Rodney King dead at 47.

[photonrider]

R.I.P. Rodney.

"Can we all get along? Can we get along?"

 

[Ibonibo]

No

/ offtopic

RIP

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I guess criminals need their rest too.

 

[Zenith]

This makes headlines? The guy got plastered and then led police in an 80mph chase through residential streets.

I hate to play the Dead Soldiers card, but if you want to read about dead people, we've got plenty.

http://militarytimes.com/valor/

 

[Coxis]

Yeah, he may be a criminal and all that jazz, but he didn't deserve that horrible beating either. It makes headlines because his whole ordeal was the cause of some of the worst race riots in the US, plus it made clear that the race thing was and is still an issue within some americans.

 

[Lucas]

Yeah, he may be a criminal and all that jazz, but he didn't deserve that horrible beating either. It makes headlines because his whole ordeal was the cause of some of the worst race riots in the US, plus it made clear that the race thing was and is still an issue within some americans.

Exactly. No different than it was when Hitler died.

 

[Ddrizle]

Rest in peace.

 

[sumbrownkid]

Yeah, he may be a criminal and all that jazz, but he didn't deserve that horrible beating either. It makes headlines because his whole ordeal was the cause of some of the worst race riots in the US, plus it made clear that the race thing was and is still an issue within some americans.

Beating someone just because of their race is wrong.

And race is always gonna be an issue worldwide because we still have idiots spreading idiotic logic. Until people understand race is a dumb social construct with no biological basis, this issue is still gonna plague mankind unfortunately.

Now beating someone because they endangered public safety by driving drunk and speeding excessively through residential areas?

He deserved to get beat. Murderers should get shot into the Sun also.

Still, even the dead deserve some measure of peace.

RIP.

 

[Solid Lifters]

Let's not talk about this, anymore. It's already been beaten to death.

 

[photonrider]

Unless you are over 30 years old - Rodney King really won't mean anything to you.
Though of course if you were a 10 year old kid in L.A. watching your city burn to the ground, it may still be a bit of a memory. The London riots for instance - the highlight of which was a kid with a butt in his mouth stealing a toy from another kid - was a giggle in comparison.
Rodney had 'priors' no doubt - but it was no excuse for four humans to pull a speeder out of a car and thrash him - sets too much of a dangerous precedent.
What changed it was a guy called Holiday who had a camera charged and ready to go - and thereby brought into focus a facet of life that was unknown to the general public; who polices the police?
I work very closely with the Toronto police on various tenant situations - they are the salt of the earth, and great human beings, dedicated to their jobs. In L.A. - four cops shouldn't have spat on the work that the majority of the peacekeepers did.
I'm more comfortable having cops around than not.
Having said that - what did Rodney King do that made him famous? Forgave. Much like another criminal a long time ago that was nailed to a cross.
Rodney's impact on your lives today is ineffable - a 'Butterfly effect' that has had more impact on the world than pretty much all of us here combined.
Has Solid says - nothing to discuss here - except for those who wish to offer their condolences.
The Coroner will probably give us more later. We'll discuss that then.

Also - it showed us what a mob can do. Aren't the 'Zombie Apocalypse' looters already gathering their tools?

 

[Pupik]

This makes headlines? The guy got plastered and then led police in an 80mph chase through residential streets.

I hate to play the Dead Soldiers card, but if you want to read about dead people, we've got plenty.

http://militarytimes.com/valor/

Yeah, because we're not allowed to go more than 14.5 minutes without paying respect for the military. So let's stay on topic if you've got nothing to add...

While Rodney King was no saint, he didn't deserve the brutal treatment he received for essentially being a pain in the ass, rather than a wanted criminal.

He likely led himself down his troubled life, probably burdened with the outcome of the riots, but also probably had it out with authority. Oddly, between him and the person who videotaped the ill-fated traffic stop, they likely changed the course of how we are all treated by the law when placed under arrest.

Rodney King is going to be remembered 50 years from now for that. Had someone not been brave enough to record that traffic stop, this chapter of history would never have been written. Of course, it's also possible Reginald Perry would have made his delivery unharmed.

For a few days, the fabric of our country was ripped apart; hard to believe this was 20 years ago. It was mad and psychotic, confusing, rather altering...there was an angry part of society that was so pissed off that it burned its own neighborhood to the ground in response to how it felt the police was treating them. It made no sense, but it got attention.

 

[photonrider]

As promised:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-cocaine-PCP-marijuana.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

And so closes the chapter on the incident that trended bringing civilian video captures to the world via public broadcast.