1992_05 Insight May 1992

              CSUF students caught in LA unrest
By Eric Coyne
StaffWriter7	
The violent aftermath of the
Rodney King verdict became
up dose and personal for seven
CSUF students when thdr trip to
LA turned ugly.
Freshmen Michelle Skipwith,
Stephanie Dudl and Joy Woolf left
fbrWhittk»at2pmTuesday,plan-
ningontakinga break from classes
to visit with Skipwith's grandmother and to go watch the taping
of The Price is Right" television
show.
The Rodney King verdict was
announced during the taping of
"The Price is Right" but the three
women didn't hear the news until
they arrived back in Whittier. That
nightthewomen watched LA erupt
in flames and unrest on TV. It all
seemed so incredible, so surreal.
But then, none of that evening's
violence had reached out to touch
Whittier.
They and fourother friends from
CSUF made reservations back in
March for The Arsenio Hall show
at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood Thursday afternoon, the
three women left for the movie
studio, concerned about the riot
ing in LA. Reassured by local news
coverage indicating the Hollywood
area was safe, they proceeded with
thdr plans.
Driving down the Hollywood
Freeway, they took the Melrose
exit Skipwith made a wrong turn
and ended up on Vermont Qanc-
ingout the window, they could see
about 20 officers in riot gear lined
up in front of a CHP station. This
was their first due that they might
be In the wrong place at the wrong
time.
Continuing less than a block up
the street, storefront windows lay
in piecesand an angry seaof people
flowed back and forth across four
lanes of blacktop.
"One woman blatantly carried
a huge stereo speaker out to the
curb and started loading it into her
car," Duell said. "Men ran down
the street carrying armloads of
clothing. Drivers swerved their cars
out into traffic blindly from side
streets, one time almost hitting us,
but we weren't about to honk the
horn or anything."
A guy gave the three women an
especially hard look, then started
to move toward the car. And then
Skipwith saw a guy on the sidewalk with a gun.
Duell, crouched down in the
back seat, looked at rhe map again
and then pleaded wimSkipwim to
turn around. They did. Woolf
gripped the locked door tightly,
expecting to feel bullets crash
through toe car at any time.
Fear is a great motivator. Dudl
said after that they made it to Para-
mount Pictures in just a few minutes.
The rest of the story
Jeremy Cloud, Cory McKenna,
Bill Milter and Julie Norvelle
agreed to meet thdr friends at 3
p.m. Thursday at Paramount,
where Arsenio'sshow is taped.The
four arrived on time and were the
first people in the stud ioline.Ooud,
a photojournalism student,
brought his camera, but was told
by guards that photos weren't allowed inside.
The studio audience slowly
gathered, and the three women
joined them. An usher told the students that usually a crowd five
times the studios capadty forms,
hoping to be chosen for seats. But
not this Thursday.
"Half an hour before the show a
guard came outand told the crowd
that Mayor Bradley would be on to
talk about what was going on
around us," Cloud said. The guests
passed through an airport-type
rretaldetectOTardwereledtotheir
seats. The mood stayed pretty
somber, nobody chanted, nobody
sat in "the dog-pound." Just before
the show started, Arsenio walked
out and quietly knelt before his
pastor, who was seated front row,
center stage. Then he rose, went
backstage and the lights dimmed.
A tape of Martin Luther King
began to play, and as he spoke
images of the street violence, looting and the burning dty outside
rotted on the monitors overhead.
The audience sat quietly.
Then the lights came up, revealing Bradley and Arsenio, seated.
Bradley expressed his shock with
the King verdict- his persona) loss
of faith in the justice system. He
spoke in subdued tones, as if
stunned. After awhile he left, and
Arsenio sat in the aisle with Edward James Olmos, ma lung a plea
to the audience
"The philosophy of an eye for
an eye - even though it may seem
right, leaves everyone blind," he
said.Theshowended witha prayer
at 6-30 p.m
The seven students emerged
from the walled Paramount studio
Sm CSUF atudanu, page 11
Hollywood fire fighters direct local residents In a battle to
contain a fire set by looters.
Fresno unrest: from page one
California Motel on the mall, a
home for senior dtizens and the
disabled.
"We come ou t here every nigh t
I'm not afraid to come down here.
I pay taxes. When people start getting afraid, you may as well go
underground."
Cancelled celebrations
Festival organizers were still
dismantling booths and loading
trucksat7p jn. Amid yellow, green
and pink painted store windows,
they expressed mixed feelings
aboutforfd ting theGncode Mayo
celebration.
Ralph Flores, president of the
Mexican Civic Committee and
head of the event, said vendors
started arriving about 6 a.m.
Shortly after the 5 p.m. shooting,
Flores said he contacted Chief
Samuels and they agreed to cancel
the event, a decision thatcost organizers $12,000 to $15,000.
"We were concerned that if we
continued with our fiesta that
people would use us as an excuse
for the looting," Flores said.
Flores said bdore the shooting
occurred, a group of you ng people
threw rocksat vendors,calling for
them to shut down thecelebra tion
in light of the King verdict.
"We had to think first of the
safety of the food vendors and the
peopleattending the event" Flores
said.
Anthony Raygoza, a 20-year-
old Fresno Gty College student,
who was helping Flores load a
truck, said he was angered tha t the
event had to be cancelled.
