I always thought that Rodney King had a very sweet side to him. Even as he pursued justice for himself, he was able to call for reconciliation and forgiveness. But, you know, people are complicated. He obviously wasn’t sweet to the Korean grocer he robbed in 1989. Alcohol caused him a lot of problems and I won’t be surprised if it figured in his drowning death last night. Our police departments are now a lot more diverse than they were back in 1991 when Mr. King has nearly beaten to death by the LAPD. I wish I could say that police brutality and racial profiling were things of the past. Unfortunately, I can’t say that. In New York, today, they’re marching to end the Stop and Frisk program that has become so all-pervasive that it’s a near statistical certainty that every minority growing up in the city will be frisked at some point. The march will be silent. The last silent march organized by the NAACP occurred in 1917 and was a protest against lynching.
Rest in peace, Rodney. There will be no more beatings for you now.
