Rodney King was driving with two friends on March 3, 1991, when California Highway Patrol pulled him over. Several officers Tased and beat King while others stood by and watched. Four officers were charged with excessive use of force. But in April 1992, the officers were acquitted. The Rodney King verdict sent shock waves through South Central Los Angeles; adding fuel to the fire were the drug epidemic, gang violence, and systemic racism.
L.A. mayor Tom Bradley formed a commission to conduct “a full and fair examination of the structure and operation of the LAPD.” The commission called for immediate action, but very little changed.Though the 1992 uprising stemmed from poverty and systemic discrimination in addition to police brutality, more and more money went to the LAPD, while funding for schools, housing, and crucial social services continued to come in second. These trends continue today despite the calls for divestment in the wake of protests after the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Policing in America is not serving and protecting our communities of color, our LGBTQ sisters and brothers, our immigrant populations. It is time to divest from the police and put those resources into housing, health care, and education. We know what we have to do.
Use this comments section to ask any questions that you may have on these films, policing or racial justice in the U.S. We will answer those questions in a live-streamed event with Jeff Robinson and the ACLU’s policing experts.
And if you want to see more on the history of racism in policing, check out the rest of this series “100 Years of Racism in U.S. Policing" at this link:
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