"Instead of protesting, I think
they're starting a revolution. To
protest is one thing," Raygoza said.
"ButaHispanic had nothing to do
with [the Rodney King incident].
Ifs not fair that they ask us to close
down our event."
Two school dances scheduled
to take place downtown Friday
were postponed. Chid Samuels
and Mayor Karen Humphrey insisted that no curfew would be
imposed on the dty.
At the Fresno and B street Chid
Auto Parts, assistant managers
Tony Mercado and Jose DeLeon
closed shop two hours early at 8
p.m. after a group of 25 people
gathered outside the store and
threatened to take items from inside.
"This side of town is getting too
violent. We've had too many complaints. I care too much about my
behind," Mercado said. Mercado
said a Chid employee who was
working Friday when the angered
people arrived, knew people in
the crowd and convinced them to
go away.
"We're not going to hang
around. The store doesn't bdong
to me." Mercado said.
Fire fighters receive help from
pedestrians (Above) In
extinguishing a blaze at
8801/8 Camera In Hollywood
last Wednesday. As of Monday,
riot related violence has lead to
58 killed, 2,383 Injured and $717
million property damage, in a
hastily assembled noon ralley
{Right) at the free speach area,
about 100 students and faculty
protested the King verdict with
placards and chants of "No
Justice, No peace."
port of the protestors.
About 9 p.m., demonstrators
clashed with the police. The dispute was over the arrest of three
African American males standing
across the street from the protest.
Police said one of the men was
carrying a pellet gun. All three
were drunk, Sgt. Art Kiehn said.
Two of the men sat in the back of a
police car while their friend in a
wheelchair sat handcuffed to the
front bumper of the car. Demonstrators were angered when police
approached the men, who they
said appeared tobedoing nothing
but standing around.
Demonstra tors began throwing
rocks at police and their cars. One
rock missed Fresno Bee photographer Kurt Hegre's shoulder by only
a couple of feet. Police moved forward and brandished their shotguns at the crowd. The hurling
stopped but not before a rock broke
a fourinchholeinoneof the music
store windows. There were no
other altercations between police
and demonstrators at the scene.
One Channel 24 reporter at the
scenecommented on the 11 o'clock
news that she hadn't seen any police. Unbeknownst to the reporter
and some in the crowd, 70 bluc-
helmeted police officers in riot gear
went through practice maneuvers
in a parking structure behind
Golden One Credit Union.
"We're here to be in response to
something that might occur not to
create any situation," Ron Hulls, a
police spokesman said. "We're
only a reactionary force."
Responding to the number of
police present, demonstrator Dee
Stewart said, "Its extremely tired
... The police need to be patrolling.
We're not doing anything illegal."
The poster she earned read,
"Black people still 3/5 of a person."
Rhythmic message, _
Behind Stewart, six men rapped
tomusic, heavy on the bass pump-
ingoutofacarparked in the Music
Plus lot.
"F the police," they chanted.
Perry Palmer, who usually performs wi th the gmu p of street ra p-
pers observed fn>m the sidelines.
"Street rappers are saying
what's inside theirmindsand soul,
what they're fedingand whatthey
have seen in their life," Palmer
said.
James, another member of the
group agreed. "Rappers are
prophets," he said. 'They've been
talking about the things that are
going on right now," he said referring to the violence surrounding
the LAPD verdict. "They've been
seeing this coming."
AtthecomerofBlackstoneand "I'm not with the looting,"
Shaw in North Fresno, 200 dem- James,whodidn'tgivealastname,
onstratorsbumedcandles,marked said. "Police are important for us.
anti-police messages on a real es- The streets would be crazy with-
| tate sign and shouted as cars and out them ... Basically people are
1    trucks drove by, honking in sup- tired of the crooked police."
Night watch
As the last bit of sunlight disap-
pea red over West Fresno, Kemisole
Sol wazi watered a strip of grass in
front of her Fresno Street day care
center. Inside, her husband,
Kehinde, read a book.
'Tmhousesitting my business,"
Kehinde Solwazi said from the
porch of the 2-year-old
multicultural center. "I certainly
will not tolerate anyone trashing
my business without a struggle.
"1 am clearly on the side of the
rage in the black community and
against the travesty of the verdict
At the same time, I'm not going to
support opportunism," said
Solwazi,alsoa professor of African
American studies at FCC
"I understand they are venting
rage, but perhaps the best way to
do that is through organization''
Calm at the fair
The Big Fresno Fair Fiesta Days,
another highly publicized weekend Cinco de Mayo celebration at
the Fresno Fairgrounds, progressed into the evening without
incident although crowds were
notably smaller.
Rumors spread
A liquor store near the Food
Maxxgnxery at Willowand Kings
Canyon was robbed earlier in the
day. Store manager Hunt said
"untrue" media reports of looting
at Food Maxx were given. This
caused nervous questioning from
customers and people driving by
gawking at the store.
"We're dosing so no one will
get hurt," Hunt said. "The media
blew it out of proportion. People
d ri ve by and see all the people here
and they think something out of
the ordinary is happening.
"Its the first of the month. This
is business as usual," Hunt said.
Thestore would re-open Saturday
at 6 a.m, he said.
Brief clash