Which Way, L.A.?
Connie Rice: From the Courtroom to the Kill Zones
We speak with civil rights attorney Connie Rice about the achievements and setbacks of her attempts to bring about reform, and her new book, Power Concedes Nothing.
By Warren Olney • • 50m ListenLA's Rodney King riot of 1992 was America's deadliest and most expensive civil disturbance in the 20th Century. A young lawyer named Connie Rice saw it as an opportunity. Taking up Martin Luther King's call for a "radical reconstruction of society itself," she made legal war on the brutal abuse of blacks and Hispanics by the LAPD and the Sheriff's Department. At the risk of her life, she learned the worst about gang culture, and ultimately enlisted gang members, as well as whistle-blowing cops, to help bring about real reform. We talk to her about the achievements, and the setbacks, she describes in her new book, Power Concedes Nothing. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, Dr. King's dream and American politics.
In this episode
2 storiesConnie Rice: Fighting the Good Fight
Asked recently for a job description, Connie Rice called herself a "civic entrepreneur" or a "democracy engineer." LAPD Chief Charlie Beck calls her "the conscience of the city" of Los Angeles -- and she has own parking space at police headquarters.
Read the story26 minThe Politics of Race in the Era of Barack Obama
Barack Obama is the first black man elected President of the United States. Nobody can deny that constitutes progress toward Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream of a "colorblind" society. But others call Barack Obama a Muslim who was born outside the country. What role does race play in American politics? In the re-election campaign?
Read the story25 min
