Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992

Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992

by

Anna Deavere Smith

Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992: Execution Style Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Smith interviews Chris Oh, Walter Park’s stepson. Oh explains how a witness stated that Walter pressed on the accelerator after he was shot, ramming his car into a telephone pole. The shooter, a Black man, approached Walter’s car when he was at a stoplight, broke the window, and fired at him at close range, “execution style.”
With each new victim testimony, Smith further complicates the audience’s sense of right and wrong, justice and injustice. Just as she concludes an account that validates and the frustrations of rioters and seems to justify their violence, she presents a new account that renders the violence senseless, brutal, and unjustified.
Themes
Police Brutality, Corruption, and Systemic Racism  Theme Icon
Justice, Perspective, and Ambiguity  Theme Icon
Individuals vs. Institutions Theme Icon