Law & Disorder

Law & Disorder opens on Saturday October 3, 2009.
Opening Reception at the Studio from 6:00 - 10:00 pm

Law & Disorder opens October 3, 2009 at the Studio for Southern California History and will run until August 21, 2010. This exhibit investigates moments in Southern California history that led to legislative reform, as well as episodes of vigilantism and mob behavior in the form of riots and/or rebellions. This exhibit explores both the importance of clarity in defining terms over time and why different historical agents may interpret the same event in diametrically opposed ways. This exhibit looks at the role of civil disobedience and how law enforcement reacted to such instances of protest, from the arrest of Upton Sinclair in 1923 for reading The Bill of Rights at an International Workers of the World labor protest, to the 2007 May Day march against in which officers are charged with using excessive force on journalists and participants in the protest. Law & Disorder delineates the differences between de facto and de juris forms of policy and behavior. Finally, this exhibit explores more hidden forms of crime within our society including human trafficking, gang formations, disability rights, and crimes against children. In addition to a 75’ X 4’ Timeline that integrates visitor participation,

Law & Disorder includes multimedia displays that feature video history segments where various interviewees discuss the same subject including: • racially restrictive covenants; • Japanese American internment; • the Zoot Suit Riots; • the use of atomic weaponry on civilians; • the Bracero Program; • the 1965 Watts Riots and the McCone Commission; • 1970 Chicano Moratorium and death of journalist Ruben Salazar; • the death of Eulia Love; • sexual harassment; • discrimination and/or prejudice; • the beating of Rodney King; • the death of LaTasha Harlins and subsequent court case; • the 1992 Riots and Christopher Commission; • the O.J. Simpson criminal trial; • the death of Victoria Arellano at an INS Detention Facility in San Pedro.