Thomas

McKenzie Thomas
Jennifer Rodrick
English 115
15 November 2016
Los Angeles by Richard Rayner: Bravery in a Racist LA
Los Angeles is a city with many sides to it. In Beverly Hills, the wealthy reside in large,
beautiful, and expensive houses and mansions. These people are mostly doctors, lawyers, actors,
singers, and other career positions that provide more than enough money to predominantly white
individuals. In South Central, minorities often live in poverty. It is well-known to Los Angeles
residents that one does not go to South Central at night time, and that it is still not a safe place
during the day. In the Hollywood Hills area and the West Hollywood area, residents live in over
the top mansions and beautiful houses. I once overheard someone, pointing to a beautiful and
modern but still average-sized home, say to his friend on a street in West Hollywood that his
friend bought that house for 1.8 million dollars. Meanwhile, Los Angeles is home to a countless
number of homeless people. Almost everywhere in Los Angeles homeless people can be found.
The homeless individuals are also often African American, or some other minority group. Los
Angeles clearly has many sides to it, and can shape an individual in multiple different ways
based on who they are, where they came from, their race, how much money they make, and
many more factors. In the short story Los Angeles by Richard Rayner, found in the book
Another City, the main character experiences a very divided Los Angeles in the time period of
the Rodney King riots in 1992. He is a white man from England and lives in a rougher
neighborhood. At the time of the riots, he decides to have his African American friend help him
go and see the riots. By doing so, he faces great fear and has experiences like never before. Los

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Angeles and all of its unusual events and characteristics shaped the authors identity by forcing
him to acclimate to the crime and mischief in his neighborhood, by making him more fearless,
and by changing his view of how other races, namely African Americans, fit in to society.
One way that the authors identity has been shaped by Los Angeles is by forcing him to
acclimate to the common and
regular crime and mischief in his
neighborhood. For example, Rayner
recalls a morning where he and his
girlfriend go to the parking garage
below their apartment building to
find human excrement on the
windscreen of [their] car . . . and
took over an hour to wash and scrape off (173). While Rayners girlfriend is horrified by what
had happened, Rayner himself brushes the occurrence off. This event is one example of how the
author has become more immune to the unpleasant reminder[s] of the nature of [his]
neighborhood (173). Even though this incident was extremely unfortunate, Rayner accepts the
fact that the homeless people in his area often do things of the sort, so he washes it off and moves
on with his day, whereas most people would be extremely upset like his girlfriend was. Another
example of how he has gotten used to the crime in his neighborhood is by the fact that the author
refuses to move out of his neighborhood to a safer one. In the article New FBI Crime Figures
Confirm: Black Towns Most Dangerous, White Areas Safest, the author describes the statistic
showing that in areas with mostly African American people and other minorities, the areas tend
to be not as safe compared with predominantly white, and wealthier, areas. In fact, the article

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claims that black-dominated cities are the most dangerous places in America (New FBI Crime
Figures Confirm). Rayner realizes this, but he seems to understand to a certain extent that the
people are products of their environment. Because of his apparent understanding, I believe this
contributes to the fact that he embraces his bravery and does not let this drive him out. For
example, in response to listening to one of his friends question his motivations for living in the
dangerous neighborhood that he lives in, he replies that his apartment was a particularly
beautiful piece of history, designed and built in the 1920s by the movie director Cecil B.
DeMille (174). By brushing his friends advice off so casually and responding simply by stating
his building is beautiful, he shows the readers that crime will not drive him out. He also proves
that he will not allow crime to affect what he wants and where he wants to live. He does not let
the social climate of the area change his life in a negative way; instead, he simply learns from his
experiences and evolves into a more cultured person. This statement proves that Rayner is used
to the crime in his area and that he is more comfortable just dealing with it rather than moving
away to somewhere where blacks wouldnt exist at all (175). This shows that Rayner does not
necessarily feel superior to his neighbors just because they come from different backgrounds.
The author makes a statement by staying in his apartment building in his rough neighborhood.
He would rather live in a dangerous area than shelter himself and cut himself off from the real
world. When Rayner moved to Los Angeles, he immersed himself in a new culture. Even though
this culture includes crime and tension between the different races, he proves his ability to deal
with the drastic differences between his lifestyle and the lifestyles of others who participate in
crime. Although Rayner was at one time surprised by the way the people of [his] neighborhood
accepted [the behavior of the police department] with such indifference, he still refused to leave
his home (174). Even though Rayner still does not approve of the crime in any way, he does not

