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Miriam Orozco
English 475
Robert Nazar
19 November 2015
“It’s Not a Color, It’s a Person”: An Eye-Opening Analysis of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Keep your mind open and clear of thoughts. Now imagine yourself in the middle of a
street while buildings burn to the ground, people are looting stores and the whole city is just
turned into chaos because of a racial incident. What would your thoughts be? In Anna Deveare
Smith’s haunting novel Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 she brings to light the untold truth of the
1992 uprising due to the arrest and beating of Rodney King by four white police officers. An
uproar of anger filled the city and chaos struck. This inviting novel goes into immense depth to
give Chaffey College students real life perspectives of over fifty individuals from diverse races,
professions, and social economic statuses. Those interviewed speak about what the Los Angeles
riots of 1992 signified to them. The engaging novel Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna
Deveare Smith is a worthwhile read for the informed students of Chaffey College because of its
critical history lesson of police brutality, relatable dialogue, and profound message about
stereotypes in society.
To begin with, this novel will take hold of the reader’s interest because of its significant
history lesson of police brutality and how the Los Angeles uprising gave light to the sensitive
subject. Sadly, police brutality has long been an issue in the inner city, but it went largely
unnoticed by society as whole. Theresa Allison, the founder of Mothers Reclaiming Our
Children, describes her past interactions with her children and police: “He used to go in an’ pull
these kids, I mean from twelve years old, and kick ‘em and hit their heads against trees and
stomp on the ground. Why you got to do Black kids like that? Why couldn’t you handcuff ‘em
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and take ‘em to jail?” (Smith 39). With this in mind, there are many stories of people who were
victims of police brutality just like Theresa Allison throughout this novel. She was a mother who
was a witness to police brutality brought on by her local police against her children. Rodney
King was not the only one mistreated because of his race or color but his story was one of the
first to expose and show the world what police brutality was occurring in L.A. This history
lesson of police brutality will engage the mind of the informed readers of Chaffey College
because of its relevancy to today and the hostile environment we all live in. History appears to
continue repeating itself through police brutality, to this day it is relevant in many forms with the
shooting of innocent black males in Baltimore, and Ferguson. This novel has factual evidence of
what most of us can relate to and the informed reader can see what darkness was brought out to
light.
Moreover, another reason why the novel is a worthwhile read is because of its relevant
dialogue. Each written piece gave an insight to what these interviewees were going through at
the time of the riots. For example, in the chapter “Swallowing the Bitterness” by Mrs. Young
Soon Han, a former liquor store owner, she is explaining how there was no justice for her
Korean-American people after the riots. She felt as if they were being left behind by society.
“Why do we have to be left out? (She is hitting her hand on the coffee table). Many AfroAmericans (Two quick hits) who never worked (one hit), they get at least minimum amount (one
hit) of money (one hit) to survive. (One hit) We don’t get any! (Large hit with full hand spread)
Because we have a car (one hit) and we have a house” (245-6). Throughout this chapter, you are
given an inside look at the true feelings of those that experienced the riots, whether they were
involved in the riots or the aftermath of it. As you can see with this example the author of the
novel Anna Deveare Smith makes sure to include every detail, from the emotions coming off of
the person, the way they spoke their words without changing to the proper grammar, as well as
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the mature language spoken in other chapters. She makes sure that the reader knows everything
that happened within the interview and did not change a word. Chaffey College students are
attracted to the rawness of each interview. Everything that was said was real, what was said was
unchanged. The untouched dialogue will truly captivate the mind of the informed readers.
Lastly, what is most intriguing about the novel Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 was Anna
Deveare Smith’s representational theme about the stereotypical mind and its continuity to
today’s society. Stereotypes are evident throughout this novel, story after story a stereotyping
incident will be mentioned. One example is in the chapter “My Enemy” by Rudy Salas, Sr. a
Mexican sculptor and painter who speaks of his past encounters with the law, teachers, white
people and others who have done him wrong. “I don’t like to see a gang of cholos walking
around, you know threatening people with their ugly faces-” (He stands up and mimics them)
“You know how they stand in your face with the ugly faces. Damn man, I’d like to kill their
dads” (5).
Salas’ example is one based on stereotypes that still exist today. For Rudy, he wants to
kill random men because of their appearance; they have never done anything to him but based on
what he knows about that type he makes assumptions and wants to kill their dads for not taking
much care of them. Most of this novel contains a moment where someone they know or some
event they have encountered was because of stereotyping. This novel has stories that even to this
day are relatable to what our society has and continues to go through it happens to anyone and
everyone no matter the color of skin, no matter the race, no matter the social economic status.
Within this novel the Chaffey College student will experience what stereotyping was in 1992 and
how severe it was to anyone who was not white but will also make one realize that even to this
day stereotyping continues and it appears as something that is getting uncontrollable. The
informed reader can relate to these various stories and realize that they are not alone if involved
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in stereotyping situations but as well as expose the mind to what others have to go through as
well and what awareness should be carried the next time we stereotype someone.
“Few people speak a language about a race that is not their own. If more of us could
actually speak from another point of view, like speaking another language, we could accelerate
the flow of ideas” (XXV). As stated by the author herself, if we were all open to looking through
others eyes we would be able to progress into a more enhanced society. Anna Deveare Smith’s
profound novel Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 definitely captures the informed reader’s attention
with its applicable dialogue, precarious history lesson, and significant theme of racial
discrimination of individuals who have lived through one of the most tragic moments in history.
This novel has earned a rating of 4 out of 5 stars due to its personal application of such
unfortunate events and the deep connection the interviewees put into their dialogue, intriguing
the informed students of Chaffey College.
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Work Cited
Smith, Anna Deveare. Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. New York: Anchor Books,1994. Print.