I remember when I watched the Rodney King beating for the first time. The disturbing footage played on my mother’s box television set as we watched the evening news during dinner. Mom had made fried chicken with some box mashed potatoes and corn that I mixed together. I remember this because after the footage was over I was sick to my stomach and couldn’t eat so the next day we had left overs.
DETAILS: Rodney King Has Died, Was There Foul Play Involved?
I grew up in New Jersey, in a place that didn’t have much racism. It wasn’t the dirty south where blacks were forced to deal with the the lingering effects of segregation and the civil rights era even in the late 80s and early 90s.
I didn’t grow up in Texas in 1862 where blacks were kept as slaves for over three years until that day in June when someone decided to tell the folks in Texas that slavery had ended in 1863.
No, I didn’t have it that bad. I didn’t have it as bad as people in Los Angeles who were routinely arrested for no reason before being taken into a back alley beaten until an inch of their lives by cops who swore a vow to protect and serve. There is an ugly truth about the Rodney King beating. It wasn’t an isolated incident it was common practice.
So now in the wake of Mr. King’s death, people want to remember the riots. The riots that were categorized as people who robbed and looted their own communities in the face of a tragedy. Well that’s nonsense. People rioted because of an injustice as four L.A. cops walked free on a crime that was caught on camera. We saw the video tape footage.
PHOTOS: Rodney King Dead At 47
The people rose up! They said to the world if there are no rules, no laws and no punishments then we can do whatever we want. We can talk from the people who are exploiting us. I was only a young boy, but I remember the Rodney King beating and riots like it was yesterday. Every news agency reported it as a black problem, but it was so much more than that. There is a reason that over two thousand people got injured and 53 people lost their lives that day, we just need to start paying attention to that reason.
It’s the reason a young unarmed Trayvon Martin was shot and killed and no arrest was made at first.
It’s the reason black boys are going to jail in New York City for stupid stop and frisk laws.
It’s the reason Sean Bell, Diallo, and countless others have lost their lives in today’s America.
We must end racial injustice NOW.
For our children, for our country, for a better tomorrow and a million other reasons that we know deep down in our souls. We have the ability to make this world a better place we just have to stand for more, fall for nothing and demand respect!
Those done unjustly should not die in vain.
~ Blog Xilla Follow Me On Twitter
Xilla is the Sr. Entertainment Editor for GlobalGrind.com as well as CEO of the number 1 relationship blog BlogXilla.com/M2TB.com. He has been featured in XXL, The Source, Essence, LA Times and is considered one of the premiere bloggers in the industry. Follow him on twitter @BlogXilla
