Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Police Brutality, Corruption, and Systemic Racism
Healing, Progress, and Collective Consciousness
Justice, Perspective, and Ambiguity
Individuals vs. Institutions
Action vs. Symbolic Gesture
Summary
Analysis
Smith interviews Daryl Gates, the former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and a current talk show host. They sit in the lounge of the radio station where Gates delivers his show. He’s in good shape and wears a tight golf shirt and jeans. Gates begins by claiming it wasn’t a fundraiser he was attending, but rather meeting with a group of people who were talking about their opposition to Proposition F—people who had backed him “right from the beginning / of this controversy” and who also opposed Prop. F. Gates claims he had agreed to attend the event before he knew when the verdicts were supposed to be announced. In retrospect, he realizes he should have had the sense to know not to attend.
Gates’s correction of minor details (he was at a meeting, not a fundraiser) seems defensive. The impression is that he’s trying to cover for a decision he knows was a misstep. Indeed, Gates’s absence at the announcement of the verdicts for King’s Simi Valley trial were viewed highly unfavorably and caused the public to demand his resignation. To the public, Gates’s attendance at a Proposition F fundraiser suggested he prioritized politics and personal ambition over public servitude and justice.
Themes
Gates continues to make defensive, weak excuses for his presence at the not-fundraiser. He insists that the event wasn’t the “cocktail party” the public has made it out to be. At any rate, he insists it wouldn’t have made any difference if he’d hidden himself away and said nothing in response to the riots. Gates criticizes people who accuse him of being “stubborn” and “obstinate,” and who have called for him to resign. He believes his resignation would have only further “demoralized” his department. When he finally spoke out, he states, a lot of people recognized his words as in line with the things they wished they could say. This was especially true for police officers who were angry about “being accused of things / that / they wouldn’t think of doing.”
Gates’s assemblage of weak excuses for his attendance at the Prop F. event seem desperate and frenzied. He seems to be far more concerned with maintaining a respectable reputation and prolonging his career than he is with doing that career well. Gates also attempts to justify his position by suggesting that other people agree with him—and while several of Smith’s interview subjects do say similar things, many more see Gates as self-absorbed and corrupt.
Themes
Gates continues, stating his belief that most people are upset about the negative things newspapers and TV news are saying about police officers. He bemoans the “really nasty” community activists and politicians who speak poorly of law enforcement.
As Gates defends police officers, he mirrors what Garcetti said about officers experiencing a type of “magic” when they testify. He suggested white, privileged people want to trust the police, but media reports are making it difficult for officers to keep ahold of that “magic.”
Themes
Gates resents having become “the symbol / of police oppression / in the United States / if not the world.” He cites his 43 years with law enforcement and his flawless record to convey how absurd it is that he could suddenly become associated with oppression and police brutality. He also describes a recent poll that boasted his popularity. Gates laments how his life and reputation have been ruined “just because some officers / whacked Rodney King.”
Gates’s complaint about being “the symbol / of police oppression […] just because some officers / whacked Rodney King” magnifies Gate’s struggle and minimizes King’s attack. Again, Gates’s political ambition trumps his obligations as a public servant. Once more, corrupt institutions enable oppression to persist.
Themes
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