I was a kid back then, but even i had no idea of the background leading to the riots. Like how the group that beat King were part of a gang that was on a mission to beat black men, or the unrelated (except by racism) widely publicized trial verdicts where multiple white citizens were found not guilty or given light sentences for killing black kids (I've forgotten a lot of the details of the documentary, but ill never forget the shocked faces of the parents of a kid shot by a convenience store clerk after her community service verdict). The righteous anger had been boiling over all year, and King was just the final straw.
And nothing has changed for the better in all this time