Kite Line: Policing Los Angles, Part #1

This week, Kite Line airs the first of two episodes tracking the rise of police racism and militarization in Los Angeles, from the Watts Uprising of 1965 to the 1992 L.A. Riots after Rodney King’s beating.

Listen and Download HERE

Max Felker-Kantor, author of the book, Policing Los Angeles, walks us through the changes in policing, as well as the ways in which anti-police activism grew during this time. Starting with the 1960s siege of the Black Panther Party headquarters to the many police murders of Black residents such as the death of Eula Love in 1979, Felker-Kantor traces how these events led to both modern policing and anti-police movements. As one L.A. resident noted at the time, “the police’s role is to uphold community standards, and in this community- that includes segregation.”