Skip Navigation
Rodney King
February 3, 2023
Anthony Conwright
Videos of Police Brutality Against Black People Are a Futile Spectacle
The ritual of repeated “reckonings” hasn’t changed abuses by cops.
May 31, 2020
Ryu Spaeth
America’s Social Contract Is Broken
The protests across the country are about more than police violence.
October 25, 2019
MagazineKimberlé Williams Crenshaw
How Men Distort the Race Debate
The rhetorical obsession with single mothers obscures the root cause of racial inequality.
February 13, 2019
Kia Gregory
How Videos of Police Brutality Traumatize African Americans and Undermine the Search for Justice
April 28, 2017
Jo Livingstone
How Video Shaped Our Understanding of the L.A. Riots
On the riots' 25th anniversary, two new documentaries underscore the role that the medium has played in our cultural memory.
March 3, 2016
Mikaela Lefrak
25 years after Rodney King, are we numb to videos of police violence?
May 11, 1998
James Q. Wilson
The Closing of the American City
December 9, 1996
Jeffrey Rosen
The Bloods and the Crits
July 29, 1996
Charles Lane
A Man of Good Intentions
May 25, 1992
Barry Scheck
Following Orders
Why did the jury vote to acquit the police officers who beat Rodney King?

Our Writers

Kate AronoffClimate & Energy
Matt FordLaw & The Courts
Melissa Gira GrantLGBTQ Rights
Jason LinkinsPower & Plutocracy
Timothy NoahPolitics & Economy
Malcolm FergusonBreaking News
Ellie Quinlan HoughtalingBreaking News
Edith OlmstedBreaking News
Hafiz RashidBreaking News
Greg SargentPolitics & Democracy
Grace SegersCongress & Elections
Alex ShephardPolitics & Media
Heather Souvaine HornClimate Change
Michael TomaskyPolitics & Ideas
About The New Republic’s history