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Downloaded from
YTS.MX
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[operator] 911, state your emergency.
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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-[woman on phone] Please hurry.
-San Bernardino City PD with a transfer.
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1051 East Jackson Street.
Subject at the bottom of the pool.
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[woman] Rodney King. Please.
It’s Rodney King. Please hurry!
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[operator] Okay, stay, stay on the--
Ma’am, stay on the line.
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Let me transfer to the fire department.
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-[line disconnects]
-[dial tone hums]
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[woman] Please. Please. Oh, my God!
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[operator] Is he breathing?
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[woman] No,
he’s at the bottom of the swimming pool!
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Please get here. I’ve been throwing stuff
to try to wake him up!
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Rodney Glen King.
He’s at the bottom of the swimming pool.
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Please hurry up. Please hurry up.
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Please hurry up. Please hurry up.
Please hurry up.
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[fades] Please hurry up. Please hurry up.
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♪ Fuck Rodney King... in the ass ♪
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♪ When I see the motherfucker
I’ma blast ♪
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♪ Boom, boom in his head
Boom in his back ♪
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00:00:55,430 --> 00:00:57,057
♪ Yeah, just like that ♪
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00:00:57,974 --> 00:01:00,143
♪ ’Cause I’m tired of these
Good little niggas runnin’ around here ♪
23
00:01:00,226 --> 00:01:02,729
♪ Talkin’ about increase the peace
And let the violence cease ♪
24
00:01:02,812 --> 00:01:06,316
♪ When the black man built this country
But can’t get his because of what? ♪
25
00:01:06,399 --> 00:01:08,902
♪ That’s right, the prejudiced honky ♪
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♪ So fuck you, Rodney King ♪
27
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♪ Nigga ♪
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♪ You a goddamn sellout ♪
29
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♪ Look at you on TV, cryin’ for the cops
Who beat the hell out you ♪
30
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♪ I wish they would have shot you ♪
31
00:01:24,083 --> 00:01:28,046
♪ ’Cause this shit is deeper than Vietnam
And there’s no room for the Uncle Tom ♪
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♪ You let these white people mess you up
And then they dress you up ♪
33
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♪ And I would not be surprised
If they sexed you up ♪
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♪ Because you look like a faggot ♪
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Oh, excuse me. Gay.
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00:01:40,433 --> 00:01:42,894
♪ Runnin’ around here sayin’ everything
White people want you to say ♪
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♪ Fuck you, Rodney King! ♪
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Wow, Rodney.
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[chuckles]
40
00:02:01,162 --> 00:02:04,165
Wow, brother man,
no wonder you never go outside
41
00:02:04,249 --> 00:02:06,751
without wearing your bulletproof vest.
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00:02:07,252 --> 00:02:11,339
’Cause not only do the white supremacists
wanna assassinate you,
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00:02:11,422 --> 00:02:14,968
there’s at least one Afrocentric,
homophobic rapper
44
00:02:15,051 --> 00:02:16,970
who wants a piece of you, too.
45
00:02:17,053 --> 00:02:20,181
But they’re all gonna have to wait
their time in line, right...
46
00:02:20,849 --> 00:02:22,725
behind the boys in blue?
47
00:02:23,476 --> 00:02:27,188
So what you wanna do, Rodney King?
Reminisce? Come on. [chuckles]
48
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It goes a little bit something like this.
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1991, ’92.
50
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Come on, Rodney King. You know what to do.
51
00:02:36,781 --> 00:02:39,951
It was a Saturday night, right?
52
00:02:40,618 --> 00:02:43,621
And you were chillin’ at your boy’s crib,
right? Watchin’ a fight, right?
53
00:02:43,705 --> 00:02:46,291
No, wait a minute. Hold up. No. Mnh-mnh.
54
00:02:46,374 --> 00:02:49,377
That’s wrong.
No, the basketball game was on.
55
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And you were hitting
that Olde English 800 malt liquor.
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00:02:54,966 --> 00:02:56,050
Forty ounce.
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Times 40 times 40 times 40 times 40
times 40 times 40.
58
00:03:00,388 --> 00:03:02,932
And you were never that good at math.
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00:03:03,016 --> 00:03:04,142
Oh, no.
60
00:03:04,225 --> 00:03:06,895
You couldn’t stay up all night workin’
on your time table.
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00:03:06,978 --> 00:03:07,979
No, you weren’t able.
62
00:03:08,062 --> 00:03:11,566
’Cause at 2:00 a.m., you were mopping
the floors of Altadena, California.
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With your brother and your pops and them.
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00:03:13,693 --> 00:03:16,279
King Maintenance, the family bidness.
65
00:03:16,362 --> 00:03:19,073
And they called your father what?
Oh, yeah, that’s right. [chuckles]
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00:03:19,157 --> 00:03:22,410
The Kingfish.
And he taught you how to mop the floor.
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00:03:22,493 --> 00:03:24,203
“That’s it, son. Just like this.”
68
00:03:24,287 --> 00:03:26,205
And he also taught you how to fish.
69
00:03:26,289 --> 00:03:29,083
“That’s it, son. Throw out your line.
Now reel in your catch.”
70
00:03:29,167 --> 00:03:31,920
And he also taught you how
to go fetch that electric cord--
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00:03:32,003 --> 00:03:35,465
oh, Lord, you know the one--
he used to beat your black ass with.
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00:03:35,548 --> 00:03:37,508
But it’s Saturday night, right? [chuckles]
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And you got a job to go to
on Monday morning, so you gonna celebrate.
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00:03:40,303 --> 00:03:42,972
Hard hat construction,
’cause that’s what you into.
75
00:03:43,056 --> 00:03:46,643
Right, Rodney?
Con-struction, not de-struction.
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You did your two-year bid, right, kid?
77
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You did your two-year bid?
78
00:03:51,231 --> 00:03:53,858
You remember that day out
at Marina del Rey?
79
00:03:53,942 --> 00:03:58,112
You caught a halibut,
but the halibut got snatched by a rat.
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00:03:58,196 --> 00:04:01,157
You got pissed off behind that,
’cause you had to drive home.
81
00:04:01,241 --> 00:04:03,826
10 Freeway eastbound, fish-less.
82
00:04:03,910 --> 00:04:07,914
And you stopped inconveniently
into a convenience store
83
00:04:07,997 --> 00:04:10,250
to negotiate some food stamps,
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00:04:10,333 --> 00:04:12,377
and the proprietor
of said convenience store
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00:04:12,460 --> 00:04:14,796
said that you had attacked him
with a tire iron.
