King was not oblivious to social ills, but her understanding deepened, she said, as she watched the video of police officers beating Rodney King, followed by the trial that acquitted them. She also recalled the riots of 1992 when, as a young teacher, she stood in her hillside home in South Los Angeles' largely African American, largely upscale View Park neighborhood, watching large swaths of Los Angeles burn. The experience deepened a longstanding instinct to help foundering students push ahead.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 03, 2019 01:36 UTC