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CAN"T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG ? ! Remembering Rodney

  RODNEY KING (1965 -2012) DIES IN LOS ANGELES  

CAN"T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG ? ! Remembering Rodney by Linda Lee

We stopped for a moment of silence to remember Rodney Glen King who became well known after being the victim of an incident of police brutality involving the Los Angeles Police Department  on March 3, 1991. Those of us who lived through the incident will always remember the Los Angeles Riots of 1992.
Me, personally, I once did a TERM PAPER on CAUSE AND EFFECT in college about what happened to Mr. King on that fateful day... It just so happened I was working on an exhibit in Orange County at the time, and when I found myself with the day off, I decided to pack my shades and head to  Huntington Beach for the day. . . Around mid morning I remember thinking the smog over the city was lookin pretty bad... 

As the day progressed the sky turned black. At the beach, I generally tuned out of everything and don't think I even had a cell phone back then. By the time I went back and saw the news it was ON.  I called some friends and associates back in LA and I was told There's Lootin' and Smashin' going on and don't even think of driving back up tonight.

Later, the guys were still at the the Photo Studio (around the Hollywood Freeway and around Gower.) 

"We are going up on the roof  (with our guns) right about now. It's total anarchy out there." was the response. The sky was black and I could smell the smoke way down in Orange County.  I think the guys continued to be stuck for the whole three days or so, holding down the studio as folks on the streets rolled around with new color TVS, boom boxes and the like bulging out of overstuffed shopping carts, screeching around the streets paying no mind to the law. Sirens blazed everywhere, alarms went off in harmony and all around the sounds of smashing glass and explosions could be heard...

Me, personally, well, I got a few more days off down Huntington Beach way. I recall sipping on a Smoothie and munching  a fatburger,  headphones on staring lazily at the beach while occasionally  looking up at the black cloud that billowed up over Los Angeles. The next couple days, I was either on the beach, or driving here and there around Beach Blvd. in what seemed to be kind of a weird little dream. Things in the city were at a halt.

Everyone was talking about the Riots and Rodney King. It's amazing how a simple twist of fate made Rodney the center of this thing. A bystander, George Holliday, saw the beating and videotaped much of the incident from a distance. Today, it would have gone viral instantly. Mr Holliday was ahead of his time as a witness with a camera.

I was sorry to hear that Rodney was found dead in the pool last week. Always kinda liked the guy. I will never forget Rodney, tearfully " Can't we all just get along? "