But it's not a great example. There are much better examples out there. Fortunately, some of the situation was caught on video. Unlike the NBC spin, which cut off a significant portion of the video, the whole video showed it was police reacting with far too much force. He didn't die, thankfully, because someone on the scene supposedly directed them to holster their guns.
I think the Michael Brown shooting was worse than the King incident because there's too much controversy on whether or not Brown charged and Brown ended up dead. Thankfully, King still walks the earth. The only thing about the King incident that I find disgusting is the continued beating of Rodney King. It should have stopped shortly after the second tasering and a few hits with the batons (he seems to give up, at that point). Had it stopped there, I don't think we would have had anything called a "Rodney King Incident."
I agree with you that the video showed Police were acting like criminals. It went from a well-handled situation where police used proper training and tactics to police tunring into gang-members laying a beat-down on someone they viewed as violating their gang-rules. I think they should have gotten an assault and battery charge. I can say that they probably did not intend to kill him: just beat the shit out of him and humiliate him into submission.
But his actions before the beat-down got out of hand make that situation not a great one for showing police racism. Also, the lead prosecutor against the police was black (in the first trial). Also, the federal case convicted Laurence Powell and Sergeant Stacey Koon (2 of the 4 officers). They were sentenced 32 months...which is pretty harsh since I would not get that long of a sentence for beating someone without the intent to kill. So I do not think the Rodney King case makes a great example since it was quite a long time ago and at least 2 of the 4 officers were convicted.
The Huffington Post (generally, a liberally biased news site but I still consider them good) lists 14 good reasons why the criminal justice system and law enforcement are anywhere from moderately to ridiculously racist:
I think the Algiers 7 makes a better case for clear racism in law enforcement but that was 1980 and probably doesn't make your point in the way you'd want.
Is there a more modern case than 1992 that better reflects the point both of us want to make? There was some stuff in Katrina, IIRC, that make a good example.
I disagree. The system worked. People did not agree with the outcome. Federal court, a higher court, came along and brought justice. That's how it is supposed to work.
In fact, now that I think about it, it is an example of the criminal justice system working in the face of racism. This situation is almost the opposite for what we are looking for.
Also, when do you think the last baton smack should have stopped and the next baton smack crossed the line? The judge in the federal case said the first 55 were legit.
And since Robtard and I are the only ones really interested in (and pretty much agree on the topic we are discussing), it shouldn't delve beyond lame sentiments regarding specific cases.
But I do predict someone will jump in the thread and say racist shit. It always happens.
I'd like to add that I agree with you about the first "trial." Clear bias in it. They wanted to sweep shit under the rug. The Justice Department did its job to override rug sweeping. I am not sure I agree with the Koon's result but my memory of what exactly Koon did is vague.
The way the war in drugs tends to go down ends up racist a lot. As you mentioned before the actual difference in drug rates is much lower then police act like.
We'll have to disagree then, cos if it takes country-wide dissent and 6 days of rioting, 50+ dead, 2,000+ injured and a billion dollars in damage for the justice system to act correctly, I see a problem.
I'd have to go back and see the video again, as it's been 20 years. But iirc, King was prone and/or not threating for 99.9% of the beating.
Even if we believe the police officers and go with "King threatened us before the camera started filming", once a man is done and cowed, there's no need to continue beating him.
I agree Rodney Kings case of brutality was horrendous. All the choas and terror it brought to the city of Pasadena and Los Angeles. As a victim to racism and Law enforcement brutality, I've taken notice to all the many different issues that surround the unfortunate conduct certain people go through as a reaction to their environment. Which why, I ask my self daily, why have to deal with such ignorance as a perspective toward wanting more out of life. The scary thing about always being profiled is , While being profile, sometimes I get the feeling everything is ok, with great detail for being a highly respected person of the community. Alongside all the political tirades racism creates my psychology of a graduating college student, doesn't fit my description of having a degree with attention to the many successful people who partake in the college experience. Believe it or not international immigration serves to reflect not only problems that stereotype and mis-represent other American cultures Personally I think becoming a law abiding citizen limits any opportunity racist cops would have within socially breaking the rules purposely.
KMC Community Forums
Dec 11th, 2014 06:54 PM
