Riot Voiced the Unheard, Equality is What Was Needed

The biggest surprise to me was my interviewees involvement of the 1992 Rodney King riots, where my subconscious had incorrectly assumed she had entangled herself into the chaos of the anarchy and grasping the raw resemblance of inequality and tragedy, however this was not true. Being an African American living in Los Angeles during the 1990’s, I made a conjecture and was confident she would have been a part of the unlawful disorder, however she argued that the involvement of people during the riots was primarily decided based off of one's geographical and socio-economical status. In addition she was not a large advocate against the jury’s decision that essentially instigated the most violent ever seen in the city. The only experience she encountered that were similar to those of Rodney King was when the recalled herself going to work on any given day and being called a monkey, a term used to put disdain and derision upon people of color. She also argued that there was a point in the rioting where people had essentially “Lost sight of their objective” and used riot as an alternative to loot, consume, and destroy, this venturing off the initial objective which was to prove to the people of the city that everyone should be treated equally.

After the interview, we created a monologue in an attempt to share our interviewee’s perspective with the public, similarly based off of Anna Deavere Smith’s book Twilight Los Angeles. During writing process, unique literary elements were key in order to convey our interviewee’s perspective. What made my monologue successful was not only the monologue

itself, but was the introduction. The introduction describes the character and it’s setting, in my case I was to describe Mrs. Sims and her ambiance. I had begun the introduction with her body framework, describing how she hunches over and is lean and elegant. I then move into using similes to describe her perspective and her facial expressions. I mention her being sharp and her voice as a weapon, how she is destructive and keen. My goal was to have to have the reader retain a presumption of the subject, where they can later discover Mrs. Sims in her own words through.After the introduction I began to write the monologue, using keywords and phrases that I felt would have the most meaning. My monologue begins with one word, “Monkeys.” Then a line down, “That’s what they called us.” The use of spacing was intentionally used to have the reader understand the emphasization and primary meaning to the one word. Throughout her story I used this tactic, hoping that if the monologue was deleted except for the single word, the reader would still understand my intention and path. Mid­ way through the monologue I mentioned in parenthesis, “(Her glasses worked as a veil for anguish. Commotion is heard from the living room, I think someone scored a goal. Locomotion. What does that even mean?)” This was specifically used to make the reader appear authentic and real. This makes the reader feel as if they are inside the interview room, being able to see the mechanics of both our brains working as we interpret the 1992 Rodney King riots.

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