On this date in 1991, motorist Rodney King was beaten by several officers in the LAPD, which to Californians, is not an unusual occurrence. This time, the entire tragic ordeal was videotaped by George Holliday, an unsuspecting observer, from his balcony and he sent the footage to radio station KTLA, which led to one of the biggest racial explosions in American history.
Four police officers were charged with assault, assault with a deadly weapon and excessive force after the video shows the officers repeatedly kicking and hitting King with their batons, but all were acquitted of all charges, which led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Many Hip Hop artists, specifically from the West Coast, including Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and other referenced the historic tragedy in their music.
The most memorable moment during the riots was when King was handpicked by the media to make a statement to the LA residents who all but destroyed the City of Angels, causing almost $1 billion in damages.
“I just want to say – you know – can we all get along? can we, can we get along? Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids? And… I mean we’ve got enough smog in Los Angeles let alone to deal with setting these fires and things… it’s just not right – it’s not right. And it’s not going to change anything. We’ll get our justice; they’ve won the battle, but they haven’t won the war. We’ll get our day in court and that’s all we want. And, just, uh, I love – I’m neutral, I love every – I love people of color. I’m not like they’re making me out to be. We’ve got to quit – we’ve got to quit; I mean after-all, I could understand the first – upset for the first two hours after the verdict, but to go on, to keep going on like this and to see the security guard shot on the ground – it’s just not right; it’s just not right, because those people will never go home to their families again. And uh, I mean please, we can, we can get along here. We all can get along – we just gotta, we gotta. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while, let’s, you know let’s try to work it out, let’s try to beat it, you know, let’s try to work it out.”
King refused the city’s offer of $200K and a four year college education and sued the city, winning $3.8 million for what he endured.
