Legal Commentary

Unlike most normal human beings, I subscribe to the riot news ticker through Google. My excuse is that I write about riots and must keep up on the latest. Setting aside any scholarly agenda, though, the stories range from the heartbreaking to the bizarre, and I thought I would share some recent news:

Rodney King, whose vicious beating by LAPD sparked the Los Angeles Riot of 1992, is engaged to marry Cynthia Kelly, who was Juror No. 5 in King?s civil suit against the city of Los Angeles. The 1992 Riot, one of our nation?s deadliest urban riots, left at least 42 people dead, more than 700 businesses burned, and over one billion dollars in property lost. In his 1994 suit against the city, King was awarded $3.8 million. The happy couple has yet to announce their wedding date.

Lemrick Nelson, who knifed to death Yankel Rosenbaum during the 1991 Crown Heights riots, was stabbed in the head with an ice pick in Washington Heights on September 12. During the riots, roving bands of African American youths terrorized the Crown Heights Hasidic Jewish community, robbing and assaulting civilians and police officers, vandalizing property, and looting businesses. At least 38 civilians and an estimated 152 police officers were injured. One individual, Rosenbaum, was killed. The latest news update lists Nelson in stable condition at a hospital. NYPD have yet to track down his attacker.

Eldoris McCondichie, one of the remaining survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, passed away on September 10. During the riot, angry whites destroyed the town of Greenwood, also known as America?s ?Black Wall Street,? and killed African American men, women, and children. The riot, one of most devastating instances of racial violence in our nation?s history, claimed at least 39 lives. McCondichie was 9 years old at the time of the riot. She was laid to rest last Thursday.