Denver Law Review Volume 70 Issue 2 Colloquy - Racism in the Wake of the Article 7 Los Angeles Riots January 2021 The International Implications of the Los Angeles Riots Henry J. Richardson III Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/dlr Recommended Citation Henry J. Richardson, The International Implications of the Los Angeles Riots, 70 Denv. U. L. Rev. 213 (1993). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Denver Law Review at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Denver Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. THE INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE Los ANGELES RIOTS HENRY J. RICHARDSON, III* I. INTRODUCTION By now much has been written, preached, propagandized, analyzed and moralized about the Los Angeles riots. We need not rehearse here either the facts of the trial and acquittal of the police officers who beat Rodney King, the subsequent fire and destruction or the resulting fed- eral and state trials of the officers and riot participants. This Article will discuss the international reactions to the acquittals and the riot while exploring several crucial issues with implications for United States pol- icy, international law and Afro-America in the world community. The Article will also explore comparative claims regarding causation for the riots and the responses of the Vatican and the southern tier of the world community to these claims. Some initial consideration will be given to recent United States. policy trends in order to place the international community's response to Los Angeles in context.