Filed under: Interviews, News
![Don Lemon Interviews Rodney King]()
On March 3, 1991, Rodney King was just someone driving too fast, after enjoying too much good cheer with his friends. Stacey Coon, Lawrence Powell, Ted Briseno, Tim Wynn and Rolando Solano were just LAPD cops. George Holliday was just somebody trying out his new-fangled video camera. Then came a car chase on the Foothills Freeway in Los Angeles. By March 4, 1991, all of these people became symbols of America's modern failure to confront its ugliest goblin -- racism.
CNN reporter Don Lemon writes the first draft of this troubled history with his documentary 'Race and Rage - The Beating of Rodney King,' debuting Friday, March 4 at 8:00p.m. ET and PT on CNN. CNN is the only major U.S. news outlet to interview King on the 20th anniversary of his assault by LAPD officers.
I had a chance to speak with Don Lemon on the afternoon before his documentary would air. Speaking from CNN's Atlanta headquarters, Lemon affirmed the conflict inherent in remaining a dispassionate reporter examining King's beating, the Simi Valley jury acquittal and the riot of 1992, while being a black man in America. He wants audiences to draw their own conclusions from the documentary. Yet Lemon also states that anyone, black or white, could understand the outrage.
"When you look at the [Holliday] video and see someone unarmed, surrounded and beaten so severely, you have to ask: Does anyone deserve that? Well, the jury in the first trial said yes." The verdict thus "catalyzed" forces already lurking in Los Angeles: frustration over a police department deemed by minorities to be racist and out of control, and blacks and whites existing "in two totally different worlds." While Lemon decries the riot as both unjustifiable and self-destructive, he says such a massive lashing out was not surprising given the collective pain of the black community.
Reginald Denny, the white truck driver who was beaten by criminals on camera in footage that rivals George Holliday's tape in impact, became the symbol for the ugly side of that pain. Lemon points out, however, out that that people of all races and ethnic groups, not just black folks, were looting and destroying property. Nevertheless , the story comes back to King, and our continued inability "to talk about race."
Like Denny, Rodney King struggles to leave the past behind. That's difficult, Lemon admits, given the iconic nature of the Holliday video for blacks and whites alike. The video clearly was the genesis of the citizen journalism trend that, twenty years later, has exploded through social media worldwide. Lemon also admits that King has become another metaphor -- that of our imperfect recovery from the video and the riot. "Rodney King is human," he says, noting the victim's continued issues with drugs, alcohol and family problems. But with regard to what happened on the Foothills Freeway, however, "[King's] always admitted he should have stopped his car."
http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=989174&pid=989173&uts=1299284245
http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf
Blacks in the News
Nurse Rowena Lamont holds the foot of a three-day-old premature baby, born at 6 months, at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, New Jersey. (David Bergeland/The Record/MCT)
MCT
The Record
BlackVoices.com
Blacks in the News
Nurse Rowena Lamont holds the foot of a three-day-old premature baby, born at 6 months, at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, New Jersey. (David Bergeland/The Record/MCT)
Blacks in the News
This February 25, 2011 video image shows the image of an African American man behind a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) robe on exibit as part of the "American I AM: The African Imprint" at the National Geographic in Washington, DC. The exhibit has gathered more than 200 artefacts from personal or museum collections, along with photos and film clips, to chart how 500 years of hardship, faith and creativity have forged African American history and how black Americans have left a deep imprint on US life. Through 12 galleries covering 13,000 square feet (1,200 square meters) at the National Geographic Museum, the exhibit also recalls the inhumanity and brutality that blacks endured for centuries at the hands of white people. AFP PHOTO/Karin ZEITVOGEL (Photo credit should read Karin ZEITVOGEL/AFP/Getty Images)
Blacks in the News
This February 25, 2011 video image shows the image of an African American man behind a KuKlux Klan(KKK) robe on exibit as part of the "American I AM: The African Imprint" at the National Geographic in Washington, DC. The exhibit has gathered more than 200 artefacts from personal or museum collections, along with photos and film clips, to chart how 500 years of hardship, faith and creativity have forged African American history and how black Americans have left a deep imprint on US life. Through 12 galleries covering 13,000 square feet (1,200 square meters) at the National Geographic Museum, the exhibit also recalls the inhumanity and brutality that blacks endured for centuries at the hands of white people. AFP PHOTO/Karin ZEITVOGEL (Photo credit should read Karin ZEITVOGEL/AFP/Getty Images)
Blacks in the News
FILE - In this March 24, 2002 file photo, actress Halle Berry cries as she accepts the Oscar for best actress for the film "Monster's Ball" at the 74th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Berry became the first African-American woman to win a best actress Oscar. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, file)
Blacks in the News
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 25: Singer Melody Thornton attends the 2011 "Eye On Black" - A Salute To Directors at California African American Museum on February 25, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/FilmMagic)
Blacks in the News
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 25: Actor Damon Wayans attends the 2011 "Eye On Black" - A Salute To Directors at California African American Museum on February 25, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/FilmMagic)
Blacks in the News
In this photo released by Harley-Davidson, pioneering DJ Grandmaster Flash takes time out from spinning the turntables at "Brothers of the Bike," a special celebration co-presented by Harley-Davidson and RIDES Magazine commemorating the achievements of African-American motorcyclists, to pose for photos with fellow DJ's Darryl DMC McDaniels, right, and DJ Clue, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/Harley-Davidson, Henny Ray Abrams) NO SALES
Blacks in the News
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 24: A controversial anti-abortion billboard picturing a young African-American girl with text stating "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb," is seen February 24, 2011 in New York City. The mother of the six-year-old girl in the photograph wants the Texas-based anti-abortion group Life Always to take the billboard down. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Blacks in the News
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 24: A controversial anti-abortion billboard picturing a young African-American girl with text stating "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb," is seen February 24, 2011 in New York City. The mother of the six-year-old girl in the photograph wants the Texas-based anti-abortion group Life Always to take the billboard down. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Blacks in the News
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 24: A controversial anti-abortion billboard picturing a young African-American girl with text stating "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb," is seen February 24, 2011 in New York City. The mother of the six-year-old girl in the photograph wants the Texas-based anti-abortion group Life Always to take the billboard down. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Blacks in the News
We have a black president of the United States, yet police abuse and brutality continues. Still, Lemon sees a bright spot at least with regard to the LAPD and law enforcement nationwide. "No police force wants a 'Rodney King moment' and most have made great strides in diversity and dialog. Coon and his cohorts didn't talk to CNN, nor would Denny. Lemon says that like King, they just want to be the anonymous people they were on March 3, 1991, rather than the symbols they'd become following day. Like America's coming to terms with race, achieving that wish has proved difficult, if not impossible.
Watch 'Race and Rage - The Beating of Rodney King,' debuting Friday, March 4 at 8:00p.m. ET and PT on CNN and in subsequent airings.
![Professor Christopher Chambers on AOL Black Voices]()
Professor Christopher Chambers is the author of the Angela Bivens series of mystery novels, and has published short fiction and comic books, including a graphic anthology. Chambers is also a contributor to Russia Today, MSNBC's The Grio and The Root.com. You can find his personal musings on his blog Nat Turner's Revenge. Professor Christopher Chambers is on the faculty of the University of Maryland/UMUC.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Professor Christopher Chambers is the author of the Angela Bivens series of mystery novels, and has published short fiction and comic books, including a graphic anthology. Chambers is also a contributor to Russia Today, MSNBC's The Grio and The Root.com. You can find his personal musings on his blog Nat Turner's Revenge. Professor Christopher Chambers is on the faculty of the University of Maryland/UMUC.