But the reading that has impacted me the most does not meet my naive expectation.
Some back ground information: I am taking a general education course that chronicles the history of Los Angeles through fiction, film and music. “Oh, won’t it be great to learn about the glitz, glamour and scandal of Hollywood?” I asked myself.
Not so. The very first topic we were given is the LA Riots of 1992. And our very first reading was Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith.
Twilight was written as a play in the months following the riots. Deavere interviewed many people with all sorts of backgrounds. From the middle-aged male Korean store owner who was shot in the face during one of the many lootings, to the hoity-toity female real estate agent who hid in the safety of the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hilton, Deaver covered almost every base imaginable.
Deavere used spellings and included the interviewees “ticks” to give the reader a real sense of their personality. None of the interviews were edited.
Never in my life have I seen a collection of so many passionate accounts and opinions gathered in one place.
It was almost frightening to read some of the responses. Finding out that the chief of police was more worried about making an appearance at a benefit dinner than with the events unfolding outside of his very office sickened me.
And to see that the president of the United States at the time did not invite the only
California's African American member of Congress to a special meeting addressing the events surrounding the riots offended me.
It was very disheartening to see how much disregard there was for a huge chunk of citizens in one of the largest cities in the United States. Further, it made me sick to think of all of the injustices that were happening all over the country due to police violence and racism. And the lack of what we call democracy in our government at the time (and one might argue into the present) really disappointed me.
Though I am not old enough to even remember the riots, let alone understand the reasons behind them, I am now able to look back on the events to really get a sense of what this country and this society are really about.
4 comments:
I have read Twilight twice now -- once in high school and once in college -- and I can definitely agree with the profound and moving impact it has on the reader. I, like you, thought the array of accounts Smith uses in her novel is remarkable. If you liked the book so much, you might want to consider watching the movie. Smith reinacts the whole thing herself and plays the parts of all characters. It's really fascinating.
"Twilight" sounds really interesting. I know almost nothing about the riots, even though they happened so close by. I'm sure the personal anecdotes make the whole event even more gripping. I'm definitely putting this book on my list of books to read (I actually have a list saved on my Blackberry).
I have also taken a course like this in the thoughts that I would get to learn something about Los Angeles. While the course entitled 'LA and the American dream' wasn't quite the course I had in mind it did open me up to a new side of LA, much as this seems to have done to you.
I was living in Boston at the time of the riots; I was on my way to Berkeley, and LA seemed very far from my consciousness. I recall being stunned that people's rage could be so boundless that they would destroy their own community. Subsequently, living here as we do and getting to know LA and our neighborhood around USC, I can understand the frustration. Smith's play is pretty incredible. I'm glad it took you further into our own backyard.
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