Home » Posts tagged 'Los Angeles' (Page 3)

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  Bus Riders Union

  Studs Terkel

  Documentary about an activist group called the Bus Riders Union. Their focus is on improving the public transportation system in Los Angeles. The bus system there is in a sorry state. Busses are overcrowded. A rider will routinely see three busses pass her by, completely full, before being able to board. Handicapped riders find that the lift system on most busses is broken. Many riders need to take three or more busses to arrive at their destinations, and late night service on some routes is discontinued without any notice. On top of this, the MTA was planning a massive fare increase and focusing their energy on subways and trains that are costly and benefit mainly upper class white people. The B.R.U. views this struggle over Los Angeles busses as the new civil rights battle. The bus system is utilized almost exclusively by minorities and low income residents. Since the busses are so unreliable, workers are not able to predictably arrive on time and therefore have trouble holding jobs. This means that an already disadvantaged segment of the population is being further held back. Kikanza Ramsey, B.R.U. organizer, describes her organization as “an experiment to see if we can create a multi-racial, bi-lingual, gender-balanced mass movement of working class people.” The tape follows the legal struggles of the group throughout the 90’s as they battle with the city and the MTA for service improvements.

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  L.A. Riots

  American Way, Andrew Jones, Black, Communities, Latinx, Viewers Choice

  Andrew Jones goes to Los Angeles in the aftermath of the riots of 1992. He speaks with many people about the racial issues that sparked this uprising–the feeling that blacks and Latinos had been systematically discriminated against in their own neighborhoods for years. The main complaint is that stores in their neighborhoods were owned by whites and Koreans and they were overcharged for all services and products. Much of the tension appears to be between the blacks/Latinos and the Korean shop owners. Another interesting feature of the tape is the discussion of the differing motives between rioters and looters and between the actions in different parts of the city. For example, in some areas, only specific businesses, those that were seen as longtime oppressors, were targeted. A man shows footage from his camcorder of the looting, and notes that all of the looters were white, and all were smiling. Clearly, the situation in Los Angeles was far from simple. This tape is a fascinating glimpse into the psychology of the time period.

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  Bongo

  Black, Communities, Outside Agitators

  This tape appears to be raw or crudely edited footage (perhaps a very rough cut) from a documentary about the 1992 riots in Los Angeles sparked by the acquittal of the police officers who beat Rodney King. The first 15 minutes are taken up by an interview with Bongo, an African-American artist and business owner in South Central Los Angeles. Bongo’s comments, which are often very passionate and animated, center on the racist mistreatment of African-Americans, particularly African-Americans i n Los Angeles. The remainder of the tape is raw footage shot in Los Angeles following the riots. Most of the shots are of National Guardsmen patrolling the streets on foot and in armored vehicles. These images make Los Angeles look eerily similar to occupied Baghdad.

• [Camcorder Tonight tests]

  Andrew Jones, Black, Communities

  This tape contains tests for the TV show “Camcorder Tonight”.

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  [Tom on Vermont Avenue]

  American Way

  Raw footage of Los Angeles examining the up and coming area on Vermont Avenue.