Twenty-One Years Later, The Rodney King Riots

Back in March of 1991, Rodney King and two other passengers were stopped by the California Highway Patrol after a brief high speed chase. After exiting his vehicle Mr. King was beaten by officers, unbeknownst to these officers the entire beating was being videotaped by a nearby resident. April 29, 1992, four Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers were acquitted by an all white jury, of savagely beating Rodney King. Jury members couldn’t decide if the force used by the officers was excessive. Six days later, fifty-three people had been killed and over two thousand were said to have received minor to severe injuries.

Twenty-one years later from a media standpoint we see that not much has changed as to the media’s role in news deliverance. Rodney King said, “People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?” Today we still see the fight between media channels to report their story first and many times in doing so, the viewers, tired of injustice will seek “justice” of their own. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we need to hold these media outlets more accountable for what they deliver. There is one part of the puzzle to how we can do as Mr. King asked decades now ago, to get along.

Mr. Rodney King passed away June 17, 2012. May he rest in paradise.

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