Thirty years after Rodney King, is Floyd reform bill enough?

On March 3, 1991, Rodney King, a Black man, was thrust into the limelight when four White Los Angeles police officers severely beat him. Videotape of him struck with batons and lying on the ground injured was shown nationwide.

After King was released from the hospital, he spoke to reporters from his wheelchair, bearing the injuries of someone who had recently suffered physical abuse. Many across the country, especially Black Americans, believed we would finally see justice served — until the breaking news.

An all-White jury acquitted three of the officers involved. Jurors also failed to reach a verdict on one charge for the fourth. The ruling triggered one of the most horrific race riots in Los Angeles history.

Racial tension also skyrocketed across the country, prompting King to go on camera and ask, “Can we all get along?” I dreaded going to work, knowing my White coworkers wouldn’t know what to say to me or how to react. They had also seen the video. I was right.

After the brutal assault, many people wrote and spoke about King. He had become the poster child of police brutality and racial inequality, which I can only imagine retraumatized him. Some had said King was the least likely to have been chosen to be a spokesperson for police brutality or civil rights. Others believed King entered history, alongside other historical figures, by accident. After all, he was not seeking notoriety or marching for change. He was an unemployed construction worker who had brushes with the law and battled alcohol addiction.

The night of the beating,

King had been speeding and was trying to outrun police when they signaled him to pull over. He had been drinking and was on parole. None of his past behaviors or actions that night warranted a brutal beating.

In 2012, King penned his memoir, “The Riot Within. My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption.” His goal was to leave a piece of history to his three children and make a difference. Through the years, every mistake King had made — his flaws and his weaknesses — were made public. That same year, three months after the 20th anniversary of the L.A. riots, King, 47, died.

He lived to witness many positive changes within the Los Angeles police department. However, challenges remain. Since King’s death and before, many incidents of police brutalities have occurred across the nation. We witnessed the death of George Floyd in 2020, once again spotlighting police brutality and structural racism in this country.

Admitting we have severe issues in our criminal justice system does not demonize responsible law enforcement officers. Yet we must address families and communities that have been torn apart because of the misconduct of law enforcement officers. Generations have suffered irreparable damage.

Last week, House lawmakers passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The police reform bill would ban chokeholds, no-knock warrants, mandate data collection on police encounters, and prohibit racial and religious profiling. The bill would also eliminate qualified immunity and redirect funding to communitybased policing programs.

In a statement, Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., said, “Never again should an unarmed individual be murdered or brutalized by someone who is supposed to serve and protect us. Never again should the world witness what we saw happen to George Floyd in the streets in Minnesota.”

The police reform bill is another step forward, but will this one go far enough? The question continues to be discussed and debated among a group of concerned Americans that would probably include Rodney King were he alive.

The question Continues to be debAted Among A group of ConCerned AmeriCAns thAt would probAbly inClude todney Iing were he alive.