Rodney King Research Paper

Speech
Rodney King, our first uprising celebrity in the 90s. African American 26-year-old drunk man, caught on a high-speed chase March 3, 1991, in Los Angeles. Stopped by the L.A.P.D., in front of an apartment complex where he was brutally beaten by officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Stacey Koon. Officers laughed as they made comments like, “ I haven’t beaten someone this bad in a while”. Hit 56 times, abusively tased twice, fractured cheekbone, 11 broken bones at the base of his skull, and a broken leg. This brutality was recorded and was shown to America’s television set the morning after the incident occurred in everyone’s dinner table. Many Americans were disgusted and shocked by how Rodney King was beaten. …show more content…
After the verdict, brothers and sisters of Rodney King were furious. This was the beginning of the war. Throughout the month, your life was in danger if you weren’t black. Thousand of black people running across the streets of Los Angeles punching, beating, spitting, spray painting people who were white, Hispanic Asian, with no mercy. Screaming and flicking off cameras “This is for you Rodney King!”. Looting began, at first, it was stored from white and Asian owners. They would take everything from the stores and then burn them. Firefighters and police officers laid back and let this disaster happen, knowing they were unsafe if they laid one hand on a resident. Eventually, people just took advantage of the chaos and joined in. Every race joined together and was robbing and burning with a …show more content…
The words “FREE!” brightened up minorities minds and stole everything with a smile on their face as the owners of the stores cry in tears. The tears of what was started off as a strike for justice and what turned into a devastation sack of plunder. Koreatown now had their own protection, where every owner carried a gun and stood outside their stores. A month later curfews were placed and police officers were replaced by soldiers from the army. The president made an announcement and didn’t target anyone but just explained that would they aren’t helping the situation, only making it worse. Rodney King finally came out and spoke to the public and explained that he wanted everyone to stop right away. He didn’t want innocent lives to be killed, these people are fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, sister, and brothers to a family that they go home to every night. After a while Hispanics rose with brooms and gloves to clean the dirty streets of LA. Everyone soon followed and came together, all races, ages, religion, and gender cleaning the mess they made. Even though there was no justice for Rodney King, people learned to accept and move on, even though deep in their hearts they knew that minorities will never

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