LA's Going to Blow, I Can Feel it Coming

I've been warning for months that tension has been building up in Los Angeles (here and here) and the city is looking for an opportunity to blow-up. It just may get it in the next week or so.

There's a potential 1-2-3 punch that the black community is going to think is aimed at them, and that may be all it takes to get the party started. The first punch has already been thrown with this announcement:

The Los Angeles police officer who fatally shot an unarmed 13-year-old at the end of a car chase earlier this year will not face criminal charges after a witness came forward and corroborated the officer's account of the controversial incident, prosecutors announced Monday.

The prosecutors' decision ends one major part of the investigation into the shooting. But the officer, Steve Garcia, still faces internal Police Department discipline and a suit by the dead teenagers' family.

I was watching tape of the police commission's meeting today and the usual activists are in a rage. One idiot stood up before the commission, and with veins bulging, held up a toy car and demanded that they explain to him, "as a black man", how this car (pointing at the toy car) could be a threat to the officer. He actually said "explain to me, as a black man". How do you explain something "as a black man"? Do you have to use ebonics?

The second punch is waiting in the wings with the Governator's hearing in the Tookie Williams case which takes place on Thursday. I don't know if a decision will be immediately announced, but should the Gov say no, strike two.

The final blow may be the actual execution, should it go forward on Dec. 13th as scheduled. If Tookie pays the ultimate price for his crimes, it's going to get ugly in L.A. I wouldn't be scheduling any trips up that way.

My crystal ball was pretty good in the Harriett Miers case - I hope it's not as good now, because nothing positive can come out of a replay of the 1992/1965 riots.

UPDATE: L.A. Police Chief William Bratton has reverted into tough New Yorker mode in his dealing with both the Tookie case and the shooting of the 13 year-old car thief. I saw two brief interviews with the chief yesterday, and in both he was being anything but politically correct. When asked about the public outrage at the police commission meeting over the car thief, he said (and I paraphrase since I don't have a transcript):

"If you don't like the decision, that's tough. Elect a new District Attorney. We have policies and procedures and we're not here to appease people".

In a different interview, he was asked about the public demonstrations in support of Tookie Willams (the NAACP got into the act that day). The chief responded (and I have the actual quote from the Channel 5 news report):

"Execute him. That's what the jury indicated. Get rid of him, it's that simple. What do we want to save him, all this baloney about being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize....you can nominate a ham sandwich for the Nobel Peace Prize. Uh, so my feelings on this are quite clear. He's a cold blooded murderer" .

The chief's right about that last point. In fact, any elected representative of any country can nominate someone for the Nobel. L.A. talk show host Bill Handel, to prove the point, was nominated last week by an anonymous congressman. Don't believe me? Look here.

I don't think the chief wants to preside over the next great L.A. riot, but I get the feeling from his testy comments to the press that he's knows it's coming.