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A peaceful solution to the riots in France
Originally appeared on spirituality.com
One evening in April 1992, a friend and I were taking our twice-weekly walk in the Santa Monica mountains to the north of Los Angeles. It was the day the Rodney King verdict was handed down, in which four white police officers were acquitted of beating up an African-American motorist, an act that was famously caught on videotape.
While we had heard that many were enraged by the verdict, we hadn’t suspected what we were about to witness. As we rounded a corner we had an overview of Los Angeles. Below, we could see our city in flames, burning with disappointment, anger and frustration.
That evening marked the beginning of the Los Angeles riots. For several days, arsonists and looters held the city captive as fearful firemen and police waited for National Guardsmen to come in and quell the storm.
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