Over the years Off-Ramp was on the air, LA City Archivist Michael Holland researched, wrote, and narrated many pieces for the show that used the city archive to illuminate aspects of the city's history most people have forgotten or don't know in the first place ... like Mayor Fletcher Bowron's active campaign against Japanese-Americans during World War Two. Bowron, who lived from 1887-1968 and was mayor from 1938-1953, used radio to drive his point home, and the transcripts of his speeches aren't pretty.

This time, we'll hear Holland's piece from 2017, and from the same year, George Takei telling us what happened to his family when FDR signed his infamous Executive Order 9066.

Note: "Internment" was, of course, a euphemism, so politicians and others didn't have to say they were putting innocent people in prison. Our policy at KPCC is to call it "incarceration." 

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

(Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.)

(This is the second part of a two-part episode.)

This time, we mark the 30th anniversary of one of the darkest days in LA history: Friday, April 29, 1992, when the all-white Simi Valley jury found 4 LAPD officers not guilty in the beating of Rodney King. Rage, protests, and violence, broke out across the city and lasted for days.

Five years ago on Off-Ramp, we marked the 25th anniversary with a full hour of interviews, archival footage, and an unflinching reckoning of the LAPD and its legacy of violence. We wound up with an interview with the late Rodney King.

That's what we're going to listen back to on this episode, but please remember that a lot has changed in five years, and one of them is that as a newsroom - like a lot of other newsrooms around the country - we at KPCC and LAist no longer use the phrase LA Riots.

While riotis used historically, we cannot ignore the media's role in popularizing a term that is now often used as a dog whistle for race. Words like response, unrest, or uprising encourage our audiences to think deeper about its origins.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

(Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.)

Mateo Stoneman, White Mariachi; My Way on the Highway; Where Your Money Goes; Dumpster Diving For the Working Poor; Skid Row's Only Women's Shelter; Tree of Life; Words as Currency; Classical Music Forecast; Guacamole, Mon Amour; NPR Name Game; The Unsung Pelon; Giving's Only Natural; Soundtrack of Your Life; Letters

Off-Ramp wins LA Press Club's National Entertainment Journalism Award; City Government says: Waste Water; Prudent Planting; Immigration Affairs; Videos Galore; The Barbers at Legends; Let It Snow, Let It Snow; Life in the "Fast" Lane; Pasadena Newsstand Closes; Bratton on Britney; The Restaurant With No Sign; A San Francisco Dandy; My Story

Soundtrack of Your Life; Song Stories; Okies at the Getty; Sound of Los Angeles; Skid Row: Treating Diabetes; Bike On; Mix Tapes; Letters

BCAM Cometh; How Great The Art?; Bob Dylan at the Skirball; Marlene Dietrich sings "Blowin' In The Wind."; Firth In Our Hearts; Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Milton; Shabu Shabu; For Valentine's Day; Racism for Dummies; Commuters Looking For Community; Holocaust Museum Breaks Ground; Letters

Former Daily Show Correspondent on Super Tuesday; Fast Food Dude on the State of the Union; Buy America; How To Get Around Saving; In the Spin Room; Young American; McCain's New Theme Song; Rally Maverick; Latino Vote; Bill Can't Stop Thinking About Yesterday; Ch-Ch-Changes; D.I.Y. T.V.; Super Bowl Past; Doo Dah; JPL Marks 50th Anniversary of the First U.S. Mission Into Space

Doo Dah-Palooza; A (Deli)cious Tradition; Guacamole, Mon Amour; The Ineffable Off-Ramp Mysterions land at Doo-Dah; The Dresser's Dilemma; The Dresser's Answer; Too Hot!; Pop Star; Abundant Pharmacy; And We're Off!; Grand Theft Antiquities?; Tarzan of Tarzana

Father's Day; Stay at home dad; MYOB; Maila Nuri, Vamp Extraordinaire; It's a Wonderful Life in Encino; A Broad View of History; A Dream Partnership; Inside Huxley's World; No Frills B.B.Q.; Nothing, Honey.; Off-Ramp Exit Interview; Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Grade A Investigator; Grover Grades Restaurants; Gotcha!; Graciela Iturbide on La Fotografia; Identy Theft or Art?; Watching the L-Word Is Code for I'm Gay!; It's Raining, It's Pouring, The Ocean is Groaning; Green Streets; He Giveth and Taketh Away; Don't Burn the Beans!; Seven Spicy Seas