Page 8 The Broncos' Voice
RODNEY
KING
SECTION
ON BLAME AND
VIOLENCE
by Barbara Beebe.
On April 29, 1992, twelve anony
mous people unanimously voted that the 4
white police officers who beat Rodney
King were not guilty of excessive force.
To the contrary, the defense attorney was
able to convince these 12 people that
Rodney King was resisting arrest and be
cause 12+ armed, white police officers
feared for their lives, the amount of force
utilized was not excessive, but within
bounds of what was necessary.
Upon hearing the verdict, I immedi
ately thought of George Orwell’s ever-
appropriate 1984. One of the few books I
read diligently every year, Orwell’s de
scriptions of the possible future are no
longer just possible - they are here.
Orwell, with great care and precision,
described the principles of INGSOC and
the basis of Big Brother’s power - the
control of reality and history. Orwell in
troduced the concept of doublethink, which
was the ability to skew all perceptions of
language. For example, the platform of
Big Brother’s Ministry of Truth was “war
is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is
strength.”This contradiction in terms con
fuses the citizens. It makes us distrust our
senses. Soon, we find ourselves waiting
for the government to tell us what to see,
think, feel.
The jury would have us believe we did
not see what we saw. The jury would have
us question our own eyes. This tampering
of reality presents dangerous consequences
for the future of America’s psyche. And
those poor residents of Los Angeles - 20
years of therapy will not help them.
THE BLAME
Only the most inexperienced in social
sciences would blame ‘racism’ for the
brutality and subsequent verdict that be
fell Rodney King. Institutional racism is
perpetrated not only as a cloud of evil but
by powerful individuals as well. There are
people, with names and positions, that
must be held accountable for the brutality
and verdict.
The fu-st in the list of blame is surely
Mayor Tom Bradley. Like any other poli
tician, Bradley was overly concerned with
keeping the monied vote of the white,
middle class citizens of Los Angeles. The
second largest city in the United States is
also one filled with various ethnic groups
that, due to their class position, did not
have a voice in the policies of the city.
May, 1992
Tom Bradley was well aware of the many
complaints of brutality and mistreatment
levied against the LAPD and did nothing
to remove Police Chief Darryl Gates from
office. Now, it is too late. The damage has
been done. Hundreds have been brutalized
and murdered by the LAPD and Darryl
Gates will retire next month, secure with
his pension and his racism.
Running a close second is, of course.
Police Chief Darryl Gates. The same man
who believed all drug users should be put
in prison or shot, is the same man President
Bush declared to be an outstanding police
chief. Gates term as police chief has left,
in its wake, a police force which is com
prised of an overwhelming number of
white males who feel no sense of humanity
or duty to the multi-racial population of
greater Los Angeles. Hell, most of the
police officers do not live in Los Angeles.
They come to the city (prison) to guard
over / boss around the populace (animals)
then they retreat to their neighborhoods
(white enclaves) with their families (real,
white people). This is what Darryl Gates
has given the world. He has done a great
disservice to law enforcement because he
has imbued in his officers the opinion that
they are not only law enforcement but
judges as well.
Beyond these 2 men, there are the
officers themselves. Officers Powell,
Wind, Koon and Briseno simply got caught.
Remember, plenty of other officers stood
by and watched their lawlessness occur.
These officers are just as guilty. Their duty
is to uphold the law at all times, but when
their fellow officers engaged in their bru
tal lawlessness, they did nothing. Worse
yet, they stood and watched and in essence
became a silent cheerJeading squad for
their fellow officers.
The trial itself, and all those involved
in its fruition, is to blame. The trial was
moved from multicultural, multifaceted
Los Angeles County to the predominantly
white, officer retirement community of
Ventura County. Surely, someone had to
see this as a nail in the coffm of justice. But
wait, it gets worse. Somewhere along the
line, the judge decided that he would
select the jurors. And what a fine selec
tion, indeed. Ten whites, one Latino, and
one Asian were selected to decide whether
4 white men beating a black man (and
breaking his leg and facial bones) were
guilty of excessive force.
The next in line is none other than
King’s legal representation, prosecutor
Steve Lerman. I cannot image why his
attorney decided not to bring King to court
or let him take the stand. His legal neglect
gave King a snowballs’ chance in hell of
winning. The comt room was filled with
police officers, their families and fnends.
Steve Lerman’s grave mistake will go
down in the annals of legal history as the
mistake that paved the way for lawless
ness.