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let it control his life. This shows that the author has now become used to the side of Los Angeles
that includes crime. His identity now includes an attribute that is better equipped to deal with
being immersed in a city with a high crime rate, whereas before, Rayner probably had a
completely different view of himself as a person who is rather untouched by crime and the
effects it has on a city or group.
Another way that Los Angeles has shaped Richard Rayners identity is by making him
much more fearless. When the Rodney King riots broke out in South Central and a few
surrounding areas, the author could not contain his curiosity. For example, Rayner stated that if
the riots were going to start again, [he] wanted to see them for [himself] (180). This proves that
the author is willing to immerse himself in an extremely dangerous situation despite the
possibility of injury or even death, as the riots had already caused there to be thirteen dead by
the end of the night on the first day of the riots (180). This number of deaths would likely have
been terrifying enough to the author in order to force him to stay inside had he not been living in
a place like Los Angeles. Rayner decided to call on his African American friend Jake to help him
to witness and experience the riots firsthand. He and Jake drive through the city and look at all of
the African American people running through the streets, stealing merchandise from looted
stores, and setting things on fire. As they drove, they were passed by LAPD cars, not moving
singly, or even in pairs, but in groups of four and five (180-181). By driving around and
watching the riots, Rayner shows extreme bravery. Even the police are afraid, but this still does
not motivate the author to go home. According to the article Effects of Crime on Society,
which discusses how being involved one way or another with crime can drastically change a
persons psyche, people who live with or live around crime often deal with paranoid and
depressive behavior associated with the effects of crime (Effects of Crime on Society).

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Supporting this argument, Rayner admits to Jake that [hes] the sort of person . . . who lies
awake in bed thinking someones about to break in and slit [his] throat, though, in addition to
not moving away, he continues to stay with Jake in the car and check out the riots, instead of
being too afraid and just going home. Another frightening aspect of this drive was when an
African American teenager stopped in the middle of the street with a bottle of Budweiser which
he was getting ready to throw at a car, ours (184). Afterwards, however, the teenager realized
Rayner was with a black man and went on his way. Though this frightened the author, along with
all of the other terrifying aspects of the drive, he was still determined to accomplish his goal of
being a firsthand witness to the riots. Los Angeles can be a frightening and dangerous place at
times, but the author has become far more fearless due to having resided there for some time.
This fearlessness has changed Rayner in a big way since moving from New York, and has shaped
his identity, making him more adventurous and more likely to take other sorts of risks in various
areas of his life.
One more way that Los Angeles has shaped Rayners identity is by changing his view of
how other races, namely African Americans, fit into society. The author describes the
demographic of the suspects he witnesses being stopped to be always black, usually young,
often well-dressed (173). As a professional young man himself, I suspect that Rayner is often
disturbed by the fact that average-looking African American people are so often questioned by
the police. He also mentions how violent the police officers are to black suspects under the
command of police chief Daryl Gates (174). He witnesses various officers outside of his
apartment window spewing out threatening statements to African American suspects such as be
careful now, Im in the mood to hit me a homer (174). While the authors neighbors all seem to
be okay with this behavior, Rayner is disturbed by the fact that the LAPD . . . was seen less as a

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police force than an army at war (174). To Rayner, the fact that African Americans were seen as
something other than normal was an unusual concept. When the author lived in New York, he
had a very different way of looking at African American individuals. He saw them as average
people like him, but in LA, they are seen as suspicious and often less-than. Los Angeles has
brought out a new way of viewing black people. Rayner now finds himself categorizing African
American people into groups of smart professional blacks, middle-class blacks, and the
bums on Hollywood Boulevard (175). Instead of seeing an African American as just another
person, he now automatically puts them into categories, whether he likes it or not. In fact, during
the riots, after a group of black people killed an innocent white man, Rayner, if he had been
given the chance, actually saw [himself] with a gun in [his] hand killing the particular African
Americans who killed the innocent man (179). Previously, the author would not have wished to
be violent, but because of the way Los Angeles is, he sees a new side of himself. All of these
factors lead Rayner to feel differently about black people. He now feels more of a division
between himself and them because of the crimes they may commit and because of the way the
police treat them. It would be unavoidable for the author to feel as though he is on equal footing
as African Americans now, due to what he has seen. This affects his identity by making him more
aware of his race and culture and of the race and culture of black people.
In conclusion, Los Angeles depicts the story of a man who has been forever changed by
the racial divisions of Los Angeles. Throughout the story, Rayner describes through his actions
what it is like to live in a place where all races are not on equal footing. In Los Angeles whites
are seen as superior, whereas blacks are seen as less-than. This story seems to be true for the
entire United States nowadays. With a resurgence of police brutality against African Americans,
riots have erupted in many southern states, and the Black Lives Matter movement has been

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formed. The story by Richard Rayner sounds almost like a prequel to the events happening today.
The United States has proven that it has still not been able to rid itself of racism. Here in Los
Angeles, there is still an undertone of racism against black people among a certain segment of
the population. Over time, one can only hope that race will not have to be a very large defining
factor of our identities any longer, as it was in Los Angeles and still is today.

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Work Cited
Effects of Crime on Society. People of our Everyday Life. Leaf Group, Ltd., 2016. Web. 16
November 2016.
New FBI Crime Figures Confirm: Black Towns Most Dangerous, White Areas Safest. The
New Observer. 4 December 2014. The New Observer, 2016. Web. 16 November 2016.
Rayner, Richard. Los Angeles. Another City. Ed. David L. Ulin. 1st ed. San Francisco: City
Lights Publishers, 2001. 173-184.
Seib, Al. Empire Liquor Market Deli in South Central Los Angeles. 1992. LA Times. Web. 16
November 2016.