Torpy: Atlanta’s own race riot
Lou Arcangeli chuckled a bit when asked if Ferguson could happen here.
“We had ours already,” said the retired Atlanta cop. “It can only be described as a race-riot. Anything less would be sugar coating.”
Arcangeli was referring to the riot in downtown Atlanta on April 30, 1992, after an all-white jury cleared white Los Angeles cops of beating a black man named Rodney King. Arcangeli used the word “riot” to tweak the media and city officials who were loath to use that word.
What happened here was termed “violence” or a “disturbance.” Atlanta doesn’t have riots, it’s The City Too Busy to Hate, and, I must admit, the newspaper bought that line at the time.
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About the Author
Bill Torpy continues to contribute columns to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since retiring in 2025. The Chicago native started covering metro Atlanta for the AJC in 1990.
