*Netflix is set to explore what life could have been like for Latasha Harlins had she not been fatally shot by a convenience store owner in 1991 at the age of 15.
Harlins’ murder was a catalyst for the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, and “A Love Song For Latasha” will explore the teenager’s life and dreams through accounts from her family and friends.
The killing occurred the same month as Rodney King’s beating by the LAPD. EURweb previously reported. A Korean store owner in South Central Los Angeles shot and killed Harlins after accusing her of trying to steal orange juice.
“It was later discovered Harlins was clutching money to pay for the juice when she was killed. The store owner received probation and a $500 fine,” NPR reported. This outraged the surrounding Black community.
READ MORE: A Look Back at the 1992 Los Angeles (Rodney King) Riots
“It was an open campaign to suppress and contain the Black community,” lawyer and civil rights activist Connie Rice said in an interview with NPR. “LAPD didn’t even feel it was necessary to distinguish between pruning out a suspected criminal where they had probable cause to stop and just stopping African-American judges and senators and prominent athletes and celebrities simply because they were driving nice cars.”
The riots first began at Florence and Normandie, an intersection in South Los Angeles.
On the third day of the riots, King publicly urged Los Angeles residents to stop rioting. Outside of a Beverly Hills courthouse with his lawyer King utter the now-infamous words, “Can we all get along?”
Scroll up and check out the trailer for “A Love Song For Latasha” above. The documentary will be available to stream Sept. 21.
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