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00:04:14,879 --> 00:04:18,633
But if you read your autobiography,
entitled Rodney King: The Riot Within,
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00:04:18,716 --> 00:04:20,927
you will see that the proprietor
was lying.
88
00:04:21,010 --> 00:04:23,429
It was he who attacked you
with a tire iron.
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00:04:23,513 --> 00:04:25,431
You attacked him
with nothing more dangerous
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00:04:25,515 --> 00:04:27,433
than a Hostess apple pie.
91
00:04:27,517 --> 00:04:29,269
Assault with a deadly apple pie.
92
00:04:29,352 --> 00:04:31,479
That’s an all-American offense.
93
00:04:31,562 --> 00:04:34,315
Now, you copped a plea,
but it was no bargain.
94
00:04:34,399 --> 00:04:36,234
You did your two-year bid, right, kid?
95
00:04:36,317 --> 00:04:38,778
But it was cool,
’cause on your same cellblock
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00:04:38,861 --> 00:04:41,739
is none other than Mr. Ike Turner.
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00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:43,658
Tina-less.
98
00:04:43,741 --> 00:04:48,538
And he has two white pet rats
that he incessantly pets.
99
00:04:48,621 --> 00:04:50,540
He calls them his Ikettes.
100
00:04:50,623 --> 00:04:52,542
And when they release you
on the work release,
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00:04:52,625 --> 00:04:55,753
they release you to work up
at the Stanislaus National Forest.
102
00:04:55,837 --> 00:04:59,132
Best shape of your life, right,
putting out those forest fires?
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00:04:59,215 --> 00:05:01,551
And that’s how you wanted
to be remembered, right, Rodney?
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00:05:01,634 --> 00:05:03,303
As a brother who put out the forest fires,
105
00:05:03,386 --> 00:05:06,222
not as the nigga
who threw the gasoline on it.
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00:05:06,306 --> 00:05:07,932
But it’s Saturday night, right?
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00:05:08,016 --> 00:05:10,560
And you got a job to go to
on Monday morning, so you wanna celebrate.
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You gonna hit that Olde English 40
time 40 time 40 time 40.
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You gonna step outside with your boys.
You gonna take a little joyride.
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So you step into the ride. [chuckles]
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00:05:19,402 --> 00:05:21,112
It’s a white Hyundai.
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00:05:21,195 --> 00:05:23,114
You know what they say
about a white Hyundai.
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00:05:23,197 --> 00:05:24,991
If you gonna get into a high-speed chase
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00:05:25,074 --> 00:05:28,286
with the Los Angeles Police Department
and the California Highway Patrol,
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00:05:28,369 --> 00:05:30,705
you might not wanna do it
in a white Hyundai.
116
00:05:30,788 --> 00:05:33,791
But you get into the ride, right?
You gonna throw down.
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00:05:33,875 --> 00:05:35,585
You turn up the sound.
What you listening to?
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00:05:35,668 --> 00:05:37,587
Public Enemy? Oh, no, come on.
119
00:05:37,670 --> 00:05:40,423
What you listening to?
NWA, “Fuck the Police”? Come on.
120
00:05:40,506 --> 00:05:43,092
You from LA. To listen to the NWA,
that would be a cliché.
121
00:05:43,176 --> 00:05:45,428
No, you listenin’ to De La Soul.
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♪ On a roll Black medallions, no gold ♪
123
00:05:48,431 --> 00:05:50,558
♪ Hangin’ out wit Pos
Hangin’ out with Mase ♪
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♪ Buddy, buddy, buddy all in my face ♪
125
00:05:52,310 --> 00:05:53,519
“Turn it down, Glen.”
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00:05:53,603 --> 00:05:56,230
That’s what they call you, your family
and friend. They call you Glen.
127
00:05:56,314 --> 00:05:58,775
Rodney King had not yet been invented.
You were Glen then.
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00:05:58,858 --> 00:06:01,235
“Turn it down, Glen.”
But you’re not gonna turn it down. No.
129
00:06:01,319 --> 00:06:03,780
’Cause you been hitting that Olde English
40 time 40 time 40.
130
00:06:03,863 --> 00:06:06,657
You gonna turn it up, right?
And you gonna hit that accelerator.
131
00:06:06,741 --> 00:06:09,202
Forty, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90.
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00:06:09,285 --> 00:06:12,872
They said you were going
115 miles per hour in a white Hyundai.
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00:06:12,955 --> 00:06:15,416
[laughs] Oh, yeah.
134
00:06:15,500 --> 00:06:17,835
“Slow down, Glen.”
But you’re not gonna slow down. Oh, no.
135
00:06:17,919 --> 00:06:19,337
Slow down? You’re not gonna slow down.
136
00:06:19,420 --> 00:06:21,881
You been hittin’ that 40 time 40
time 40 time 40 time 40.
137
00:06:21,964 --> 00:06:23,800
And you look into the rearview. Whoo!
138
00:06:23,883 --> 00:06:26,928
There’s that familiar red and blue,
blue, blue, blue.
139
00:06:27,011 --> 00:06:28,387
You’re a young African-American male.
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00:06:28,471 --> 00:06:31,766
You should know what to do, do,
do, do, do, do.
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00:06:31,849 --> 00:06:34,811
Pull over without fail, ’cause if
you don’t pull over without fail,
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00:06:34,894 --> 00:06:36,938
you gonna go live and direct to jail,
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00:06:37,021 --> 00:06:40,149
but it’s a three-strike system,
and you got two strikes on ya.
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00:06:40,233 --> 00:06:42,318
So ya might as well go down swinging,
right?
145
00:06:42,401 --> 00:06:44,987
[inhales] “Pull over, Glen.”
You gonna pull over, right?
146
00:06:45,071 --> 00:06:46,239
210 Freeway.
147
00:06:46,322 --> 00:06:48,199
Whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo!
148
00:06:48,282 --> 00:06:50,618
Westbound,
listenin’ to that De La Soul sound.
149
00:06:50,701 --> 00:06:51,828
Whoo, whoo, whoo.
150
00:06:51,911 --> 00:06:54,705
LAPD helicopter illuminating the way,
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00:06:54,789 --> 00:06:57,458
’cause that’s how you live and die in LA,
right?
152
00:06:57,542 --> 00:06:59,794
“Pull over, Glen. Pull over, Glen.”
You gonna pull over?
