Can't we all just get along?

If I remember correctly, the riots started on a Thursday. I think it coincided with the final Cosby Show and I seem to remember Cosby making some kind of plea to viewers to behave or something like that.

 

I was finished with Cosby by that point but I think 90210 had a "very special" episode that was riot based. You know, where Brandon was the do gooder, Mr. Walsh was telling him to but out and Kelly slept with an older guy.

 

I also think it cemented "Reginald Denny" as a charter member of the Reggie Cleveland All Stars, before they even existed.

 

4/29/92 was a Wednesday.

 

On a college campus far away -- state university but pretty heavily white -- I was struck by how uninformed a lot of the protesters were. We had a very Greek campus that had gone through a few racially charged incidents in the recent past and had a fairly well-established history of exclusion, but all the houses came out for this march. The visual I most remember is ... you know the "No Justice No Peace" chant? I remember a sorority girl marching down the street leading her sisters in a "No Justice For King" chant. I guess it was too far gone for anyone to correct them. And then the student senate VP -- also white -- apologized to the crowd for "my inherent racism" and suggested everyone else think about their own inherent racism.

The Gulf War protests never really caught on because most of the country, even on college campuses, was behind that. So this was the first time I had seen protests as cause celebre.

 

Will they riot in Kingsburg if Tyler Bray loses the Heisman next season?

 

Correction, BYM2: It seems all the rage (no pun here) to be able to riot in the streets when your team WINS!!! It's just as stupid.

 

King has co-written a book about the experience, and appeared on a couple talk shows.

From KABC-TV's website: "King co-wrote a book entitled "The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption," with Lawrence Spagnola. It chronicles his life before, during and since the now-infamous videotaped beating in 1991 that cemented his place in history."

I hope he made enough $$$$ to not have to help us recount the whole thing for another few years. I am not saying what happened to him is right, but he is one of those so-called "polarizing figures" we need to see and hear less about or from (i.e. Tebow, Palin, O'Donnell). I would want to hear about how Reg. Dennie's life has changed, too, though. His beating was covered live. He was no saint, either, but I would be curious.

But Rodney King? Naaaah.

 

The majority of people arrested during the L. A. riots were Mexican/Central/South American immigrants.

 

Still get tremors watching Rodney King get his ass beat and Reginald Denny going to sleep via a brick wasn't cool at all.
I wish we could all just get along.

 

www.theroot.com/views/20-years-after-la-rioted-change-questions

 

www.thenation.com/blog/167630/want-understand-1992-la-riots-start-1984-la-olympics