“I just have such high respect for people who go out and get the story. I just hope that those of you have the capacity, that you choose this as a profession because we need you desperately. We don't need any more filmmakers. We need journalists.” - Director John Ridley speaks to Columbia Journalism Class of 2021

In this month’s On Assignment episode, listen to the 2018 duPont-Award winning filmmakers describe the tenacious reporting required to produce “Let it Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992.” Director John Ridley and ABC News Producers Jeanmarie Condon, Melia Patria and Fatima Curry revisit the newly relevant documentary about the decade preceding the Rodney King beating. In a conversation moderated by ABC News anchor Juju Chang, the team shares how they sought out reluctant sources, gathered archival video and used character-driven narratives to illustrate the 1992 uprising. Headlining the kickoff of a new Columbia Journalism School seminar series on race and diversity, the panelists answered students' questions about the parallels between 1992 and today, with this year’s deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, among others. 

The groundbreaking film extends beyond the Rodney King case and addresses the decade of building tensions that led to five days of uprising in South Central, Los Angeles following the “not-guilty” verdict of the police who were filmed beating Rodney King. It was re-broadcast this past June on ABC News in light of recent events.

To watch the 2018 duPont-award winning documentary, “Let it Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992,” stream it on Netflix.