153
00:06:59,877 --> 00:07:02,463
You know exactly which off-ramp to take.
154
00:07:02,547 --> 00:07:05,258
The one that your father, the Kingfish,
used to take
155
00:07:05,341 --> 00:07:07,969
when he took you to fish
at the Hansen Dam Lake.
156
00:07:08,052 --> 00:07:11,055
That’s where he taught you how to fish,
taught you how to swim,
157
00:07:11,139 --> 00:07:12,932
up at the Devil’s Gate Reservoir.
158
00:07:13,015 --> 00:07:14,684
Up above Altadena, California.
159
00:07:14,767 --> 00:07:16,644
Whoo, it was nice that day.
160
00:07:16,727 --> 00:07:18,813
Whoo! Ten toes in cool mud.
161
00:07:18,896 --> 00:07:21,232
Didn’t matter if you was Crip
or if you was a Blood.
162
00:07:21,315 --> 00:07:23,860
Right, Rodney? Whoo, whoo, whoo.
163
00:07:23,943 --> 00:07:26,863
“Pull over, Glen.” Whoo, whoo, whoo.
“Pull over, Glen.”
164
00:07:26,946 --> 00:07:29,240
You gonna pull over, you gonna pull over,
you gonna pull over, right?
165
00:07:29,323 --> 00:07:32,034
You gonna pull over
in front of an apartment complex.
166
00:07:32,118 --> 00:07:33,911
Not that difficult, really,
167
00:07:33,995 --> 00:07:37,206
to try to understand why you pulled over
in front of an apartment complex.
168
00:07:37,290 --> 00:07:38,624
Actually, it’s rather simple.
169
00:07:38,708 --> 00:07:41,461
’Cause if something were to go down
and you’re gonna go down, Rodney, Glen,
170
00:07:41,544 --> 00:07:42,545
Glen, Rodney, Rodney.
171
00:07:42,628 --> 00:07:44,505
Rodney, have you met Glen?
Glen, meet Rodney.
172
00:07:44,589 --> 00:07:47,925
If anything were to go down,
somebody might see it.
173
00:07:48,009 --> 00:07:50,678
So you pull over
and your two partners are compliant.
174
00:07:50,761 --> 00:07:54,265
They are immediately cuffed,
but you’ve got to be defiant.
175
00:07:54,348 --> 00:07:56,267
You gotta be rough, you gotta be tough,
176
00:07:56,350 --> 00:07:58,352
because you been hittin’
that Olde English 40
177
00:07:58,436 --> 00:08:00,396
time 40 time 40 time 40 time 40.
178
00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:04,609
You step outside the ride,
and you see the helicopter.
179
00:08:04,692 --> 00:08:06,527
Oh, yeah, and you flip it off.
180
00:08:06,611 --> 00:08:09,655
And then you point to your backside
as if to say “kiss it,”
181
00:08:09,739 --> 00:08:13,409
and then you’re introduced
to LAPD Sergeant Stacey Koon--
182
00:08:13,493 --> 00:08:16,120
good name, Koon-- and his metal baton.
183
00:08:16,204 --> 00:08:17,955
He quotes Marvin Gaye.
184
00:08:18,039 --> 00:08:19,832
He would say, “Let’s get it”--
185
00:08:19,916 --> 00:08:21,000
[blow lands]
186
00:08:25,838 --> 00:08:29,217
-One.
-[blows landing]
187
00:08:29,300 --> 00:08:30,843
Two, three, four.
188
00:08:31,427 --> 00:08:34,514
[blows landing]
189
00:08:34,597 --> 00:08:36,807
Eleven. You were never that good at math.
190
00:08:36,891 --> 00:08:39,769
[blows landing]
191
00:08:39,852 --> 00:08:40,895
Fifteen.
192
00:08:41,395 --> 00:08:42,980
You’re spittin’ blood.
193
00:08:43,064 --> 00:08:44,482
[spits]
194
00:08:45,775 --> 00:08:47,318
Spittin’ blood.
195
00:08:48,819 --> 00:08:49,654
[spits]
196
00:08:50,530 --> 00:08:53,157
Spittin’ blood like that great white whale
from that great white novel
197
00:08:53,241 --> 00:08:56,661
by that great white novelist,
but you never took AP English.
198
00:08:56,744 --> 00:08:58,120
[blow lands]
199
00:08:58,204 --> 00:08:59,163
Nineteen.
200
00:08:59,247 --> 00:09:01,457
[blows landing]
201
00:09:01,541 --> 00:09:02,792
Time for the stun gun.
202
00:09:02,875 --> 00:09:03,876
[muffled discharge]
203
00:09:04,544 --> 00:09:08,172
Fifty thousand volts of electricity
mixing up with all that blood.
204
00:09:08,256 --> 00:09:09,423
Not a great combination.
205
00:09:09,507 --> 00:09:12,635
[blows landing]
206
00:09:13,636 --> 00:09:17,265
Twenty-nine, 30, 31, 32.
207
00:09:17,348 --> 00:09:19,475
[blows landing]
208
00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:22,144
Five-hour operation
to sew you back up again.
209
00:09:22,645 --> 00:09:23,771
Right, Rodney?
210
00:09:23,854 --> 00:09:27,024
They had to put a metal plate
behind your right eye.
211
00:09:27,108 --> 00:09:31,737
Why? So the metal--
eye did not slip back into your brain.
212
00:09:31,821 --> 00:09:33,114
Here it goes again.
213
00:09:33,197 --> 00:09:35,908
[blows landing]
214
00:09:36,576 --> 00:09:37,994
Thirty-nine, 40.
215
00:09:38,077 --> 00:09:39,579
-Forty-five.
-[blow lands]
216
00:09:39,662 --> 00:09:42,957
They said you lost more blood that night,
right,
217
00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:46,669
than any man had ever lost
and still lived.
218
00:09:46,752 --> 00:09:47,962
[blow lands]
219
00:09:48,045 --> 00:09:51,424
Forty-nine, fitty, fitty-one, fitty-two.
220
00:09:51,507 --> 00:09:53,884
[blows landing]
221
00:09:53,968 --> 00:09:55,636
This is the power stroke.
222
00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:59,265
They teach this at the academy just
for occasions like this.
223
00:09:59,348 --> 00:10:00,433
[blow lands]
224
00:10:01,267 --> 00:10:04,937
They had to put a metal plate
behind your right eye.
225
00:10:05,021 --> 00:10:06,314
Why?
