On Point | Podcast

First Person: Reflections On Rodney King's Legacy Through The Eyes Of His Daughter

04.16.2021 - By WBURPlay

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Nearly 30 years before the video of George Floyd's death sparked protests across the nation, there was another video. It captured a brutal police beating of a man named Rodney King.

In March 1991, a local resident filmed a group of Los Angeles police officers beating King with batons. The video went on Los Angeles television and then around the world. Four Los Angeles police officers were eventually tried and acquitted in 1992. Los Angeles erupted in riots.

The entire sequence of events, from the night of the beating, to the trial and then the riots, helped shape the nation's understanding of police violence. The events also shaped the life of Lora King, Rodney King's middle daughter.

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