The L.A. Riots | 1. The Tape

Slow Burn

Slate Audio

Politics, Society & Culture, History, News, Documentary

4.6 • 25.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2021

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On the night of March 2nd, 1991, at a remote intersection just outside of L.A., four police officers surrounded an unarmed Black man. They struck him 56 times with their batons before arresting him. Across the street, standing on his second-floor balcony, a bystander named George Holliday recorded the scene on his home video camera. This is what happened after the camera stopped rolling. Want more Slow Burn? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access all episodes of Slow Burn (and your other favorite Slate podcasts) completely ad-free. Plus, you’ll unlock subscriber-exclusive bonus episodes that bring you behind-the-scenes on the making of the show. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen. Season 6 of Slow Burn is produced by Joel Anderson, Jayson De Leon, Ethan Brooks, Sophie Summergrad, and Jasmine Ellis. Mixing by Merritt Jacob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Are you ready for a Monzo business bank account? It's made to help you navigate cash flow and tax season.
0:06.0	Perfect for bosses with a growing business, freelancers searching for financial freedom,
0:12.0	side hustlers juggling 9-5s with 5-9s, and over 350,000 businesses
0:16.9	already with us.
0:19.0	Sell through your business banking.
0:20.9	Apply for an account in minutes. Search Monzo Business.
0:24.0	Tees and sees apply.
0:25.0	Soul traders or limited company directors in the UK can apply.
0:28.0	Rodney King was looking to celebrate.
0:32.0	It was Saturday night, March 2nd, 19th, 19th, Rodney King was looking to celebrate.
0:32.5	It was Saturday night, March 2, 1991,
0:36.0	and he just gotten a new job.
0:38.3	King was a high school dropout and had spent time in prison
0:41.1	for armed robbery.
0:42.6	He didn't have an easy time finding work.
0:45.1	Well, he was turning his life around.
0:46.2	He was in the union during construction.
0:49.8	That's Johnny Kelly, one of King's best friends.
0:53.0	So he had a good thing going.
0:54.6	He was looking forward to that.
0:56.0	He loved construction.
0:57.7	Johnny Kelly didn't make it out that night.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Audio, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Audio and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.