226
00:10:06,397 --> 00:10:10,693
So the right eye didn’t slip back
into your brain.
227
00:10:11,485 --> 00:10:13,112
Here we go again.
228
00:10:13,738 --> 00:10:14,864
[blow lands]
229
00:10:15,656 --> 00:10:17,658
Let’s round it off, why don’t we...
230
00:10:18,576 --> 00:10:20,328
at a nice, even...
231
00:10:21,537 --> 00:10:23,247
fitty-six.
232
00:10:25,291 --> 00:10:26,792
[blow lands]
233
00:10:33,799 --> 00:10:35,217
You’re spittin’ blood.
234
00:10:36,302 --> 00:10:37,470
[spits]
235
00:10:39,472 --> 00:10:40,973
You’re spittin’ blood.
236
00:10:42,016 --> 00:10:44,268
Somebody produces a white sheet.
237
00:10:46,479 --> 00:10:48,064
Cover you up with it.
238
00:10:48,814 --> 00:10:51,692
Now, where would the LAPD
come up with a white sheet?
239
00:10:52,902 --> 00:10:55,821
Why would the LAPD be rollin’ around
with a white sheet?
240
00:10:56,822 --> 00:10:58,366
They throw it on you.
241
00:10:58,949 --> 00:11:01,494
They throw you
in the back of the squad car.
242
00:11:02,036 --> 00:11:04,789
Do they take you to the emergency room?
Oh, no.
243
00:11:05,414 --> 00:11:09,293
They take you live and direct
to the police station.
244
00:11:09,794 --> 00:11:11,337
Foothill Division.
245
00:11:11,420 --> 00:11:14,965
Then they pull the sheet off of you
and they point at you
246
00:11:15,049 --> 00:11:18,677
as if to say, “Look what we got.
Look what we caught.”
247
00:11:18,761 --> 00:11:22,348
You were like that deer
in that movie The Deer Hunter,
248
00:11:22,431 --> 00:11:25,101
strapped down
on top of that station wagon,
249
00:11:25,184 --> 00:11:27,812
rolling through the Pennsylvania woods.
250
00:11:27,895 --> 00:11:29,563
Right, Rodney?
251
00:11:29,647 --> 00:11:32,817
And then they put the sheet back on you,
right, Rodney?
252
00:11:32,900 --> 00:11:36,070
And you figure you’re dead, right, Rodney?
253
00:11:36,153 --> 00:11:37,363
You’re dead.
254
00:11:38,155 --> 00:11:39,698
You’re dead. You gone to heaven.
255
00:11:39,782 --> 00:11:42,952
Because they pulled the sheet off of you,
and you look up,
256
00:11:43,035 --> 00:11:44,954
and there’s God.
257
00:11:45,037 --> 00:11:48,374
A beautiful black woman
in a white nurse’s uniform.
258
00:11:48,999 --> 00:11:53,129
And she says to you real sweet,
real soft, on the QT,
259
00:11:53,212 --> 00:11:56,006
“Don’t you worry none, Mr. Brother King...
260
00:11:58,092 --> 00:12:01,095
they got it all on videotape.”
261
00:12:04,473 --> 00:12:06,684
Jorge-- George Holliday...
262
00:12:07,518 --> 00:12:09,061
he was on his veranda.
263
00:12:09,562 --> 00:12:14,692
He’s an Argentinean plumber,
and he had his new videocam.
264
00:12:14,775 --> 00:12:16,777
He said, “Damn. Coño.
265
00:12:16,861 --> 00:12:20,364
All these lights look like a movie show.
Apocalypse Now.”
266
00:12:20,448 --> 00:12:23,200
And he got ya. Right, Rodney?
He caught ya.
267
00:12:23,284 --> 00:12:24,910
He got ya, he caught ya,
268
00:12:24,994 --> 00:12:29,999
and he tried to take the videotape live
and direct to the LAPD.
269
00:12:30,082 --> 00:12:31,625
They said, “We can’t use it.”
270
00:12:31,709 --> 00:12:34,128
But then he took the videotape
live and direct
271
00:12:34,211 --> 00:12:36,630
to TV station KTLA.
272
00:12:36,714 --> 00:12:38,716
They said, “Yes, we can use it.”
273
00:12:39,216 --> 00:12:42,094
And before you know it, Rodney King...
274
00:12:42,845 --> 00:12:46,557
you’re on heavy rotation locally.
275
00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:49,143
You’re on heavy rotation nationally.
276
00:12:49,226 --> 00:12:52,605
You’re on heavy rotation internationally.
277
00:12:52,688 --> 00:12:55,149
Everyone all over the world
is rewinding you
278
00:12:55,232 --> 00:12:58,652
and fast-forwarding you
and freeze-framing you,
279
00:12:58,736 --> 00:13:01,030
and before you know it, Rodney King,
280
00:13:01,113 --> 00:13:04,074
you’ve gone viral before viral was viral,
281
00:13:04,158 --> 00:13:09,163
and before you know it, Rodney King,
you’re the first reality TV star.
282
00:13:10,414 --> 00:13:14,168
That was March 3, 1991.
283
00:13:14,251 --> 00:13:16,003
Let’s fast-forward, why don’t we?
284
00:13:16,337 --> 00:13:19,423
April 29, 1992.
285
00:13:19,507 --> 00:13:22,218
Come on, Rodney King, you know what to do.
286
00:13:22,802 --> 00:13:24,887
Simi Valley, all-white jury.
287
00:13:25,387 --> 00:13:27,223
You hear this weird kind of...
288
00:13:28,224 --> 00:13:30,893
echoing refrain echoing in your brain.
289
00:13:30,976 --> 00:13:33,145
Damaged brain. Not guilty.
290
00:13:34,313 --> 00:13:36,190
Not guilty, not guilty.
291
00:13:37,107 --> 00:13:38,442
Not guilty.
292
00:13:41,529 --> 00:13:44,615
And you wonder why you even showed up
in the court in the first place.
293
00:13:45,199 --> 00:13:47,117
Your own lawyers
didn’t allow you to testify.
294
00:13:47,201 --> 00:13:49,328
Oh, no, they didn’t think
that it would be strategic
295
00:13:49,411 --> 00:13:54,667
for a 6-foot-2-inch, 225-pound black man
to stand up in front of an all-white jury
296
00:13:54,750 --> 00:13:58,087
and testify against the officers
who beat the shit out of him.
297
00:13:58,170 --> 00:14:00,256
So they gagged you.
