In April 1992, the four white LAPD officers caught on video assaulting Rodney King were acquitted on all but one of the charges against them, unleashing a wave of anger and unrest known today as the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising (commonly referred to as the L.A. Riots). The destruction and violence that followed caused about $1 billion in property damage that impacted working-class communities most acutely. In the wake of the unrest, local unions, religious groups, and community organizations pressed Los Angeles officials to ensure that public investment would be made in their neighborhoods to address the root causes of the unrest.

Pictured here was one of the many actions organized in the days that followed the Uprisings. Marchers carried signs and banners from a variety of Los Angeles community organizations and unions, including one from SEIU Local 399 (Justice for Janitors) reading “No Hay Paz sin Justicia Social” (No Peace without Social Justice). Other organizations and campaigns represented include CIWA (California Immigrant Workers Association), Jobs with Peace, and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. A handwritten note on the back of the photograph reads “J for J Rent Protest 5/92.”

Image from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Service Workers West (USWW) records, circa 1935-2008 (LSC.1940), UCLA Library Special Collections.