Rodney King found dead

[Joe Hillshoist]

I seem to remember that lots of US cities were torn apart by riots when King's attackers were acquitted. That it wasn't just LA that rioted.

Does anyone else have an opinion or memories of other US cities rioting.

I also seem to remember that my Aunt and Uncle were in N America at the time, possibly in the US and that they knew nothing of the riots when they started. The riots weren't being reported in whatever place they were in. Although I honestly can't see how that was possible.

[82_28]

Holla, homeboy. . .

You are indeed right.

Klan Rally Sparks Violence at Denver King Celebration : Holiday: Protesters objecting to hate group's presence battle with police. Observances elsewhere are largely peaceful.

DENVER — Martin Luther King Day observances turned violent Monday when police, clad in riot gear, clashed with thousands of demonstrators protesting a Ku Klux Klan rally on the state capitol steps.

Three police officers were injured by rocks and bottles and at least five protesters were treated at Denver General Hospital, said police spokesman Det. Dave Metzler. Police said they arrested 21 people, including six juveniles.

The disturbances took place after one of the largest local celebrations of Martin Luther King Day. Earlier in the day, between 6,000 and 8,000 people paraded through east Denver. But trouble erupted when authorities tried to take participants in a klan rally away by bus.

Elsewhere, King day observances were more peaceful.

At a service in Atlanta, King's hometown, Winnie Mandela said South Africa's fight for freedom has "come full circle" from an armed struggle to King's nonviolent philosophy. And in Phoenix, up to 5,000 people--a smaller crowd than in previous years--turned out in the rain to march in support of a paid state holiday for King in Arizona, the only state without one, although New Hampshire's civil rights holiday does not honor King by name.

The Denver disturbance began near a side exit to the capitol as authorities were escorting participants in the klan rally from the scene. About 1,000 klan opponents began pelting officers with snowballs, bottles and even cans of snuff. Police, in gas masks and deployed in riot lines, responded by shooting tear gas canisters into the crowd.

Although several canisters were picked up and thrown back, officers were able to slowly drive the protesters down the street. At one point a small group attempted to turn an unoccupied police car onto its side, but quit when three more tear gas canisters were sent off.

Later, youths ran down a nearby shopping district and ransacked a Foot Locker sports clothing store, punching two store employees, the store manager said.

In all, police said, protesters damaged five police cars, overturning one. One police officer, who was hit in the chest with a snowball packed with a large rock, may have suffered a bruised heart and was hospitalized overnight for observation, police said.

Police Chief Jim Collier described the protesters as mostly youths who set out to spark a confrontation with the klan demonstrators.

Still, some felt the police overreacted.

"I think the police are really instigating it to some extent," said spectator Dave Kolko, 28. "I was standing up on the hill and the police just started pushing people back and gassing people."

Earlier, at a ceremony in front of a statue of King in City Park, Mayor Wellington Webb prayed for the klan members, calling them "misguided representatives of hatred and intolerance."

"Those who would spread evil and racial hatred . . . need our prayers," said Webb, Denver's first black mayor.

The klan's rally, following the parade, took place amid a heavy police presence on the state capitol steps. It drew about 100 white supremacists, including Thom Robb, national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. As Robb spoke, however, a police helicopter circled the capitol steps, making it impossible for his message to be heard by most of the King day participants.

Terming the holiday a "Day of Infamy for America," Robb called for a popular vote on whether the day should remain a national holiday.

As he and others spoke, some members of the King day crowd lobbed snowballs and other items at the speakers. Standing by was a force of more than 400 police officers, including 300 in riot gear.

The klan's rally took place after the group's right to gather was endorsed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and upheld by a federal judge. Earlier, two applications by the klan to rally at the capitol had been denied by Gov. Roy Romer.

In Atlanta, after the three-hour service at King's Ebenezer Baptist Church, Mandela, wife of African National Congress President Nelson Mandela, joined Coretta Scott King, King's widow, in leading a memorial parade.

A rally at the end of the Atlanta parade turned into a pep rally of opposition to President Bush, who visited the King Center on Friday.

"Don't vote for Bush," the crowd chanted.

Arizona's controversy also was mentioned in the Atlanta service. The keynote speaker, the Rev. James Alexander Forbes Jr. of New York's Riverside Church, denounced the rap group Public Enemy for its recent video portraying blacks assassinating white officials in Arizona.