298
00:14:01,549 --> 00:14:04,385
So why did you even show up
299
00:14:04,468 --> 00:14:07,429
in the courtroom in the first place
on that day?
300
00:14:07,513 --> 00:14:10,766
You could’ve taken in
a lovely matinee that day...
301
00:14:11,433 --> 00:14:13,352
at the Simi Valley Community Theater,
302
00:14:13,435 --> 00:14:17,565
where they were playing a lovely play
that day called Driving Miss Daisy.
303
00:14:17,648 --> 00:14:20,609
Or you could’ve taken in
a lovely afternoon
304
00:14:20,693 --> 00:14:23,279
at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Li--
305
00:14:25,239 --> 00:14:26,991
brary, right, Rodney?
306
00:14:27,074 --> 00:14:28,868
But instead, you’re standing there,
307
00:14:28,951 --> 00:14:32,746
and it’s not guilty, not guilty,
not guilty, not guilty.
308
00:14:32,830 --> 00:14:35,040
“Let it go, son. Let it go, Glen.”
309
00:14:35,124 --> 00:14:36,250
Your mother.
310
00:14:38,168 --> 00:14:40,129
“Let it go, son. Let it go, Glen.”
311
00:14:40,212 --> 00:14:41,672
A devout Jehovah’s Witness.
312
00:14:41,755 --> 00:14:44,800
You went with her, didn’t you,
as a small child.
313
00:14:45,384 --> 00:14:47,011
Knocking on doors, passing out pamphlets.
314
00:14:47,094 --> 00:14:51,181
You were part of a multiracial,
door-knocking coalition.
315
00:14:51,265 --> 00:14:54,351
And now it’s, “Let it go, son.
Let it go, Glen.”
316
00:14:54,435 --> 00:14:57,062
And so you let it go. You went home.
317
00:14:57,938 --> 00:15:01,692
And your brother, bless him,
has lit a tiki lamp in the backyard,
318
00:15:01,775 --> 00:15:03,861
but you prefer to be inside...
319
00:15:04,612 --> 00:15:07,615
in a four-cornered room, dark,
illuminated only by--
320
00:15:07,698 --> 00:15:08,699
[mimics TV turning on]
321
00:15:09,325 --> 00:15:10,701
a TV set.
322
00:15:11,660 --> 00:15:13,829
And at your side, your trusted companion.
323
00:15:13,913 --> 00:15:15,998
Her name, brandy.
324
00:15:16,874 --> 00:15:18,250
Ahhh!
325
00:15:18,334 --> 00:15:23,047
And you tune in the TV just in time
to catch the live helicopter report
326
00:15:23,130 --> 00:15:26,467
from the sacred intersection
of Florence and Normandie.
327
00:15:26,550 --> 00:15:27,635
Brandy.
328
00:15:28,469 --> 00:15:29,511
Ahhh!
329
00:15:29,595 --> 00:15:31,180
And fuck.
330
00:15:31,263 --> 00:15:35,100
There’s a cat being pulled out
of his truck and thrown to the pavement.
331
00:15:35,726 --> 00:15:40,940
And a man is standing over him,
and he’s got a cinder block in his hand.
332
00:15:41,023 --> 00:15:42,691
-And...
-[blow lands]
333
00:15:43,901 --> 00:15:47,071
The man’s head explodes
as if it were a watermelon.
334
00:15:48,155 --> 00:15:50,032
Then another man does a weird kind of...
335
00:15:50,658 --> 00:15:53,661
victory dance
on top of the would-be corpse.
336
00:15:55,329 --> 00:15:56,330
Brandy.
337
00:15:57,498 --> 00:15:58,749
Ahhh!
338
00:15:58,832 --> 00:16:03,128
And another black man is watching
the same TV show, right, Rodney?
339
00:16:03,212 --> 00:16:05,756
He turns it off. [mimics TV turning off]
340
00:16:05,839 --> 00:16:07,091
Says “Hell no.”
341
00:16:07,967 --> 00:16:11,428
He runs out of his crib
right straight out to the scene.
342
00:16:11,512 --> 00:16:13,389
His name, Bobby Green.
343
00:16:13,889 --> 00:16:18,102
He extends his hand to the once white,
now red man...
344
00:16:18,602 --> 00:16:20,688
and says, “I too am a trucker.
345
00:16:21,188 --> 00:16:23,983
And I’m gonna get you
outta here right now, motherfucker.”
346
00:16:24,566 --> 00:16:27,194
And he throws him over the back
of his broad black back
347
00:16:27,277 --> 00:16:29,571
and throws him back
into the cab of his truck,
348
00:16:29,655 --> 00:16:31,824
and then, fuck,
he’s got the truck in gear.
349
00:16:31,907 --> 00:16:36,036
And it’s Florence Avenue
westbound past Crenshaw,
350
00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,456
left on Prairie,
aka the Avenue of Champions,
351
00:16:39,540 --> 00:16:40,958
and an immediate right turn
352
00:16:41,041 --> 00:16:44,878
into the Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital
emergency parking lot.
353
00:16:44,962 --> 00:16:46,797
He got him there just in time.
354
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:48,424
If he had delayed just a minute,
355
00:16:48,507 --> 00:16:53,637
he might as well have made a left turn
on Prairie into the Inglewood Mortuary.
356
00:16:54,221 --> 00:16:55,305
Brandy.
357
00:16:56,306 --> 00:16:57,307
Ahhh!
358
00:16:57,391 --> 00:17:01,270
And you’re watching the coverage
that night, right, Rodney?
359
00:17:01,353 --> 00:17:03,856
You’re watching the coverage that night,
right?
360
00:17:03,939 --> 00:17:09,361
And that once white, now red man
has been identified as Reginald Denny.
361
00:17:09,445 --> 00:17:10,487
Brandy.
362
00:17:11,572 --> 00:17:12,781
Ahhh.
363
00:17:12,865 --> 00:17:15,075
And you’re thinking, right, Rodney?
364
00:17:15,159 --> 00:17:17,578
You’re thinking you know him.
365
00:17:18,746 --> 00:17:20,539
Reginald Denny, you know him.
366
00:17:22,332 --> 00:17:26,879
He had delivered a load
of gravel one night
367
00:17:26,962 --> 00:17:29,798
to this construction site
where you were working,
368
00:17:29,882 --> 00:17:31,383
and y’all kicked it.
369
00:17:32,468 --> 00:17:34,678
Y’all were cool. Y’all had jokes.
