I always get a chuckle when I see an "update" article on the Los Angeles riots ("Searching for a Legacy," by Peter H. King, April 21). Inevitably, a community "activist" denies that a riot occurred. It was, instead, a "moral uprising." Tell me, what was moral about Reginald Denny's beating? Did I miss some lesson when gun shops, liquor stores and hardware stores were looted down to the bare floor? If a lack of education prompted the "uprising," is that why so many schools were broken into--so the rioters could rush into an empty classroom and start studying?
It was a riot, dear friends. A looting, burning, violent orgy of destruction and theft. To characterize it as anything else is, at best, irresponsible. At worst, it is an equally criminal act of denial and blame.
