Rodney King Beating And The Los Angeles Riots Twenty Years Later (Opinion)

The whole world watched in amazement as Rodney King was brutally beaten by Los Angeles police officers.

Everyone in the country was outraged and could not believe their eyes. The racial atmosphere in the country was at an all time high. And the distrust of law enforcement was at its highest peak, especially among people of color.

The Rodney King incident

On April 25th, 1992, seven LAPD officers surrounded King, repeatedly hitting him helplessly with their batons, while other officers stood by watching without taking any action. What they didn’t know was that the footage was being taped and quickly got into the hands of news agencies around the world. It caused public outrage that increased tension between the local Black community and the LAPD, and also intensified anger over police brutality, racism, and social inequalities.

Related: Louisville Declares Racism A Public Health Crisis

LAPD officers were not held accountable

Four LAPD officers were later tried in a state court for the beating; three were acquitted and the jury failed to reach a verdict for the fourth.

The announcement of the acquittals sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots. A later federal trial for civil rights violations ended with two of the officers found guilty and sent to prison and the other two officers acquitted.

I remember watching the beating and the riot that followed. I was so sick to my stomach. It was a time in my life where racism was running rampant on my job working as a computer scientist. It was not a fun time at all because of the Reagan and Bush era and people of color were being discriminated against and attacked on a daily basis. Racial profiling was on the rise and America had to take a good look at herself since the race riots of the 60s.

It was a scary feeling to think that some White Americans thought Rodney King’s beating was justifiable. I remember watching the Oprah Winfrey Show and a young white female thought the beating was well deserved. An older white woman politely told the audience to excuse her white sister. That it is her youth that makes her say and feel the way that she does. The older woman looked at her and said “Would you beat a dog like that?” the younger woman immediately said “no”! Then the older woman said then “why would you beat another human being!?”

The crowd applauded her with such high praise. All I remember was that this older woman was one classy lady. So many people, Black and white, were emotionally scared by the ill actions of the LAPD.

My female co-worker said to me that she felt so ashamed to be white! I told her that she should not feel that way because she did nothing wrong. I told her there are a lot of bad people out there that are very hateful but to never say that again. You didn’t do it! You can see the hurt in her eyes and the feeling that she felt that her white race was terrible. All I know I was very cautious driving and I did not want any parts of this racist America that I was seeing.

I realized as time passed, racism is still a major issue and problem in America even in 2012.

Only God can heal America of all of its deeply rooted racism. Lets pray America!

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