"Don't go around suggesting destruction as a way to honor Dr. King," Forbes said.

And in Philadelphia, Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, a black Muslim sect that had differences with King, told about 16,000 people at the Philadelphia Civic Center that he had changed his opinion.

"As I look back at the life of Dr. King, I see Dr. King as a genuine American hero," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

http://articles.latimes.com/1992-01-21/ ... klan-rally

Just the first hit I found.

Even as just a kid, I could not believe this was happening in my western, mountain town of Denver at the time. A number of friends back then, skaters/punks/whatever literally turned to the dark side. They were summarily disowned by all friends they had. The K*K literally made some serious inroads in Denver back then. I still don't know how they did it. It was something akin to "missionaries". I think we fought it off back then pretty good --through shame and shunning and gossip, for being a 95% white sector of the city and just being kids. Parents, I don't recall were really "aware" back then. But what really is "awareness" anymore?

[82_28]

Furthermore, with a dude such as Rodney King die in his own swimming pool is also a major tell to foul play. How many motherfuckers die in their own pool every year? How many people, let alone black people even have pools? How many "famous" black people that "sparked" the "worst riots in US history" die in some pool 20 years later? Um, none. Um, maybe 2% of the American populace I would guestimate even have a pool in the first place -- no matter "race". Dude's got a pool. I guess it is SoCal.

He probably tainted a bunch of motherfucker's careers, just by dint of the existence of cameras and cars, to enable the filmer of the footage to take it down to the TV station. This was well before any kind of meme thought or having shit go "viral" via an "Internet".

Bear in mind, this around the OJ time, Ennis Cosby was murdered, Michael Jordan's dad murdered, Magic Johnson got the old AIDS amongst many others who were black, but also notable.

[8bitagent]

Anyone remember reading about several of Pvt Jessica Lynch's Lance company soldiers being killed all in 2003 after returning from Iraq and the "saving private jessica" debacle?


Marine Lance Cpl. Sok Khak Ung:

SAN BRUNO – Friends, family and military personnel gathered here yesterday to bid farewell to a decorated Marine from Camp Pendleton who was gunned down in Southern California not long after he returned from fighting in Iraq.

Marine Lance Cpl. Sok Khak Ung, 22, was buried with full military honors in Golden Gate National Cemetery, south of San Francisco.

"He never asked for anything back. His life was very purposeful," Ung's sister Tia Ung, 23, said through tears as she delivered a eulogy for her younger brother. "We'll never forget him. We will miss him very, very much."

A combat engineer from San Francisco, Ung was a member of the "diversion force" that helped rescue Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital in April.

Ung's unit attacked Iraqi soldiers while a special forces unit went into the hospital to rescue Lynch.

Later that month, Ung was hit by shrapnel from a land mine, wounds that earned him a Purple Heart.

Ung returned from Iraq in July and was stationed at Camp Pendleton, where he was set to complete his four years of military service on Friday.

He planned to return to San Francisco, where he grew up, and attend San Francisco State University in January.

But just 12 days before he was to be discharged from the military, Ung was killed at a party at his father's house in Long Beach. A gunman leaned over a wooden fence and fired into the garage, killing Ung and a friend.

The gunman fled and hasn't been caught. Long Beach police are investigating.

A gunman leans over his fence and shoots him? If that ain't classic black ops(or gang proxies for black ops) I don't know what is
http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/world ... arine.html

Army Spc. Kyle Edward Williams:

A Tucson man was shot to death outside a West Side hotel Wednesday after breaking into a vehicle and being confronted by its owner, an Army soldier, who shot him in the back and fled, police said Friday.

The soldier, Spc. Kyle Edward Williams, 21, was found dead outside San Diego on Thursday and officials believe he committed suicide with one of the seven firearms he had been carrying with him.

He left no note to explain the suicide or why he fired six shots at Noah P. Gamez, also 21, after spotting the man stealing an ice chest from his Jeep.

Marine Josh Daniel Speer

A Tucson man was shot to death outside a West Side hotel Wednesday after breaking into a vehicle and being confronted by its owner, an Army soldier, who shot him in the back and fled, police said Friday.

The soldier, Spc. Kyle Edward Williams, 21, was found dead outside San Diego on Thursday and officials believe he committed suicide with one of the seven firearms he had been carrying with him.

