Rodney King: A Police Brutality Case

Born in Maryland, Thurgood Marshall was another activist for civil rights. He went to an all-black law school, after being denied entry into the University of Maryland Law School. He would later take the school to court, and win, for violating the 14th Amendment. He went on to handle many landmark cases, as the primary attorney for the NAACP. One of the history making cases was the previous decision on the Plessy v. Ferguson case, convincing the Supreme Court to overturn the original ruling. He eventually went on to become the first African American supreme Court Justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a very established man who influenced America to make leaps and bounds in regards to racial injustice. He was born on January fifteenth, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, and led a very normal, two parent childhood, his father being a preacher and his mother also being very involved with the church, along with his two siblings. Martin realized during his youth what a devastating toll inequality was taking on America. An example of this would be when a young Martin and his father went into a shoe store and they were told they will not do business with “colored folk” in the front of the store; this hurt Martin’s feelings greatly, but his very religious mother had always told him, "even though some people make you feel bad

Rodney King was beaten by the police on March 3, 1991. The police tried to pull him over in Lake View Terrace in San Fernando Valley after he was speeding at 110 mph. He led the police on a short chase because he knew if he got pulled over it would violate his parole for a prior robbery. The police claimed that he was resisting arrest once he was pulled over. They officers said they believed he was on drugs, even though he wasn’t. The police then beat Rodney King for about 15 minutes, which lead to him having skull fractures, broken bones, broken teeth, and permanent brain damage. The police didn’t know that they were being filmed for most of the beating. The person that filmed it brought it to a local news station, and within days the film was seen through all of America, Police brutality had been a problem for a while in LA, but this was the first time it was filmed.

Treyvon Martin was a teenager who was unarmed, shot, and killed in Sanford, Florida. The incident happened on February 26, 2012. The officer who shot Martin followed Martin around outside when he then confronted Martin. They seemed to have some kind of argument, and then officer Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest. Zimmerman was questioned about his confrontation, where he pleaded self-defense. Zimmerman currently has no charges and is living a normal life. Martin’s friends and family then ask for recordings to be released to help find further evidence. The police do not release them. The case then goes to the state attorney after the police are finished with it. After the case goes to the state attorney, the police release the 911 recordings

Jesse Washington, a teenage African American farmland, was lynched in Waco, Texas, 0n May 15, 1916, in what became a well-known example of racially motivated lynching. RecWashington was accused of raping and murdering Lucy fryer, the wife or his white employer in rural Robinson, Texas. There were no eyewitnesses to the crime, but during his interrogation by the mc Lennon county sheriff he signed a confession and described the location of the murder weapon. Washington was tried for murder in Waco, in a courtroom filled with furious locals. He entered a guilty plea and was quickly sentence to death. After his sentence was pronounced, he was dragged out of the court by observers and lynched in front of Waco’s city hall. Over 10,000 spectators,

Courageous. Genius. Savior. These are just a few traits that Martin Luther King Jr. greatly portrayed. He believed that all people should have equal rights, regardless of their color or race. Martin Luther King Jr. incredibly impacted the world’s view on segregation and racial injustice.

Matheson, Victor A., and Robert A. Baade. “Race and Riots: A Note on the Economic Impact of the Rodney King Riots.” Urban Studies, vol. 41, no. 13, 2004, pp. 2691–2696, Academic Search Premier, doi:10.1080/0042098042000294628.

Yet, no actions were taken towards the police, who were tried for aggravated assault, creating outrage among King's supporters. On April 29, 1992, it was announced that the officers Sgt. Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, and Timothy Wind were acquitted and released.

“Yall haters corny with that illuminati mess, paparazzi catch my fly and my cocky dress. I’m so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress. I’m so possessive so I rock his Roc necklaces. My daddy alabama, momma louisiana. You mix that negro with that creole make a texas bama. I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros. I like my negro nose with jackson five nostrils. Made all this money but they never take the country out me. I got hot sauce in my bag swag.” (Heal 1).

Besides Trayvon Martin’s death, there have been several occurrences of race violence in America. One such event was the death of Michael Brown Jr. at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson. According to Wilson’s testimony, Brown

Although we hope our Police force will use their powers for good, but sometimes police misconduct can occur. Often, the police are under great pressure to act as quick as possible, espcially in a murder case and if the murder victime is white, a child, police officer, or prominent. For example, In the 1990’s the case of Rodney King, that not only shows a racist issue within the criminal justice system, but also the issue with abuse from police officers, but changed the country’s views on the LA police force. Twenty- Seven years ago,Rodney King was brutally beaten by Los Angeles police officers. King was intoxicated while driving and the police had caught him speeding, and initally he tried running away from the police, only to be followed by multiple police and a helicopter. The officers then proceeded to drag King out of his car and brutally beat him.This brutality was the first caught on tape by a bystander, the video had shown the officers tazing, kicking, and hitting Rodney with thier batons a little over 53 times. Witnesses had claimed that King was cooperative and never resisted the officers. The video had gone viral of the abuse and after the case being aquitted by an all white jury, the outcome of these actions resulted in what we know as the L.A riots. Another example of police brutality involving an African American, was a case that happened recently on August

Rodney king, born in Sacramento, California in 1965 and grew up to be known as a polite yet not very intelligent child and teenager. King was a high school dropout and a single father with a history of criminal activity. Rodney King was most famously known for his court battle against L.A.P.D. officers Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Ted Briseno, and Timothy Wind . On March 3, 1991 two crimes occurred involving King, one of which he was the offender and the other where he was the victim. On this Saturday night at 12:50 am Rodney king was driving his white Hyundai under the influence of alcohol along with his two fiends Freddie Helms and Bryant Allen. When a police officer attempted to pull over King, he chose to flee which resulted in a police

On April 22, 1992, three guilty criminals walked away innocent after committing heinous acts of aggression and assault. They were not punished after brutally beating an African American citizen after a meer traffic stop. This brutal act of racial profiling was forgiven in the name of systemic bias and societal attitudes towards racism and similar issues. The date in question is the day that the verdict of the Rodney King trial was released by the jury. The trial involved Rodney G. King a taxi driver who was pulled over for a traffic violation. After said violation, four nameless officers proceeded to beat the mostly compliant King. The savage act of police brutality was captured on camera. After such a crime, the four officers in question were

‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’ On the 28th of August, in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial declaring to over 250.000 citizens that he had a dream. A dream that one day, all men and women, whether black or white, Jewish or Christian, would be treated as equals. More than fifty years later, King’s dream seems to be nothing more than that: a dream. Just last year, Eric Garner, a black man, is choked to death by the police force in Staten Island, New York. A month later, a young black man is shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. In March

On April 29, 1992, A week of non stop urban violence and mayhem erupted in the streets and cities of Los Angeles, the riots were commenced by the unjust trial that let the four white police officers set free of any charges. All four officers were captured on videotape beating on a black motorist named, Rodney King after a traffic stop gone wild. The Rodney King riots impacted society greatly by presenting the nations people with an understanding of how racism was still present in america. A reminder that "justice for all" was still a long way off being set in stone and to followed by most people. When the justice for Mr King was not given rightfully, the people from the streets who went through alike problems hear about it, they immediately want change. From gang members who initiated the truce that helped decrease street violence, to the average high school student being active in protest around the city, the riots were portrayed heavily by the people affected by the beating. At these times, around the clock news and live television coverage followed but also in Ice Cube’s “The Predator” and Rodney King 's speech to the city of Los Angeles.