Acquittal in Rodney King beating sparks riots across the nation
When Los Angeles police officers were caught on video beating Rodney King, most expected the courts to punish them.
Their acquittal (18 years ago today) on charges of using excessive force as they hit Rodney King repeatedly with batons as he lay on the ground shocked people across the city, state, nation and world.
What came next renewed the shock, though may not have been a surprise: Riots in Los Angeles that spread to major cities across the country.
After three days, the riots began to subside, but the Los Angeles unrest went into the history books as the most deadly and violent riots in American history.
But in the midst of it all, the man whose beating started an American conversation on race, asked, simply, “Can we all get along?” The phrase has become cliche now, but at the time it was poignant, pleading.