He left no note to explain the suicide or why he fired six shots at Noah P. Gamez, also 21, after spotting the man stealing an ice chest from his Jeep.

There may be others who were accidented/suicided/"randomly" shot.

Always the M.O. for black ops/proxies to take someone out in what first appears to be a random shooting/botched robbery/assault, besides the cliche suicided/accidented.


Now Im not saying Rodney King's death was a hit, though it's possible that indeed some racist LA cop fraternity wanted him dead. If you remember, Rodney King was all over the news giving interviews recently for the 20th annv of the LA riots.

[8bitagent]

Furthermore, with a dude such as Rodney King die in his own swimming pool is also a major tell to foul play. How many motherfuckers die in their own pool every year? How many people, let alone black people even have pools? How many "famous" black people that "sparked" the "worst riots in US history" die in some pool 20 years later? Um, none. Um, maybe 2% of the American populace I would guestimate even have a pool in the first place -- no matter "race". Dude's got a pool. I guess it is SoCal.

He probably tainted a bunch of motherfucker's careers, just by dint of the existence of cameras and cars, to enable the filmer of the footage to take it down to the TV station. This was well before any kind of meme thought or having shit go "viral" via an "Internet".

Bear in mind, this around the OJ time, Ennis Cosby was murdered, Michael Jordan's dad murdered, Magic Johnson got the old AIDS amongst many others who were black, but also notable.

If he was killed as a result of foul play, then his story could not be more tragic. He didn't ask to get beat up, nor have it filmed and go pre internet viral. I can imagine his heart utterly sank and he was devastated to learn the trial involving his attack destroyed so many lives and ruined large swaths of people's livelihoods. The cops could not have pulled out and beaten a more gentle hearted kind man in terms of the face that became of the trial and subsequent riots.

The OJ case is still perplexing. I still believe it was a bigger story than 9/11, just in that the media couldnt stop talking about it for three freaking years straight. That twilight *right* before the internet went mainstream was a very odd time, indeed.

If we look at the black experience in the 1990's through the lens of the news media or selected stories, you have:

- 1990: Nelson Mandella freed, goes to speak at UN
- 1991: Joint Chief Chairman General Colin Powel becomes the most powerful African American up to that time
- 1991: The Clarence Thomas debacle
- 1991: Magic Johnson reveals he has AIDS
- 1991/1992: Rodney King saga and the LA riots(where black inner city citizens were painted as animals)
- 1993: The most famous black person of all time, Michael Jackson, is accused of sexually abusing children and his spiral into true hell began
- 1993: The second most famous black person in the world, Michael Jordan, is devastated when he gets wind some young hoodlums had killed his father
- 1993: A black man named Colin Ferguson goes on a shooting spree on the L.I.E, killing six people. He later tries to subpoena Bill Clinton and claims being a CIA mind control assassin
- 1993: A neo Nazi skinhead group in LA is caught plotting a race war; they wanted to blow up a black church on Sunday and kill several famous African Americans
- 1995: While not covered, it's worth mentioning celebrated OKC cop/whistleblower Terrence Yeakey is found beaten/stabbed/shot...yet its ruled a "suicide"
- 1994: The OJ Simpson saga
- 1997: Bill Cosby's son is shot in LA
- 1997: The third most famous black person of that time period, Mike Tyson creates a riot in Las Vegas and creates a firestorm after biting off a portion of
defending Heavyweight Champ Evander Holyfield's ear off
- 1997: Tiger Woods becomes not just the most famous golfer, but a world wide sensation

[DrVolin]

The 7777 days in itself is not freaky. It becomes freaky when you combine it with the fact that he was beaten on 3/3 1991. For heavy syncrho fans, his mother's name was Odessa.

[Simulist]

[I think I answered my own question. Post removed.]

[8bitagent]

Rodney King looked and seemed so vibrant and really well in his recent interviews on tv, as much as he had had a long battle with addiction and the fallout of being thrust into an ugly spotlight.
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news ... /#47866896

I can believe he died of his own toxic brew, in such an ultimately sad and undeserving unceremonious way...but I can also imagine, there were many in the LA spookery who are celebrating his passing.

[Twyla LaSarc]

Personally I'm betting on a declaration of 'Death by Misadventure' or the equivalent.

[lupercal]

Holla, homeboy. . .You are indeed right.Klan Rally Sparks Violence at Denver King Celebration : Holiday: Protesters objecting to hate group's presence battle with police. Observances elsewhere are largely peaceful.

