officers - The Black Vault

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FD·350 ,(rlev. 5·8·81)
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•(Indicate page, name of .
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Jesse Jackson Again
• Police: He renews call
for him to resign. At a .
suppOrt rally outside City
Hall, the chief blasts
negative media coverage of
the Rodney King incident.
By HENRY WEINSTEIN
and RONALD L. SOBLE
TIMES STAFF WRITERS
. '--. -· ,~ . ~ ... · -'-~- -·
:Raps Gates~
'- .... _ I-
The Rev. Jesse Jackson renewed
his call Sunday for Los Angeles
Police Chief Daryl F. Gates to
resign and urged the city to change
its Charter so that "the civilian arm
of government will have control over the military
arm."
"Los Angeles is out of touch with the rest of the
country and with democratic principles'~ by having a
Charter provision that makes it impossible for the
mayor to fire the police chief, the civil rights leader told
the congregation of First African Methodist Episcopal
Church, Los Angeles' oldest black church.
At about the same time, Gates excoriated The Times
for printing what he said were excessively negative
stories that contribute to the city's racial tensions
rather than articles that could heal ethnic divisions in
the wake of the vicious, March 3 beating of motorist
Rodney G. King by a group of Los Angeles officers.
"They're tearing down this city," Gate~ told several
hundred placard-carrying supporters at an afternoon .
rally outside City Hall. . . . · · '
Gates was sharply critical .of a front-page story in
Sunday's Times which, he said, compared the damaged
image of Los Angeles after the King beating to the
tarnished reputation of Selma, Ala., after civil rights
demonstrators were attacked there in 1965. ·
"For goodness sakes," Gates said.
J The Times, he said, "should be telling the world what
· a great city this is and what a great Police Department
this is."
At a meeting of Los Angeles County Young Republicans
on Sunday evening, Gates extended his media
criticism to Time magazine, saying a recent article on
the King incident was full of errors, such as stating that
the Altadena motorist was handcuffed while he was
Supporters hold placards at rally.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Date: MON. 1 APRIL 15 1 1991
Edition:NETRO SECTION 1
PAGE 1
nue: JESSE JACKSON AGAIN
RAPS GATES
C_llaracter: CIVIL RIGHTS
or
Classification:
SUbmitting Office: 80-33B
IDS ANGELES
Indexing:
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APR 1 7 1991
: beaten.
- . "I have a hard time understand­
. ing how editorial writers can write
editorials and not have the facts,"
he told the glithering of about 120 at
· · Lawry's California Center near
Dodger Stadium.
Gates defended his Civil Service
protection under the City Charter,
saying that such protection allows
him to speak freely and stand above. ·
politics. .
~'You will not find another chief
speak out,'' he said. "Me. I'm the
only one. People want to 'know
what the chief thinks."
Gates also took issue with anoth­
~ er Times story that pointed out that
· the city paid more than $11 million
last year to settle lawsuits against police.
. "Excessive force complaints have been coming down,
. civil suits have .been coming down. The awards are
going up,'' Gates said. "Those are facts you don't have."
Jackson earlier presented . an entirely different
picture of the department to the hunctreds of enthusiastic
churchgoers in central Los Angeles. He said the
King beating was .a symptom of a deeply-rooted
problem within law enforcement here and around the
country. ·. · .
"The beating was not the aberz:ation. The videotaping
was the aberration,'' Jackson said, referring to the
• videotape of the incident, taken by an amateur, which
.. has been shown around the world. .
; The clergyman noted that in 1979, the city had paid
r out $11,000 in settlements to those who had sued the
. ~ :. Police Department for mistreatment and that this
· figure had risen to $11 million last year. ·
Jackson said that "most police are not guilty" of the
kind of brutality inflicted upon King. However, he said
that many offic~rs had been "intimidated into silence"
and that this was a sign of a lack of moral leadership at
the top of the Police Department.
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