I remember feeling that — it was visceral,” the congresswoman said. “With the invention of the video camera, we were sure we would finally get justice. Since then there’s been I don’t know how many recordings of black people being shot in the back, shot when they are running. In the overwhelming majority of cases, officers were either not charged or not convicted.”
On Friday, former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder in connection with Floyd’s killing. But videos of the incident appear to show several officers standing by as Chauvin pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck, and Bass said they too must be arrested and held responsible.
“These officers stood and assisted in the commission of a crime, they deserve to be arrested too,” Bass said.
In the meantime, she urged her constituents not to lose hope.
“In spite of how we feel, we have to soldier on,” she said. “I want to see despair expressed in action that moves things forward.”
That’s the message Dominique DiPrima has emphasized to callers this week on her early morning talk radio show on KJLH. The longtime Angeleno was still living in her native Bay Area when the verdict was handed down in 1992, but she remembered protesting in the streets of San Francisco.
Since then, she said, police violence has been “a constant conversation” in her work.
“What I’m hearing the most is frustration, like when is this going to stop?” DiPrima said of the recent calls to her show. “I’ve had some people say we’ve got to start shooting back. And I’ve had people saying they give up.”
Though she said the task of reform feels Sisyphean, she pointed out that recent protests have brought concrete change.
“When people get on the phone and say all we do is protest, I say [State Assemblywoman] Shirley Weber passed a bill that changes when police can use deadly force,” DiPrima said. “We now have a sheriffs’ oversight committee with subpoena power — that doesn’t happen without Black Lives Matter.”
Still, she said, that progress had come at an enormous cost — both in lives lost, and those weighted down by the struggle to hold law enforcement accountable.
“A couple of years before his death, I got the opportunity to interview Rodney King at KJLH and it was really very haunting,” DiPrima said. “Because you could see the weight of that: not just the incident and being beaten, but the weight of carrying that for us.”