You know in all these years I never thought about that particular KWH, although I happened to be in LA at the time of the Rodney riots and thought they were eerily stage-managed so as to resemble the 1965 Watts riots, only this time, with cameras pointed at burning buildings before they started burning: "and let's see, is that a curl of smoke coming from under the eaves, no it appears to be a telephone wire, oh look, are those sparks coming from that window, yes, yes, bring the camera in closer, there appears to be a spark, no, just a reflection" and so on until half an hour later the supermarket was finally "fully involved." Where were the firetrucks? Where were the cops? I forget the story but they were unavailable for some cockamamie reason. Anyway Rodney the Riot was definitely, absofreakin'lutely LIHOP if not MIHOP.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Holla, homeboy. . .You are indeed right.Klan Rally Sparks Violence at Denver King Celebration : Holiday: Protesters objecting to hate group's presence battle with police. Observances elsewhere are largely peaceful.

You know in all these years I never thought about that particular KWH, although I happened to be in LA at the time of the Rodney riots and thought they were eerily stage-managed so as to resemble the 1965 Watts riots, only this time, with cameras pointed at burning buildings before they started burning: "and let's see, is that a curl of smoke coming from under the eaves, no it appears to be a telephone wire, oh look, are those sparks coming from that window, yes, yes, bring the camera in closer, there appears to be a spark, no, just a reflection" and so on until half an hour later the supermarket was finally "fully involved." Where were the firetrucks? Where were the cops? I forget the story but they were unavailable for some cockamamie reason. Anyway Rodney the Riot was definitely, absofreakin'lutely LIHOP if not MIHOP.

More like CSIOP as in couldn't stop it.

I dunno what colour your skin is Lupercal, but mine is dark, and I have a bit of history with cops and brutality. Yet even in this country we heard how bad cops were if you were busted being in public while black. Are you suggesting for a minute that there was a chance of not having a riot when those cops got off? Cos there wasn't. So I spose finding them not guilty was a form of MIHOP. Cos it certainly sent a message, and a riot is the only appropriate response to that sort of message.

I dunno if you know this, but allegedly the day before the riot the Bloods and Crips declared a truce after years of war and behind the scenes negotiations. That alone could have been reason to provoke a riot imo, and I'll bet the cops were shitting themselves when they first heard that truce had been called.

At one point during the riots I seem to remember representatives from both gangs declaring open season on cops and national guard.

Anyway back to your point. Yes the not guilty verdict was definitely MIHOP. You didn't need anything else.

[lupercal]

I dunno if you know this, but allegedly the day before the riot the Bloods and Crips declared a truce after years of war and behind the scenes negotiations. That alone could have been reason to provoke a riot imo, and I'll bet the cops were shitting themselves when they first heard that truce had been called.

That would not surprise me. Interestingly enough it appears the truce held, according to this reasonably reliable local public radio reporter:

The day before the [April 28] riots, black street gangs in Watts declared a truce in a bloody war that had killed hundreds of young men. It was an extraordinary moment in the city’s history. . . . Sure enough, Watts gang crime fell the next year. . . . For years, the gang truce held. There's debate about when it ended. [Aqeela] Sherrills said it lasted a good 10 years before fading away. http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/04/28/322 ... -big-news/

Sherrills also says it was negotiated among the gangs without help from the LAPD and that gang members felt the LAPD tried to undermine and later co-opt it. So MIHOP on that account seems a reasonable hypothesis.

At one point during the riots I seem to remember representatives from both gangs declaring open season on cops and national guard.

Yes I remember hearing that from the same source (channel 9, newly purchased by Disney at the time, with a new CNN-style local news format) with the pre-positioned cameras.

Anyway back to your point. Yes the not guilty verdict was definitely MIHOP. You didn't need anything else.

You needed to get the cops and security guys and firetrucks out of there, and you needed to get the camera trucks into place, not to mention launch a local news channel to broadcast continuous live coverage.

p.s. the NPR obits I happened to catch yesterday were unbelievably harsh, and he's still taking heat for "can't we all just get along." Go figure.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Yes I remember hearing that from the same source (channel 9, newly purchased by Disney at the time, with a new CNN-style local news format) with the pre-positioned cameras.

Yeah they held a press conference about it. Thats reasonable given their position, And a natural choice for a local news station. It doesn't have to be part of any set up.

