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Anniversary of Rodney King Beating 

By ERICA WERNER
(Direct descendent of Karl Marx)
Associated Press Writer MARCH 02, 13:45 EST 

LOS ANGELES (AP) � His name is known across the country, and a decade after his beating he remains a symbol of police brutality and racial unrest. But it's a role Rodney King never really knew how to play.

(Rodney King is an American icon for one reason, the "Free Press" and their inaccurate portrayal of him as a victim of a racist beating made him one.  Because of the misleading way that this story was covered, it will forever paint Rodney King as a victim who was on a nice Sunday drive when suddenly three counties of police officers pulled him over for no reason and beat him unjustly for 58 seconds... about 10 seconds too long for the jury in the civil rights case against the officers. Reginald Denny was beaten almost to death in the riots that followed the "not guilty" verdicts in the first trial and the "Free Press" is sure to ignore this piece of history in this journalistic tripe. Mr. Denny did not try to out run the police, or attack them after finally being pulled over. No, Mr. Denny was unfortunately caught in the middle of the "Free Press" generated riots and was guilty of being white while driving in a black neighborhood, convicted by rioters and sentenced to a brick in the head and feet in the face and body! The real tragedy is that the "Free Press" continues to portray Rodney King as a civil rights icon, he is not. Rodney King is, was and always will be a criminal who violated the law, attacked the police and continued to fight them even after two taser shots. His "beating" ended when he stopped fighting the police. The only reason there were guilty verdicts in the civil rights case was because the city was attempting to avoid another riot... PERIOD! The facts are this, the LAPD did not violate a single law or regulation that evening, the civil rights case found that they violated King's civil rights which are a relative thing from jury to jury and court to court.  Apologies to Mr. Denny if I am misspelling his name, I could not find a mention of him anywhere in the "Free Press" today to verify it. - tha malcontent)

In the years since he uttered his famous plea � ``Can we all get along?'' � King has seldom spoken in public, even though he has repeatedly found himself in the spotlight. 

His life after the beating has been marked by run-ins with the law and squabbles with attorneys over the $3.8 million settlement in his lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles.

("run-ins with the law", how nice of the "Free Press" to sugar coat King's history of criminal violations. - tha malcontent)

He flirted with a music career and started a rap label but quickly abandoned it. He earned his high school equivalency degree, went to work for his brother's construction company and practiced his surfing. 

``Rodney never chose to be an icon,'' said Renford Reese, a political science professor at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona who has counseled King and invited him to address his classes. ``He got beat one night, and all of a sudden he becomes a symbol for racial reconciliation and police reform. But he was never trained to be a change agent.''

(He is not an "agent of change", he is, was and always will be a criminal! There is nothing poetic or romantic about this thug! - tha malcontent)

King, now 35, declined to be interviewed for this article. 

Renee L. Campbell, one of his attorneys, said the memory of what happened on March 3, 1991, still brings flashbacks and is too painful to revisit. 

That night, a bystander videotaped the scene as four white Los Angeles police officers beat King, who is black, after a car chase. The events captured on the tape, shown repeatedly on television, eventually forced Police Chief Daryl Gates to resign.

(And here we have the way by which the "Free Press" caused the riots, "four white LAPD officers beat a black motorist today in Los Angeles." This was the format in which this story was written and has been written all the way up to today. If this situation was reversed, and it has been, not only would it not be reported on, it would not state the color of the participants if it was. - tha malcontent) 

When the four officers were acquitted a year later, the city erupted in riots. Two of the officers were later found guilty in federal court of violating King's civil rights.

(The LA riots were a product of the "Free Press", PERIOD! Again, a decade later the "Free Press" cannot bring itself to admit that the civil rights verdict only stated that the last 10 seconds or so of the beating was a violation of King's civil rights. That means that even by the most liberal of standards, 90% of the beating was justified! - tha malcontent)

At the time of the beating, King was a one-time Dodgers Stadium usher who had been convicted of robbery. He was on probation.

(A criminal, not a "motorist"! - tha malcontent)

Two months after the beating, King was arrested on suspicion of trying to run down an officer after police in Hollywood allegedly saw him pick up a transvestite prostitute. No charges were filed.

(No charges were filed on numerous occasions because no one in the LAPD wanted to "touch" the guy again. He tried to run an officer down and no one filed charges! - tha malcontent)

He has been pulled over by police and convicted once of drunken driving. He was convicted of hit-and-run driving for an incident involving his wife and later pleaded guilty to spousal abuse in a separate incident. He is on probation until 2003.

(A wife beater, and still the DemocRATS and the "Free Press" try and try to create a civil rights icon out of this thug! - tha malcontent)

``Rodney is an ordinary guy, he has the same kind of typical problems that everyone has, normal family problems, what have you,'' Campbell said. ``To his misfortune, because of his celebrity, whatever happens to him, be it an argument or a shouting match, it can get escalated and turned into something completely different than what it was."

("Rodney is an ordinary guy..." PAH-LEEEEEEEASE!, this is sick! Newspeak at it's finest! This guys rap sheet does not indicate that he is "normal" by anyone's standards and the "Free Press" giving copy to this propaganda is shameful! - tha malcontent)

Over the years, King handed out gift certificates on Martin Luther King Day, started the rap label and explored plans for a book and a youth foundation. He lives in Pasadena, spending time with his three daughters and doing construction work. King lost about half his settlement money in disputes over legal bills. 

Those who hoped he would emerge as a civil rights figure or a force behind police reform have been disappointed.

(Some who had these hopes are currently praising King with a 10 year anniversary story... I am referring to the "Free Press" for those of you who don't know the difference between this thug and a true Civil Rights leader, Dr. King! - tha malcontent)

``I've thought about what an opportunity lost,'' said Milton Grimes, who was King's attorney from 1992 to 1994 and sued him over legal bills. 

``Racism and police brutality was captured on a $300 video camera. We've spent millions of dollars trying to prove it exists, and here we've captured it on tape. Had it been someone more worldly, more articulate, more insightful, the public might have benefited from it.''

(Had he not been a criminal who was violating the law and attacked officers after leading them on a high speed chase and brought it on himself, maybe the public would have benefited from that! Memo to the SHEEP in America: Rodney's passenger was BLACK. He received no beating. This was directly related to his NOT attacking the officers! As we come to the end of another fine piece of journalistic dung propagated by the "Free Press", let's all take a minute to remember the unjust beating of Reginald Denny, who as I predicted, would not be mentioned in this piece of AP tripe! - tha malcontent) 



� Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
(That depends on what the meaning of "may" is...
tha malcontent)


 

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