It’s still called a “riot,” an “uprising” and a “civil disturbance,” depending on the point of view. What’s indisputable is that fifty five people died fifteen years ago, thousands were injured and 1,100 buildings were damaged or destroyed. After the National Guard and Marines helped stop the violence, Mayor Tom Bradley asked Olympics Czar Peter Uberroth to form Rebuild Los Angeles, a private group which came to be called RLA. They said the cost of restoring and improving devastated neighborhoods would be six billion dollars. When the RLA went out of business five years later, it could only count five hundred million. We begin our segment with John “Hope” Bryant, founder of the nonprofit organization “Operation Hope”.
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