Nightline will be right back. Yes, the fuel is complimentary for up to three years. Yes, it has an epaestimated range of 312 miles. Yes, you will probably have to answer lots of silly questions from strangers. Yes, this is a mindblowing marvel of technology. And, yes, you can buy it today because the future doesnt start next week, next month or next year. The future starts now. In the hydrogenfueled toyota mirai. This is a special edition of nightline. City of angels legacy of the riots. Good evening. Thanks for joining us tonight from south los angeles, the city of angels, for this special edition of nightline. 25 years ago this week, this community was known as South Central. Scene of one of the deadliest riots in u. S. History. Five days of violence and mayhem when race and raids collided sparked by the rodney king verdict. As you know, i grew up in california in a koreanamerican family. Like most americans i will never forget watching in disbelief as chaos consumed one of our own cities. Tonight we dont just look back, we examine the lessons we as a nation are still struggling to learn. A lot of people are driving through right now, they dont know why were standing here. By all their measures this is just an intersection of los angeles. This is utter lawlessness. Fires, lootings, beatings. This is where it all came together. This is where it all fell apart. 25 years ago at the intersection of florence and normandie, the harrowing first hours of unrest. That eventually engulfed los angeles. Five long days that claimed the lives of more than 50 people. A defining moment for our nation. To some its known as the l. A. Riots. To others, the uprising. Theres my truth, theres your truth, and then theres the truth. L. A. Had it all. We had beaches. The hollywood sign. It was magical. Oh, man. Its going to hit the fan. Reporter how this happened in the city of angels is the story that oscar winner john ridley takes on with his new documentary let it fall. Based on my experiences, my upbringing, every aspect of it makes me angry. Reporter the beating of rodney king by four White Police Officers pushed the city to the brink. Then when the officers were found not guilty on charges of assault and excessive use of force, the city exploded in violence. That was april 29th, 1992. But ridleys film begins ten years earlier. This was not something that happened because of one incident, because of one issue, and did not affect just one community. In the early 80s, the street gangs started to connect with the drug dealers. We are determined to take back the streets of los angeles. Operation hammer was a free ticket to go out there and do overly Aggressive Police work. Reporter an untreated wound was festering. Aggressive policing tactics stoking resentment. Koreans and latinos packed in with blacks, a melting pot about to boil over. The flame was turned up just months before the rodney king verdict. A korean american grocer shot and killed a 15yearold black girl named natasha harlines. She was convicted of manslaughter and a white judge let her off without any prison time. The message that goes out to this community is, a black life is not worth much. Reporter the images of violence against black people over and over again, the perception that justice wasnt served. Theyve all been found not guilty. Reporter years of frustration beget protests. No justice this america, not for the blacks reporter protests beget violence. Anybody that wasnt black was getting their ass kicked. Reporter in let it fall, those days unraveled after a series of fateful decisions. From the genesis of the unrest near florence and normandie to the moment lieutenant muller gave the order for police to pull back because they were unprepared for a riot. We were resistant. No, lt, no we dont want to leave, were not supposed to leave. Had it. I allowed my officers to begin to use deadly force at that intersection . God knows what that riot would have turned into. That riot could have been a riot are not just burning down buildings, that could have been a riot of just pure anarchy against the police. Its not worth it, lets go. Reporter without the police, the descent to chaos was swift. But there were those who stood up. What kept you from being one of those guys throwing bricks . I felt like i was just as angry as everyone else. Thats not who i am. I dont stand by and let innocent people be hurt. Reporter people like donald jones, offduty firefighter living blocks from florence and normandie, when a group of men started attacking chinese immigrant choi si choi. I walked out in the middle of the street, said a few choice words to people that were around that i wont say now. But told them to stay away, get back. Once i reached choi i stood there for a while, stood over him. He did not know where he was, he was disoriented. Someone walked over from the corner and told me, he said, hey. You got about another minute. I picked mr. Choi up, walked him over, put him in the passenger side of the car, told him to put his head down. I didnt think they would throw rocks or bottles at me but i knew if mr. Choi raised his head they would. Were you mindful at that point you could have been a victim as well . Very, very much mindful. That the mob could have attacked you . Yeah. Whyd you do it . I dont know. You cant just not do something. Reporter that he still regrets all these years later that he wasnt able to help that trucker, Reginald Denny, who was being beaten within an inch of his life on live television. The tv is on and were now watching Reginald Denny be attacked at the same intersection that mr. Choi was at. Were now watching it on tv. Terrible. And theres no Police Presence down here. They will not enter the area. This is attempted murder. What was going through your head or your heart . That i wish that i was there. 