A resolution commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest.

Mr. President, I wish to introduce a Senate resolution to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest.

On March 3, 1991, an African American named Rodney King was driving on a Los Angeles interstate when officers attempted to pull him over for allegedly speeding. By the time he pulled over and exited his car following a high-speed chase spanning 8 miles, there were multiple LA police department units on the scene.

King was tasered two times, and camcorder video footage recorded by a civilian witness--George Holliday--from his nearby apartment balcony depicted the brutal beating of King by four officers who surrounded him. The officers struck King repeatedly until he was bloodied and disfigured with a fractured cheekbone, 11 broken bones at the base of the skull, and a broken ankle. The video footage shows King being struck by batons over 50 times,

Holliday's video was sent to news outlets and aired around the world. It shook the Nation and raised outcries about excessive force by police officers. But even before the videotape had become public, community leaders in Los Angeles had highlighted on numerous occasions the use of excessive force by LAPD officers.

In fact, in the immediate aftermath of the Rodney King beating, then- Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley formed

the Christopher Commission to thoroughly examine thousands of excessive force complaints made against LAPD officers in the late 1980s. So when--a year later on April 29, 1992--the four LAPD officers caught on tape were acquitted after standing trial for using excessive force against Rodney King, the entire Nation was in shock. The verdict appeared completely incompatible with the brutal videotape footage that flooded our TV screens at the time.

When the verdict became public, hundreds gathered at the Los Angeles County Courthouse to protest, and a national debate immediately began over racial injustice and excessive use of force by police against racial minorities. Shortly thereafter, at the intersection of Florence and Normandie in South Central Los Angeles, the public's frustration boiled over and violence erupted, setting off a flash point that the police simply could not quell. Looting, vandalism, and physical attacks became rampant, and I will never forget the image of Reginald Denny being dragged out of his semi-trailer truck to be severely beaten in the middle of the street.

From then on, the unrest overtook the city, including neighborhoods like Koreatown, Hawthorne, Compton and Long Beach. The city, quite literally, was on fire. For 6 days, the city was in a state of emergency.

All told, there were more than 60 individuals who lost their lives amid the looting and fires, and thousands of individuals were injured or arrested, while countless more lost their businesses and places of employment. Over 3,600 fires were set and over 1,100 buildings in Los Angeles were damaged or destroyed.

Images of the smoke clouds over the city evoked the devastation felt by so many Angelenos. The 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest was felt so deeply and so personally by so many communities throughout the city.

The African American community decried not only the verdict returned against Rodney King but also mourned the death of high-schooler Latasha Harlins and so many other victims of violence and excessive use of force. The civil unrest was symptomatic of the deep frustrations felt by the African-American community against a criminal justice system that continually failed to protect them.

Similarly, the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest was sharply felt by the Latino community in Los Angeles.

According to one report following the unrest, one-third of those killed and half of those arrested were Latino, and countless Latino businesses were looted or destroyed.

The Korean-American community in Los Angeles was also deeply impacted, referring to the unrest as ``Sa-I-Gu,'' to commemorate the date ``April 29'' in Korean to mark it as a significant date in Korean history. Amidst the torched and decimated businesses, 35 to 40 percent of the property damage was suffered by those businesses owned by Korean-Americans--with estimates of up to 1,600 Korean-American-owned stores completely destroyed.

There is no question that those fateful 6 days have impacted generations of Angelenos. We must resolve to never forget the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest and what emerged from those fires.

We must offer our condolences for the families who lost their loved ones or who bear the scars, both mental and physical, from that time and commend those who have worked so hard to come together to heal community rifts, rebuild a stronger Los Angeles, and continue to promote ongoing dialogue, civility, and unity among all communities.

That is the purpose of this resolution we are introducing today.

I want to thank Senator Harris for working with me on the resolution to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of this historic event in California.

I yield the Floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 147 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.