Twenty years ago, the world watched in horror as a black man was beaten repeatedly by members of the Los Angeles Police Department. Shortly thereafter, we all got the "thrill" of watching a fundamentally-flawed justice system acquit the officers who were responsible for the state-sponsored terrorism we'd witnessed with our own two eyes. I was angry, so was the world, and so was most of South Central Los Angeles.

Just three years earlier, the rap group NWA wrote a song called "F*ck the Police." The song was received with both critical acclaim and public disdain. Few Americans above the poverty line could understand how someone could show such hatred toward officers of the law, who many believe are positioned to protect and serve the community, not to harm it. But anyone who'd seen police brutality up close understood that before the personal camcorder was around to document the evidence, there were many beatings far worse than the one dropped on Rodney King.

Black, brown and poor people have always had an uncomfortable relationship with the police. In many poor communities, the police don't come around when good things are happening. They haven't always arrived on the scene to protect anyone other than a victim or two. The rest of the citizens in the area would either be perceived as potential perpetrators or treated with the kind of disrespect and abuse only reserved for true enemies of the state. I've seen officers who threaten to arrest those who question their motives, who search and detain innocent citizens for no good reason, and who engage in other humiliating violations of our inalienable human rights.


When NWA wrote their famous song, they were making a prophetic political statement that proved itself to be true with the sever shake-up of the Los Angeles Police Department that would take place just a few years later. In their own creative, profane and shocking way, they were saying the things that many people in Los Angeles were already feeling.

NWA and other citizens of South Central Los Angeles were responding to the psychological damage that comes from being exposed to the worst kinds of poverty and devastation imaginable in the United States of America. Guns and drugs had "suddenly and mysteriously" arrived in black neighborhoods (not white ones), generating a crack cocaine trade that suddenly turned quiet neighborhoods into war zones. Not only did citizens have reason to fear the most violent members of their own community, the men and women who claimed to protect them (the LAPD) were almost as bad. At the end of the day, it became a matter of being affiliated with the toughest street gang, which is what the LAPD presented itself to be.

Adding to the pre-existing economic and social challenges of Los Angeles were many Reagan-Era policies that led to the greatest wealth transfer in American history. Reagan's failed policies on Trickle Down Economics made the ex-post ridiculous argument that by giving tax breaks to the rich, you will see benefits trickling down to poor people. This misguided and selfish political strategy not only led to the pending financial devastation of our nation via massive budget deficits, it was also another major step toward the urban decay we see in many cities today. The American worker has suffered dramatically as our government has licensed and condoned various forms of corporate greed, and the only thing that has trickled down is the virus of economic agony.

I like Rodney King about as much as I like O.J. Simpson. Neither man impresses me as a productive representation of what a black man is supposed to be. Their insatiable appetite for drugs and perpetual engagement in other forms of self-destructive behavior was nothing less than a disappointment, given that their trials had such a huge impact on the African American community. But whether you like Rodney and O.J. or not, the truth is that black America rallied behind both of them for reasons that transcended their affinity (or lack thereof) toward any one human being. We watched Rodney getting beaten on video and could feel the batons cracking into our very own bones. For that moment, he represented the pain being felt by all of us.


Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. To follow Dr. Boyce on Facebook, please click here.