25 years later, it still gets to you. Why . Why . Because i would want someone to do that for me. I have compassion for anybody. But you have to understand, at that time, please. At that time the compassion line was closed. Reporter told from many perspectives, let it fall reveals the many truths of one moment in time. Even the members of the socalled l. A. Four, the men convicted in connection with that Reginald Denny attack, tell their story. Look at what theyre doing to us, theyre killing young black men. Theyre killing threats. Therefore, anything that isnt black doesnt mean nothing to me. At all. Of course we kill our own. You know what im saying . And thats not right. Im not condoning that whatsoever. You understand what im saying . But it happens. You know . What was your take of the l. A. Four . I didnt sense any remorse, any regret, that given the circumstance they would do exactly the same thing that they did 25 years ago. I would disagree. I think in those four individuals, we have a very poignant range of what so many people felt then and how it carries over 25 years later. No justice no peace reporter 25 years ago, who could have imagined. Its not a black thing its been a black thing for the last 200 years reporter we as a nation would still be debating these same issues. I couldnt. It was here on the corner of florence and normandie. Reporter i was sent to cover the l. A. Riots. Can this wider part of l. A. Be restored, Race Relations improved . Reporter today i find myself in cities like ferguson. Show of hands if youve ever been stopped by police, treated unfairly . Baton rouge. My hometown of baltimore. Asking the same questions. 25 years after l. A. Like most reporters in the nations attention, i get to move on. But for those who lived it, its far more complicated. 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But feeling older . Thats something i control. Get a free sample at depend. Com. Itthe power of nexium 24hr protection from frequent heartburn. All day, and all night. Now packed into a pill so small, we call it mini. New clearminis from nexium 24hr. See heartburn differently. For those who lived through the l. A. Riots there are many truths and your truth depended how you saw the world and how the world saw you. It was portrayed often in the media as a clash of two cultures, blacks against koreans. But the truth as you say is far more elusive. Korean americans call what happened korean for 4 29, the fateful day in april when it began. 25 years later in korea town, we found from the ashes a new community is forged. Revisiting 1992. A lot has changed in 25 years. Reporter for 25 years, richard kim has tried to suppress his memories that haunt these streets. That corner went up in flames. Reporter korea town, home to his familys hopes and dreams, devastated by hellish street fighting, looting and arson. That strip mall burnt to the ground. There was a whole lot of looting going on here. People without a voice in the community are the ones that are going to get victimized. Were not victims. Victim sounds helpless. I want to say survivors of the riots. That sounds more powerful. Reporter richard among those who took up arms as l. A. Descended into chaos. He says they were seen through the media as guntoting vigilantes. But he was motivated by necessity. We have to be able to protect whats ours. I think that is thats a perspective theyve had. We have to fend for ourselves. Reporter kims family came to the states for their shot at the american dream. Eventually owning two electronics stores. During the second day of rioting, one came under attack. They said, you got to get over it because your mom was shot. Thats the hydrant your dad was sitting on . Absolutely. Reporter he rushed to their store. Outside his mother says shed been shielding his father from gunfire. On the side of the lapd it says to serve and protect. They were neither serving us or protecting us. Reporter unable to contain the rioting here, too, the police pulled back, leaving richard to confront a mob of africanamerican men. Some had guns. He had a semiautomatic rifle. The shooters were 25, 30 feet away. So i leaned over and i made a conscious decision to shoot the cars that they were standing next to. And not them . Not them. I could have taken them out. I hit the cars they were standing next to. And the street got filled with smoke from gunfire. I mean, the whole corner. As soon as that happened, i can hear them get until their cars, tires screeching. Reporter