Rodney King

Introduction Police officers, who were once referred to as peace keepers, are now more law enforcement officers. Police agencies around the United States seem to be stuck more on quotas and creating revenue for their county or city. Making many officers strive for many unnecessary arrests. Which as a following result has brought up a lot of tension between the police and their citizens. With increasing violence in cities and states; police officers methods have slowly become more aggressive, bringing

In May of 1992, actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith was commissioned to write a one-woman performance piece about the experiences, feelings, and tensions that contributed to and were exacerbated by the 1992 Los Angeles riots.[1] For her work, Smith interviewed over 200 residents of Los Angeles during the time of the riot. Her script consists entirely of the actual words of members of the Los Angeles community as they reflect on their experiences surrounding the Los Angeles riots. As Smith described

for minorities. In August of 1965, civil unrest broke out, which lead to six-day revolt called the Watts Riot. Nearly thirty years later another riot broke out which caused even greater damage and left an even greater impact in our history, the Rodney King Riots. Both of these events share similar qualities and devastating damages, however, their meanings are much harder to decipher from one another. These impactful events in our society demonstrate how much there needs to change in our society, especially

identified as Allen and Freddie Helms and driver Rodney King. The Helms brothers complied with officers commands and where apprehended with out incident. Rodney King on the other hand was rather difficult, by not listening to commands by officers and being comical. After a hassle of getting out of the vehicle, officers approached King in the prone with caution fearing he was on a known drug at the time called Phencyclidine (PCP), with a swarming tactic. King fought off the swarming tactic and

A father purchased a toy gun as a birthday gift for his young son. His son went outside to play and and encountered a police officer who shot him seven times. This incident occurred in Sonoma County in October 2013. A similar incident occurred in November 2014 when Cleveland police killed a 12-year-old boy carrying a toy gun. Use of excessive force by police is common in impoverished "black" or "brown" communities. The website, uslegal.com, defines police brutality as: Police brutality is a civil

King was then cuffed and arrested for Driving while under the influence (DUI) and fleeing for the police. This would have just been another incident between the Los Angeles police department and an uncooperative suspect if it were not for George Holliday

of an unarmed African-American male. The Rodney king riots were a complex scramble of cultures and lives that culminated in one of

him mercilessly with their batons to ultimately subdue King. This incident was taped by a man living nearby and the footage caused an uproar in the Los Angeles African-American community once it was released to the public. Long before this incident, there were many complaints in Los Angeles and many other cities across the country about racial profiling and abuse by police. After the acquittal of the four officers involved in the Rodney King beating, the worst single episode of urban unrest erupted

The Los Angeles Police Department has a reputation for using race as a basis to catch criminals. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for believing an individual is suspicious of committing a crime. Discriminatory or abusive behavior towards people of color affects the justice system and violates people’s human rights. The LAPD continues to use racial profiling against mostly African-Americans and Latinos. The use of racial profiling by the LAPD prevents the police from serving

"On March 3, 1991, Rodney King was the driver of a car in Los Angeles, California. The driver didn't stop when signaled by a police car behind him, but increased his speed. When police finally stopped the car, they delivered 56 baton blows and six kicks to King, in a period of two minutes, producing 11 skull fractures, brain damage, and kidney damage. Unaware that the incident had been videotaped, the police officers filed inaccurate reports, not mentioning the fact that Rodney King was left with head