Anyway back to your point. Yes the not guilty verdict was definitely MIHOP. You didn't need anything else.

You needed to get the cops and security guys and firetrucks out of there, and you needed to get the camera trucks into place, not to mention launch a local news channel to broadcast continuous live coverage.

p.s. the NPR obits I happened to catch yesterday were unbelievably harsh, and he's still taking heat for "can't we all just get along." Go figure.

Some thing on Australian television was actually praising him for that comment and the fact that even LAPD cops reckoned he'd be remembered for that in 100 years. I can't believe that saying is a joke given the circumstances.

But I don't think you need to get the cops and security guards and fire crews out of there. i think people have an unrealistic expectation of what fire crews can do in a riot or earthquake or some similar situation where TSHTF. And cops were facing an armed angry population that outnumbered them possible 100 to 1 or more. Sending cops (and security guards, who are shithouse or failed cops) into a situation like that is probably sending them to their deaths. There might have been enough police to hold their local cop shops but that'd probably be it. If I was a cop (as if) I'd either be at home or holed up in my cop shop with lots of weapons till the riot lost some steam.

I think its enough to have a basic miscarriage of justice in full public view, with enough people who are angry enough to start a riot when they are reminded yet again that society in general thinks they are worthless. I think LA in the early 90s fitted that description to a tee. (Not that I was there of course.)

[Laodicean]

[conniption]

"Can we all get along?"

No.

*

mphbooks

June 18, 2012

RIP: Rodney King

by Dennis Johnson


Rodney King (1965-2012)

Just weeks after publishing a memoir called The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption, Rodney King, famous for being beaten savagely by a group of Los Angeles policeman, has died.

According to a New York Times report by Jennifer Medina,

The police in Rialto, 50 miles east of Los Angeles, said they received a 911 call at 5:25 a.m. Sunday from [his fiancee] Ms. Kelley, who reported finding him in the pool that Mr. King had built himself, inscribing the date of his beating and the start of the riots in two tiles. Emergency personnel tried to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital at 6:11 a.m.

Capt. Randy De Anda said that Mr. King had been at the pool throughout the early morning and had been talking to Ms. Kelley, who was in the house at the time. Neighbors reported hearing music, talking and crying before hearing a splash.

Foul play is not suspected; that last bit about crying may tell the story. Because King’s struggles were many and heartbreaking, especially after his beating at the hands of LA’s finest. He had trouble kicking drugs and booze, he couldn’t find work, and there were numerous more arrests, even as he was expected to be a spokesman for better race relations. As the Times notes in its report, King wrote in his book that “he had once blamed politicians and lawyers ‘for taking a battered and confused addict and trying to make him into a symbol for civil rights.’”

The most memorable instance of that expectation, of course, was when he was paraded out for a press conference amidst the explosive LA Riots — which broke out when an all-white jury found the four white cops video-taped beating King innocent — and all the visibly quaking King could think of to say was the hauntingly eloquent, “Can we all just get along?”

At the end, King said all he had was the money from his book advance. He’d won a civil suit against the city that resulted in his being awarded $3.8 million, but much of that went to legal fees, although he did buy a house with a pool … and he claimed that, while he still drank and did drugs, he was making progress. “I realize I will always be the poster child for police brutality,” he wrote in his book, “but I can try to use that as a positive force for healing and restraint.”

A recent interview with the Guardian, given when his book tour took him to London, certainly made it seem he was nowhere near healed yet, but one can hope his book’s subtitle was something more than heartfelt sentiment to him.

And maybe he would have been pleased to hear the statement issued by LA’s police chief, Charlie Beck, as per a Los Angeles Times report:

“Rodney King has a unique spot in both the history of Los Angeles and the LAPD. What happened on that cool March night over two decades ago forever changed me and the organization I love. His legacy should not be the struggles and troubles of his personal life but the immensely positive change his existence wrought on this city and its Police Department.”

Rodney King was 47.

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.

*


Amazon

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C-Span Video -Book Discussion on The Riot Within: My Journey From Rebellion to Redemption
Apr 24, 2012


*

RODNEY KING BOOK SIGNING LEIMERT PARK MAY 1 2012 RIP

14;51
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FME7EK5wXgw

*

tmz
Rodney King on Trayvon Martin
Thank God My Attack
Was Caught on Tape