that splitsecond decision, he says, is the reason were not talking to him from behind bars. Had i seen my mother get shot, which she did, had i experienced that, i think i would have had no hesitation to take that person out. Total selfdefense of myself and my family. Reporter and the businesses they spent decades building. The first store was overrun and burnt to the ground. Like many korean americans, he took to the rooftops. At stake, his familys last store. We did not sleep for three days. The only way i think of it is like fourth of july, fireworks kind of gunfire, literally nonstop. Reporter richard was able to keep looters at bay, but so many others werent as lucky. We own three businesses in South Central on crenshaw. Its not nothing left, thats our dream. Everything we got, it was gone. All said and done, there was 1 billion in property damage, 40 sustained in the korean american community. The aftermath, unimaginable. Thats richard captured by an abc news crew wading through the wreckage. What makes you not hate . Its a system. So i think i was upset at the system. More than the people who actually looted and rioted. Reporter his parents still live next door to where their First Business once stood. The empty lot a metaphor for conversations they never had. You know, you were reluctant to talk to the press. Yes. In the culture i grew up in, i dont think we celebrate negative things. The l. A. Riots, its not what we commemorate or celebrate. You hadnt even thought about it. For many years. Reporter but kim says he now realizes that his silence was part of the problem. Its one of the reasons korean americans were misunderstood in the first place. How naive we were. To believe in harmony among the different races. Black people, theyre kind of jealous. I dont think they would be wise for them to come back into the neighborhood. We cant just be an island on our own. We really have to be part of community in every way. Why were there building tensions between these two communities . In some ways its structurally baked in. You have an immigrant class thats occupying what is oftentimes called a middleman minority position. Reporter jerry kang oversees diversity and inclusion at ucla, like me a korean immigrant. He believes the riots were a painful awakening, forcing us to create the roles we all played in creating the tension. The stereotype is koreans are rude, koreans arent particularly friendly with customers. It might be culturally they were taught not to look people in the eye, shake their hands, slap them on the back, smile. Just as there was some resentment of Outsider Community coming into your own space, your own turf, and taking up these stores. Reporter but out of the ashes of those days, a new koreatown is rising. In no small part due to guys like celebrity chef roy choi. Do you ever go, look at this, look what ive done. I do all the time. Reporter he watched as part of ktown went up in flames. Now he literally wears its heart on his sleeve. Theres olympic boulevard. Theres olympic boulevard. Reporter choi is king of a korean taco food truck empire. You had to stand a line a couple of hours. For that all these little walls would break down. Reporter its kimchi as street diplomacy. It brings people together . It brings people together throughout l. A. Reporter like Many Community leaders in koreatown and south l. A. , choi is banking on the idea their best hope is not just see each other, but know each other. Hola. Reporter choi consciously hires locals, often immigrants, to work in his businesses. In korea town and places like watts. How many jobs do you think youve created . Between all the spots . 400 to 500. Reporter 500 jobs. Impressive. But sadly, he knows its just a drop in the bucket when the problems the communities are facing run so deep. A lot of people say that fundamentally, that is why this unrest continues. Whether its baltimore or ferguson or other hot spots. Look, we dont start getting in and actually creating ways for people to get credit to rebuild their life, to create bank accounts, to have jobs, you know. Youre going to have a whole other generation thats going to live in poverty, right . I could take you right now to watts and youre going to see the same existence and the same situations that were going on back in 1965. Reporter its been more than 50 years since the watts riots. 25 since the l. A. Riots. It seems we keep having to relearn these painful lessons. I wish i had a little bit more love in my heart back then, a little more understanding, a little more patience. My mom, she wishes that people would just i guess not see color, but just to see people for who they are. Reporter and with the next conflict always threatening on the horizon, all of us have to keep looking inward and reaching outward. Weve got to listen to the community more. Its not an us against them mentality. Its not the civilians against the police. 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May we all become better listeners. Indeed. You can see john ridleys let it fall, a twohour Television Event on friday night at 9 00 p. M. Here on abc. Thanks for watching abc news. Good night, america