370
00:17:36,513 --> 00:17:39,058
And now Reggie Denny is...
371
00:17:41,268 --> 00:17:42,144
Brandy.
372
00:17:44,188 --> 00:17:45,189
Ahhh!
373
00:17:46,565 --> 00:17:48,525
Fidel Lopez. Sí, yes.
374
00:17:48,609 --> 00:17:51,236
They really got artistic on his ass.
375
00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:53,280
First they gave him a...
376
00:17:54,698 --> 00:17:55,532
van Gogh.
377
00:17:55,616 --> 00:17:56,909
They cut off his ear.
378
00:17:56,992 --> 00:17:58,535
[mimics hacking sound]
379
00:17:58,619 --> 00:18:02,706
And then they gave him a “Negro.”
They spray-painted his genitals black.
380
00:18:02,790 --> 00:18:04,792
[mimics spraying sounds]
381
00:18:04,875 --> 00:18:08,170
And another black man dressed in black,
holding a black Bible,
382
00:18:08,253 --> 00:18:09,797
stepped out of the blackness.
383
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:11,548
The Reverend Bennie Newton.
384
00:18:11,632 --> 00:18:14,927
He said to the assembled crowd
rather loud,
385
00:18:15,010 --> 00:18:19,848
“Hey, if y’all kill him,
y’all gotta kill me first!”
386
00:18:22,101 --> 00:18:24,978
And he saved Fidel Lopez.
387
00:18:25,062 --> 00:18:26,355
¿Sí? Yes.
388
00:18:26,939 --> 00:18:30,025
They reattached his ear. You hear?
389
00:18:30,859 --> 00:18:31,860
Brandy.
390
00:18:33,487 --> 00:18:34,738
Ahhh!
391
00:18:34,822 --> 00:18:36,406
Do you see the old man...
392
00:18:37,491 --> 00:18:38,492
Rodney?
393
00:18:39,118 --> 00:18:40,119
Brandy.
394
00:18:41,286 --> 00:18:45,624
Do you see the old man on your TV screen?
Can you hear what he’s saying?
395
00:18:45,707 --> 00:18:48,585
The old black man
walking up and down the street.
396
00:18:48,669 --> 00:18:52,589
Can you hear what he’s saying?
Turn up the volume, Rodney.
397
00:18:55,050 --> 00:18:58,679
Turn up the volume, Rodney.
Pump up the volume, pump up the volume.
398
00:18:58,762 --> 00:19:00,514
Listen to what the man is saying.
399
00:19:01,098 --> 00:19:02,349
“Y’all wrong.”
400
00:19:03,225 --> 00:19:04,935
Can you hear him, Rodney?
401
00:19:07,146 --> 00:19:09,982
“Y’all wrong. Y’all burnt me out.
402
00:19:12,484 --> 00:19:15,112
Y’all burnt out my bidness.
403
00:19:16,613 --> 00:19:21,827
Y’all talkin’ ’bout Black Power,
and y’all burnt out my black bidness.
404
00:19:23,537 --> 00:19:26,832
I come from the ghetto, too.
405
00:19:29,918 --> 00:19:35,841
Somebody stole my computer!
406
00:19:37,759 --> 00:19:43,765
Somebody stole my computer!”
407
00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:47,686
Brandy.
408
00:19:49,688 --> 00:19:50,981
Ahhh!
409
00:19:51,064 --> 00:19:54,526
So who’s gonna come to his rescue, Rodney?
410
00:19:56,403 --> 00:19:57,863
Everybody’s out there talkin’ about
411
00:19:57,946 --> 00:19:59,656
“No justice, no peace”
and “Fuck the police”
412
00:19:59,740 --> 00:20:02,534
and “This is for you, Rodney K.
This is for you, Rodney K.”
413
00:20:03,368 --> 00:20:05,704
Right, Rodney?
414
00:20:07,623 --> 00:20:09,416
“This is for you, Rodney K.”
415
00:20:09,958 --> 00:20:11,084
So...
416
00:20:12,169 --> 00:20:13,670
you can’t let it go.
417
00:20:14,504 --> 00:20:17,966
Oh, hell no, you turn off the TV show.
418
00:20:18,050 --> 00:20:19,218
[mimics TV turning off]
419
00:20:20,260 --> 00:20:22,346
And you reach for the brandy. You kill it.
420
00:20:23,096 --> 00:20:24,014
Ahhh!
421
00:20:24,097 --> 00:20:25,474
Then you go to the closet
422
00:20:25,557 --> 00:20:28,477
to get that red, green and gold tam
with the dreadlocks attached.
423
00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:30,479
You know,
the one that you wore last Halloween
424
00:20:30,562 --> 00:20:32,314
when you went trick-or-treating
as Bob Marley?
425
00:20:32,397 --> 00:20:34,233
Trick or treat, mon. Trick or treat, mon.
426
00:20:34,775 --> 00:20:36,568
You put it on your head, right?
427
00:20:37,653 --> 00:20:38,820
Right, Rodney?
428
00:20:39,613 --> 00:20:41,865
You go outside.
You gonna step into the ride.
429
00:20:41,949 --> 00:20:45,244
You gonna drive straight into the middle
of the conflagration,
430
00:20:45,327 --> 00:20:48,455
listenin’ to that Rastaman vibration.
431
00:20:48,538 --> 00:20:49,748
Right, Rodney?
432
00:20:50,749 --> 00:20:51,959
Turn it up.
433
00:20:55,212 --> 00:20:56,546
Turn up the power...
434
00:20:57,547 --> 00:20:58,548
Rodney.
435
00:21:00,008 --> 00:21:02,135
♪ This morning ♪
436
00:21:03,637 --> 00:21:05,639
♪ I woke up ♪
437
00:21:08,058 --> 00:21:09,434
♪ In a curfew ♪
438
00:21:09,518 --> 00:21:11,478
[echoing]
439
00:21:11,561 --> 00:21:13,689
110 Freeway, southbound.
440
00:21:15,691 --> 00:21:17,693
♪ Oh, God ♪
441
00:21:19,027 --> 00:21:21,613
♪ I was a prisoner, too ♪
442
00:21:22,281 --> 00:21:24,241
The brandy is kicking in, right?
443
00:21:25,534 --> 00:21:30,163
♪ Could not recognize the faces
Standing over me ♪
444
00:21:31,123 --> 00:21:33,125
The palm trees are on fire.
