L.A. riots: Good Samaritan remembers his scary truck-driver rescue

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The other author you quoted stated specifically that he ignored the AP style. Apparently you can go against style at some sites.

If you were writing for publication in a newspaper would you abide by the AP style?

He might have ignored it in his copy, but the Times doesn't ignore it when they get copies ready for print in their paper. The newspapers stick to AP style no matter who writes the article in what style.
 
What is your personal memory of the riots? What did you think when you saw Rodney King and Reginald Denny attacked? Were you afraid of the riots spreading to your neighborhood?

Today it was exactly 20 years ago when the 1992 LA riots happened causing $1 billion dollars in damages and left 50 people dead, and many injured. *smh*
 
What is your personal memory of the riots? What did you think when you saw Rodney King and Reginald Denny attacked? Were you afraid of the riots spreading to your neighborhood?

I was just a little kid. I first remember the news reports about Rodney King getting beaten and watching the videos and thinking how scared people need to be of the cops. When I saw the riots, I thought it was sad that so many people were so angry that they would do things like that. No, I wasn't scared of the riots coming to my neighborhood. I was more afraid that cops would come to my neighborhood and beat people.
 
The NAACP was started in 1909. Colored people was the term used then. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968. Most people still used Negro in 1968. Black and Afro American were just starting to be used, and many considered the terms to be radicals. MLK tried to reach the masses. It makes sense he would use terms and language that white people would accept and not be afraid of.
Do you really believe that MLK would use a word to describe himself and other if it was offensive to them? Do you really believe his word choices were made to appease white people?

Negro was used to identfy people who were not white. By identifying them as not white, it meant not giving them the rights that white people had. So it was used to oppress. And to separate.

Some used colored, some used negro. Either way, it was a way to separate and treat people as less human than white skinned people. Still oppressive. Bad history associated with those words.

IF the signs had said "No African Americans" allowed or "No Blacks allowed" then we would be looking at different history associated with those words. But reality is, those are not the words used, and those words don't have the same history of oppression tied to them as negro and colored do.
Negro is a proper noun, so it's capitalized.

It was a word that was used by the people themselves. They self identified as Negroes. That was the word they preferred at the time. It seems that you are disrespecting their choice.
 
Today it was exactly 20 years ago when the 1992 LA riots happened causing $1 billion dollars in damages and left 50 people dead, and many injured. *smh*

No one is saying it was right, but you want to compare those 50 killed in the LA riot to the numbers lynched and killed and fire bombed in recent history? How about the number that were in jail 20 years ago because they did not get equal justice? How about the numbers that have been beaten by cops before someone got the nerve to videotape what happened to Rodney King and make it public? How about MLK's assassination? What about Fred Hampton's assassination? What about the assassination of Huey Newton? What about the lynching of Emmet Till? What about legalized mob attacks by police with fire hoses and batons during the peaceful civil rights marches?

You want to talk about one riot that happened 20 years ago when people finally got fed up with unequal justice in this country. Let's talk about all the death and destruction that led up to it.
 
Do you really believe that MLK would use a word to describe himself and other if it was offensive to them? Do you really believe his word choices were made to appease white people?


Negro is a proper noun, so it's capitalized.

It was a word that was used by the people themselves. They self identified as Negroes. That was the word they preferred at the time. It seems that you are disrespecting their choice.

Like I said, MLK was killed in 1968. Language in 1968 is not the same as language today.

I'm not disrespecting their choice at all, but given the fact that MLK was an activist for equal rights, Black people in that time period didn't have a heck of a lot of choice. In anything. MLK was not trying to get the Blacks to change. He was trying to change white oppressive racism. He used language that white people would accept.
 
He might have ignored it in his copy, but the Times doesn't ignore it when they get copies ready for print in their paper. The newspapers stick to AP style no matter who writes the article in what style.
Not true for columnists. They can include copy notes to the editor for special style modifications.

I was on staff for newspapers, magazines, and media relations for almost 24 years as a journalist and editor.
 
Not true for columnists. They can include copy notes to the editor for special style modifications.

I was on staff for newspapers, magazines, and media relations for almost 24 years as a journalist and editor.

They can ask for special style modifications. Doesn't mean they will show up in the final print.

Then why are you acting like you don't understand that AP style always uses lower case in black, and other styles use upper case? The style used depends on the publication, not the author. But then with all your experience you already know that. So your questions just don't make sense.
 
No one is saying it was right, but you want to compare those 50 killed in the LA riot to the numbers lynched and killed and fire bombed in recent history? How about the number that were in jail 20 years ago because they did not get equal justice? How about the numbers that have been beaten by cops before someone got the nerve to videotape what happened to Rodney King and make it public? How about MLK's assassination? What about Fred Hampton's assassination? What about the assassination of Huey Newton? What about the lynching of Emmet Till? What about legalized mob attacks by police with fire hoses and batons during the peaceful civil rights marches?

You want to talk about one riot that happened 20 years ago when people finally got fed up with unequal justice in this country. Let's talk about all the death and destruction that led up to it.

Making an argument when there wasn't any. I brought up a historical event because today just happened to be exactly 20 years ago. I tossed that out. Calm down, dude.
 
Making an argument when there wasn't any. I brought up a historical event because today just happened to be exactly 20 years ago. I tossed that out. Calm down, dude.

I'm very calm. And discussing that historical event in historical context. It wasn't just some isolated random event.
 
Yep. Segregation and lack of civil rights was bad.

Bad for those being segregated and denied their civil rights. It is where the whole concept of white privilege comes from. The fact that whites have never had to consider where they were allowed to sit or what drinking fountain they could use. They never had to worry about getting lynched because they didn't cast their eyes down when passing by a white woman. They never have to think about how they will be perceived or treated based on the color of their skin. There are still things that Black people, even successful, professional Black people living in well to do neigborhoods have to teach their children about the way American society works that white people never even think about at all. They don't think about it because they don't have to think about it.
 
They can ask for special style modifications. Doesn't mean they will show up in the final print.
They will if it's part of their agreement.

Then why are you acting like you don't understand that AP style always uses lower case in black, and other styles use upper case? The style used depends on the publication, not the author. But then with all your experience you already know that. So your questions just don't make sense.
I never, never said that I didn't understand AP style. I said the authors themselves stated their own preferences, which they did. It was just to show that not all black writers are in lock-step with your choices. They made up their own minds, and they gave their own reasons.
 
Not too shabby for white people, though.

Bad for those being segregated and denied their civil rights. It is where the whole concept of white privilege comes from.

Are you saying that you blame on white people?

Don't blame on white people for government mistreatment on colored people.
 
I'm very calm. And discussing that historical event in historical context. It wasn't just some isolated random event.

Doesn't sound very calm to me with you getting on that soapbox of yours over a simple historical footnote today I brought up. You got no arguments from me that those were bad times but again this holier-than-thou black route is getting a bit narcissistic.
 
Bad for those being segregated and denied their civil rights. It is where the whole concept of white privilege comes from.
Segregation and denial of civil rights is bad for everyone.
 
They will if it's part of their agreement.


I never, never said that I didn't understand AP style. I said the authors themselves stated their own preferences, which they did. It was just to show that not all black writers are in lock-step with your choices. They made up their own minds, and they gave their own reasons.

Publications stick to the accepted style for that type of publication. That is why when an article is submitted, it has to be formatted in the style the publication uses. Everything in that specific publication is written in the same format. The format that is accepted for that type of publication. Otherwise, there would not be so many different formats for different types of publications.
 
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