Rodney King, the man’s whose name is synonymous with the 1992 LA riots, passed away June 17, 2012, at his home in Southern California. He was found dead by his fiance in his swimming pool at his home. he apparently drowned.
In 1991, Rodney King was beaten by four white police officers. what made this beating different than the other countless episodes of police brutality was that it was caught on tape by amateur cameramen. He gave the tape to a local TV station and it was shown nation wide.
A lot of viewers, especially White ones were shocked by what they saw. while on the other hand, Black viewers who dealt with police brutality constantly were just satisfied that finally America could see what Black people had been dealing with for years.
About a year later, America was shocked again when, despite the video tape of the beating, the four officers were found not guilty by a jury in the predominantly White suburb of Simi Valley. Less than two hours after the verdict, all hell broke lose in South Central LA. When it was over six days later, the LA riots had left 63 people dead. In the midst of the violence, Rodney King made his famous and considered by some, infamous plea - “Can we all get along?”
Two of the four officers ended up doing two years in Federal Prison for the beating and Rodney King received a 3.8 million dollar settlement. But in reality, most Black people didn’t feel justice was served until 1995. That’s when OJ Simpson, a Black man most people considered guilty of murdering two white people, was found not guilty by a predominantly Black jury.
Rodney King wasn’t a civil rights leader or intellectual, but he was just as important. What happened to him revealed the sickness that afflict so many White police officers, the sickness that causes them to behave like slave catchers. Martin Luther King had a dream, but sadly in America, Rodney King represented the reality.
Stay positive and be aware!
Marcel McDaniel
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