THE VIOLENCE
A RIOT IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE
UNHEARD - Martin Luther King, Jr.
More than the blatant injustice heaped
upon Rodney King (not once, but twice)
people are concerned with the level and
degree of violence that erupted after the
verdict. In Los Angeles, it took 2 hours for
the verdict to sweep through the commu
nities. Then came the media. The riots and
violence that sprang up across the nation
and globe were like the aftershocks of
California’s notorious quakes - no one
knew when or where they would occur and
no one could image the damage they would
do.
George Bush, who until Saturday
morning had not mentionedRodney King ’ s
name or the verdict, was quick to call for
an end to the violence. Bush informed the
nation that “no one should rationalize the
violence.” He followed this misguided
statement and intoned, “I wUl use what
ever force is necessary to restore order.”
It is this lack of understanding which
has puzzled me since Thursday. Many of
the people who understand the violence
(an overwhelming number of whom are
black) do not wish for it to continue. When
CNN’s entertainment crew interviewed
Blair Underwood (also a victim of police
brutality - when he was stopped for a
speeding ticket, an LAPD officer put a
loaded gun to his head) he promptly stated,
“I’m pissed off and it’s not just me. I
understand the violence, but it’s got to
stop.”
However, it is the lack, inability, un
willingness of the powers that be to under
stand the violence that in the long run will
prove to be the smoking gun of racism.
“People may be justified for being angry.
but there is no justification for the rioting
and destruction of property .’’So saidPatrick
Buchanan, the ultra-right wing politician
who thought he could be president of this
multifaceted society.
The fact that Buchanan believes that
“maybe” people have a justification for
being angry is, in itself, the most telling
thing about Buchanan’s racism. It also
goes back to the ‘you-didn’t-see-what-
you-saw’ mentality. Bush, Buchanan and
many others would have us believe there
are some missing pieces that if we just saw
them/understood them, would make us
change our minds about King’s beating.
However, it is here that they are wrong.
In its totality, the King beating is more
than brutality - it is the manifestation of
racism imbued in the white officers of the
LAPD. The taped conversations from their
car radios and the testimony of hospital
personnel who treated King’s wounds re
veal racism at an institutional and personal
level that was regarded as normal police
procedure.
The inhumane and brutal language
used to describe King to the jury was, as
Rep. Maxine Waters concluded, “enough
to lead the jury to believe (that)...this man
was less than human and he got what he
deserved.”
Bush’s call for order is, in itself, an
indication of his failure to understand the
nation he nominally leads. Benjamin
Hooks, head of the NAACP who also
Quotes from the Major Media
ANONYMOUS WHITE RESIDENT OF LOS ANGELES: ‘They’re killing our
cops.”
GEORGE BUSH: “We know there is a cycle of poverty. If the svstem is causing the
problem, then we have to change the system. But, we cannot condone violence as a
way of changing the system.”
REP. LUCIEN BLACKWELL, (D-PA): “This is about four policemen who broke
the law.”
REP. EDOLPHUS TOWNS, (D-NY, chairman of National Black Caucus): “When
police officers... inflict violence... on the people... it is our imperative... to stand
up.”
REP. ESTEBAN TORRES, (D-CA, chairman of National Hispanic Caucus): “It is
a shameful day in my state, California . . . the criminal justice system has failed
Rodney King. The anarchy is symptomatic of a people unable to cope with a pohce
department that’s turned on them.”
ANONYMOUS FEMALE JUROR: “He [King] was in control of the situation. He
was not writhing in pain. He gave every indication of being on PCP. I don’t know how
anyone could come down with anything else.”
ANONYMOUS SAN FRANCISCAN: “It’s the kind of verdict that makes you hate
America.”
PROTEST SIGN SEEN IN SAN FRANCISCO: “Power to the people, not the pigs.”
JAMIAN RASKIN, Professor at American University School of Law: “I believe
there was a thirteenth juror — and it was racism.”
REP. DON EDWARDS, (D-CA): ‘This was a Jim Crow prosecution.”
REP. MAXINE WATERS, (D-CA): “I encourage protest We must tell people to stop
the violence, but I encourage protest.
MAYNARD JACKSON, Mayor of Atlanta: ‘This justifiable anger is being
expressed illegally. It is thoughtless violence and destruction.”
PETER BART, Editor of Variety Magazine: “It’s high-tech coverage that leaves
people distanced from reality, because there is no analysis. But it’s a great TV story.”