The Shocking Story of Rodney King: Racial Equality in America?

Rodney King, an African American was brutally taken down by police because he was driving drunk, using unjustifiable amounts of force on him, which was videotaped by a neighbor. This historical event wasn’t necessarily interesting, (at least not in a positive way), but eye opening. I had heard about this in ninth grade, but before that, I was pretty oblivious to the lingering racial tension, even a small extent, due to the painted illusion of America really being a Utopia, perfection in a bottle after the racial struggles (and later victories) of the Civil Rights Movement. In the black community, this event justified their feelings of inferiority around the police, giving truth to the popular song by Chamillionaire called “Ridin’ Dirty”, saying that the police look for a reason to blame African Americans, and this notion seems true, due to many instances of similar events captured on tape. (I am not making this stereotype of all police officers and forces, but I cannot deny those who do have this immoral mentality). Instead of protesting against the police, though, they took it out on everyone, making others afraid of them, kind of going to Stokely Carmichael’s views, and reincarnating some of them, resorting to violence as one of their main actions. This cast a nail into the coexistence of all Americans, damaging the newly formed bridge linking this vast diversity. Who knows whether these feelings will ever be eliminated, but we will know for sure that there will always be that hole, the evidence that things, at one time in history, were not always perfect, sealing this infectious wound with an open-ended promise of equality, yet again.