The movement started around the time of the 1992 riots that followed the Rodney King verdict, when a previously wayward young man named Thomas Johnson reinvented himself as Tommy the Clown and established an institution called Tommy's Hip Hop Clown Academy.

WSJ: Bothered and Bewildered

Long before the uprisings on the streets of Ferguson or Baltimore, the 1992 L.A. riots in the wake of the first verdict in the Rodney King case had an undeniable effect on the city's urban youth.

CNN: King riots sparked film editor's idea to help youth