Silke Hansen

Senior Conciliation Specialist, Community Relations Service

Interviewed by Julian Portilla, 2003

This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).

What became interesting was what terminology you used became critical in this mediation. If you went into the African American community and called it a "riot," they would say it wasn't a riot, it was a revolution or it was a disturbance. So I have come to call it the Rodney King event, and responses to that and consequences of that "event" because just how you define something becomes an issue in different communities.