445
00:21:34,626 --> 00:21:38,380
♪ They were all dressed in uniforms ♪
446
00:21:39,089 --> 00:21:41,883
♪ Of brutality ♪
447
00:21:41,967 --> 00:21:45,721
Washington Boulevard off-ramp.
Jefferson Boulevard off-ramp.
448
00:21:47,180 --> 00:21:52,269
♪ How many rivers do we have to cross ♪
449
00:21:52,769 --> 00:21:55,772
Martin Luther King Boulevard off-ramp.
Welcome to the ghetto.
450
00:21:57,149 --> 00:22:02,988
♪ Before we can talk ♪
451
00:22:03,071 --> 00:22:04,948
♪ To the boss? ♪
452
00:22:06,950 --> 00:22:08,952
The bougainvillea on fire.
453
00:22:11,204 --> 00:22:14,458
♪ All that we had it seems we have ♪
454
00:22:14,541 --> 00:22:16,501
♪ Lost ♪
455
00:22:17,002 --> 00:22:19,588
Gage off-ramp. Slauson off-ramp.
456
00:22:20,839 --> 00:22:25,052
♪ We must have really paid the cost ♪
457
00:22:26,303 --> 00:22:29,473
♪ And that’s why we’re gonna keep on ♪
458
00:22:31,641 --> 00:22:34,311
♪ Burning and lootin’ tonight ♪
459
00:22:34,394 --> 00:22:35,604
[echoing]
460
00:22:35,687 --> 00:22:37,481
The jacaranda on fire.
461
00:22:39,858 --> 00:22:42,569
♪ Burning all pollution tonight ♪
462
00:22:42,652 --> 00:22:45,363
[echoing]
463
00:22:45,447 --> 00:22:49,451
And it’s Florence Boulevard off-ramp,
westbound.
464
00:22:50,744 --> 00:22:54,956
♪ Burning all pollution tonight ♪
465
00:22:55,665 --> 00:22:57,459
Florence and Vermont.
466
00:22:57,542 --> 00:22:58,752
Florence and...
467
00:22:59,795 --> 00:23:00,879
Hoover.
468
00:23:02,255 --> 00:23:09,221
♪ Burning all illusions tonight ♪
469
00:23:09,304 --> 00:23:12,057
Florence and Normandie.
470
00:23:13,183 --> 00:23:17,687
And everyone’s chanting, “No justice,
no peace” and “Fuck the police”
471
00:23:17,771 --> 00:23:20,065
and “This is for you, Rodney K.
472
00:23:20,148 --> 00:23:24,152
This is for you, Rodney K.
This is for you, Rodney K.”
473
00:23:24,236 --> 00:23:27,989
But they have no idea that Rodney K
is sittin’ right there
474
00:23:28,073 --> 00:23:31,118
in the middle of the intersection
in a white Hyundai,
475
00:23:31,201 --> 00:23:34,538
in a red, green and gold tam
with dreadlocks attached,
476
00:23:34,621 --> 00:23:36,331
incog-Negro.
477
00:23:36,414 --> 00:23:38,917
But it’s not all about you, right, Rodney?
Oh, no.
478
00:23:39,668 --> 00:23:41,545
It’s not all about you.
479
00:23:41,628 --> 00:23:44,256
Lotta people talkin’ about that girl.
What the girl name?
480
00:23:45,132 --> 00:23:47,801
Lotta people talkin’ about that girl.
What the girl name? What the girl name?
481
00:23:47,884 --> 00:23:49,761
L-A name. What the girl name? Latoya? No.
482
00:23:49,845 --> 00:23:51,096
What the girl name?
483
00:23:51,763 --> 00:23:53,598
Latanya? No. What the girl name?
484
00:23:53,682 --> 00:23:55,809
What the girl name? Latasha. That’s it.
485
00:23:56,351 --> 00:23:58,061
Latasha Harlins.
486
00:23:58,687 --> 00:24:01,189
Fifteen years old. Good student.
487
00:24:01,273 --> 00:24:03,441
On her way to school one morning,
488
00:24:03,525 --> 00:24:06,361
she stopped inconveniently
into a convenience store.
489
00:24:06,528 --> 00:24:09,823
Get herself some orange juice.
$1.79 worth of orange juice.
490
00:24:09,906 --> 00:24:11,658
Some jugo de naranja.
491
00:24:12,450 --> 00:24:15,036
She put the orange juice
in the back of her backpack.
492
00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:16,830
She had two dollars in her hand.
493
00:24:16,913 --> 00:24:18,915
But the lady behind the counter,
she don’t understand.
494
00:24:18,999 --> 00:24:21,751
She thought that Latasha
was trying to shoplift on her.
495
00:24:22,252 --> 00:24:26,214
So the lady behind the counter,
she pushed Latasha.
496
00:24:26,298 --> 00:24:28,800
You can see it on the security cam.
497
00:24:28,884 --> 00:24:31,803
[chuckles]
Latasha slap her back two or three time.
498
00:24:32,804 --> 00:24:35,015
Then the lady behind the counter
reach underneath the counter,
499
00:24:35,098 --> 00:24:37,976
get herself a stool, throw it at Latasha.
500
00:24:38,059 --> 00:24:41,146
Latasha ducked the stool.
That’s not cool. What the fuck?
501
00:24:41,730 --> 00:24:43,815
And put the orange juice on the counter.
502
00:24:44,816 --> 00:24:46,818
And then the lady behind the counter...
503
00:24:48,570 --> 00:24:51,656
after Latasha turn her back to her
to walk out the store,
504
00:24:51,740 --> 00:24:54,576
this is what she would do,
Miss Soon Ja Du.
505
00:24:54,659 --> 00:24:56,161
She reached underneath the counter,
506
00:24:56,244 --> 00:24:59,080
got herself a handgun, small caliber,
and she--
507
00:24:59,164 --> 00:25:01,791
[mimics gunshots]
508
00:25:04,794 --> 00:25:06,338
shot Latasha...
509
00:25:07,047 --> 00:25:09,799
in the back of the head...
510
00:25:11,092 --> 00:25:12,302
dead.
511
00:25:14,804 --> 00:25:16,890
Two dollars still in her hand.
512
00:25:17,724 --> 00:25:19,935
Two George Washingtons.
513
00:25:21,895 --> 00:25:24,814
And Miss Soon Ja Du
was tried and convicted...
514
00:25:25,315 --> 00:25:27,317
by a jury of her peers.
