Throughout United States history, numerous violent clashes occurred between races for a variety of reasons. Individuals willing to fight for equality and acceptance often participated in these riots. Though many different people suffered great pain during these riots, the African-American population underwent the most distress. Members of the African-American population zealously, yet angrily, rioted against the Caucasian population numerous times in efforts to elevate their overall position in society and seek justice. This was a struggle that continued throughout history. The Rodney King Rebellion, a result of police brutality; the Tulsa Race Riot, resulting from economic jealousy and equality; and the Detroit Race Riot, an example of a fight for equality, are examples from the 20th Century of attempted outcries for racial equality. These three riots in particular proved the existence of racial tensions between whites and blacks when the tensions were thought to have vanished, and the African-American population suffered immense, unjust treatment. .
One of the most memorable and terrifying race riots was the Rodney King Rebellion. This race riot occurred just ten years ago, signifying that racial tensions still exist today. On April 29, 1992, Rodney King, a drunken motorist, refused to stop for police officers who had signaled him to stop, and he led them on a high speed chase (Knight, 244). Once King was caught, the police beat and then arrested him, hitting him a total of 56 times. As racial tensions were not thought to be prevalent during the era, this riot posed a shock to the public, who crowded at the scene in curiosity. Once a large enough group of angered African-Americans had gathered around, many of them became involved in the riot and fires were set and stores were looted. A total of 50 people had been killed, thousands were arrested, and there was a shocking bill of one billion dollars in property damage (Waller, 45).
