America's urban crisis a decade after the Los Angeles riots

Abstract

The Los Angeles Times published a weeklong series of front-page articles reviewing the day the riots erupted, assessing contemporary conditions in the riot corridor, and examining the current state of race relations in America’s most racially diverse city. Reporters interviewed academic experts, community activists, ordinary residents, business leaders, and others; and the paper sponsored a public opinion poll to probe how Angelenos now felt about their city. But the paper’s most telling story was buried on page 20 on the day of the anniversary,April 29. The headline was “Tax Cut Clouds Bush’s Urban Agenda.” Bush came to Los Angeles that day to speak at a church-sponsored community development center at the 1992 riot’s epicenter,South Los Angeles—an area with almost 700,000 residents, bigger than most cities. Reporters might have expected him to announce a new initiative to address the nation’s serious urban problems,but instead he simply touted his most visible urban program— encouraging urban churches to sponsor social programs such as homeless shelters,food kitchens,and drug counseling. His proposal (which has been stalled in Congress because of disagreements over federal funding for religious activities) added no funds for these worthy,though Band-Aid,efforts,but simply called for redirecting existing moneys. Also,by pushing $1.3 trillion in tax relief, mostly for the wealthy,Bush made it impossible for the federal government to provide any significant aid to the nation’s cities or to the poor.