Voices

“We didn’t anticipate it blowing up this quickly. Looting has gone on, and we have not done much about it.” Daryl F. Gates, Los Angeles police chief “We should burn down their neighborhoods, not ours. We’re going to take it to Hollywood and Beverly Hills.” A black resident, shouting through a megaphone in the midst of the rioting “This is everybody’s worst nightmare. We’ve seen some of the most brutal stuff I’ve ever seen.” Ira Reiner, Los Angeles district attorney “The court system has worked, and what’s needed now is calm and respect for law.” President Bush “I’m angry, shocked, devastated. . . . There is no justice here.” Angela King, Rodney King’s aunt “It may be that 12 white jurors are not going to convict four white cops for beating a black man. . . . I think Mr. King right now is in a state of shock.” Steve Lerman, King’s lawyer, who heard the verdict read in the courtroom in Simi Valley, 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles. “If I was a black male, I’d be scared to death.” Patricia Lafrance, who lives in the Watts section of Los Angeles. “I feel that this is being done by blacks who don’t understand the system. I knew what the verdict would be when they moved the trial to an all-white county. The system can do whatever they want to a black.” Lawrence Hardge, 27, near 54th and Arlington “In the midst of this grave civil unrest, I ask the prayers of Your Holiness. Recalling your pastoral visit among us nearly five years ago, I now ask you to keep the City of Angels very much in your prayers during these days.” Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, in a message sent to the Pope “There is this deeper, larger problem of the feeling of neglect and abandonment that millions of Americans have, and has now broken into the open in Los Angeles.” Bill Clinton, candidate for the Democratic nomination for President “No matter the anger over the verdict in the Rodney King case, it was decided in a fair trial by a conscientious jury.” Patrick J. Buchanan, candidate for the Republican nomination for President “Why tear down something you own? We all have to make a living here. I just don’t understand it.” Miles Taylor, 49, a black man who has lived in South Los Angeles since 1965, the year of the Watts riots “While we think this verdict is a great miscarriage of justice, we certainly don’t condone the violence. It’s wrong. . . . I watched in horror (the beatings of motorists on Wednesday). . . . The last 24 hours have been a real low point in my life. At this point, I’m not proud to be an American. I’m sickened. . . . He (Gates) should resign immediately. It would go a long way toward de-emotionalizing the situation.” George Jackson, 33, co-producer of “New Jack City” and a Los Angeles resident for 10 years.