Listeners Remember: ‘I had a naive faith that people would do the right thing’

What do you remember most?

How frightened I was. I had a naive faith that people would do the right thing. It was a period in my life that dispelled my childhood beliefs. The awfulness of the initial act was bad enough, but the reaction of the public by taking others lives and properties to avenge this act only amplified all the things wrong in LA at the time.

I grew up in a small town in Minnesota where everyone was Protestant and white. It wasn’t until the riots that my faith in the goodness of all people was challenged. I didn’t get it even though I was well educated. I had been coddled by my upbringing and my little piece of the world. I had been taught that authority was always right and that they could do no wrong. My eyes and mind were opened to what really was going on.

– Julie Eidsvoog

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