515
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:29,861
She was found guilty of girl-slaughter.
516
00:25:32,614 --> 00:25:35,450
Jury recommended
the highest possible sentence,
517
00:25:35,533 --> 00:25:37,953
but the presiding judge on the case said,
518
00:25:38,036 --> 00:25:41,039
“Wait a minute. Hold up.
Time-out on the court.
519
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:43,833
Five years probation.
520
00:25:47,462 --> 00:25:49,256
$500 fine.”
521
00:25:51,591 --> 00:25:53,468
And she sentenced Miss Soon Ja Du
522
00:25:53,551 --> 00:25:58,390
to 400 hours of community service.
523
00:25:59,557 --> 00:26:01,059
And the community is saying,
524
00:26:01,142 --> 00:26:04,688
“Wait a minute. Hold up.
Time-out on the court.
525
00:26:04,771 --> 00:26:08,858
What about the 400 years
of community service
526
00:26:08,942 --> 00:26:11,027
that we have given this country?
527
00:26:11,111 --> 00:26:14,239
And this is the justice
which you serve us?”
528
00:26:17,951 --> 00:26:19,536
Latasha Harlins...
529
00:26:21,496 --> 00:26:27,419
was just 15 years old, and she got popped
behind $1.79 worth of orange juice.
530
00:26:29,421 --> 00:26:32,299
Jugo de naranja.
531
00:26:32,382 --> 00:26:35,010
She was only 15 years old, mi gente,
532
00:26:35,093 --> 00:26:39,139
but she didn’t have no quinceañera.
533
00:26:40,849 --> 00:26:42,559
She was a good student.
534
00:26:42,642 --> 00:26:44,394
You know, she grew up--
535
00:26:45,270 --> 00:26:48,481
She said she wanted to grow up
to be a lawyer.
536
00:26:50,692 --> 00:26:53,820
And she got popped
the same way her mama got popped.
537
00:26:53,903 --> 00:26:56,531
When she was just nine years old,
538
00:26:56,614 --> 00:27:02,203
Latasha’s mama got shot and killed
in a barroom brawl, y’all.
539
00:27:02,287 --> 00:27:07,083
So she’s
a second-generation handgun victim.
540
00:27:10,337 --> 00:27:12,297
So it’s not all about you, Rodney.
541
00:27:12,380 --> 00:27:15,175
No, it’s not all about you.
542
00:27:15,967 --> 00:27:20,221
And just then the famous flame
went up that utility pole
543
00:27:20,305 --> 00:27:21,973
and that electric line came down,
544
00:27:22,057 --> 00:27:24,893
and you thought of your father,
the Kingfish, right?
545
00:27:24,976 --> 00:27:26,936
Beating your ass with that electric cord.
546
00:27:27,020 --> 00:27:28,480
Oh, Lord.
547
00:27:28,563 --> 00:27:32,025
You thought maybe that was a sign
to get your black behind home.
548
00:27:32,484 --> 00:27:35,153
So you put the Hyundai in reverse,
549
00:27:35,236 --> 00:27:39,115
and it’s Florence Avenue eastbound
550
00:27:39,199 --> 00:27:41,534
and then the 110 Freeway northbound.
551
00:27:41,618 --> 00:27:43,578
You get in the left lane,
stay in the left lane,
552
00:27:43,662 --> 00:27:46,581
go through the three tunnels
that go underneath Dodger Stadium,
553
00:27:46,664 --> 00:27:49,542
and then you veer left
into the 5 Freeway northbound,
554
00:27:49,626 --> 00:27:52,629
stay in the right lane,
2 Freeway northbound.
555
00:27:52,712 --> 00:27:55,382
And then it’s the 134 east.
Then it’s the 210 west.
556
00:27:55,465 --> 00:27:56,800
You’re back to where it began.
557
00:27:56,883 --> 00:28:00,929
You take off the red, the green,
the gold tam with the dreadlocks attached.
558
00:28:01,012 --> 00:28:02,013
You toss it,
559
00:28:02,097 --> 00:28:04,641
and then you reach for the brandy,
but it’s killed, but it’s cool,
560
00:28:04,724 --> 00:28:09,062
’cause your boy shows up with a case
of Jack Daniel’s that he had looted
561
00:28:09,145 --> 00:28:11,564
and says, “Hit it, Glen. Hit it, Glen.
Hit the Jack.
562
00:28:11,648 --> 00:28:16,653
It’s the spoils of war. Hit it, hit it.
It’s the spoils of war.
563
00:28:16,736 --> 00:28:18,863
Hit it. Hit it, Glen. Hit it, Glen.
It’s a little scorched.
564
00:28:18,947 --> 00:28:21,449
But, you know, hit it, hit it.
Hit the Jack. Hit the Jack.”
565
00:28:21,533 --> 00:28:23,618
And you hit the Jack. Right, Rodney?
566
00:28:23,701 --> 00:28:24,994
Ahhh!
567
00:28:25,078 --> 00:28:26,788
Ahh. Jack.
568
00:28:26,871 --> 00:28:29,457
And you turn the TV back on--
[mimics TV turning on]
569
00:28:29,541 --> 00:28:32,335
just in time to catch Matthew Haines,
570
00:28:32,419 --> 00:28:34,838
white boy, LBC, Long Beach City.
571
00:28:34,921 --> 00:28:36,673
He was taken off of his motorbike.
572
00:28:36,756 --> 00:28:39,759
They took his motorbike
after they took his life.
573
00:28:39,843 --> 00:28:42,637
He was on his way
to help a black friend move.
574
00:28:42,721 --> 00:28:45,056
His black friend had to move alone.
575
00:28:45,140 --> 00:28:46,474
Jack.
576
00:28:47,767 --> 00:28:48,893
Ahhh!
577
00:28:48,977 --> 00:28:50,645
Juana Espinosa...
578
00:28:51,479 --> 00:28:53,398
in the barrio of Watts,
579
00:28:53,982 --> 00:28:56,693
a devoted mother, wife-- madre, esposa--
580
00:28:56,776 --> 00:29:00,238
she was on her way to the bodega just
to get a loaf of bread.
581
00:29:00,321 --> 00:29:03,867
She couldn’t understand
what the English-language broadcast said.
582
00:29:03,950 --> 00:29:07,537
She caught a stray bullet in the stomach
and woke up dead.
583
00:29:07,620 --> 00:29:10,540
The bread went undelivered.
584
00:29:10,623 --> 00:29:12,167
Jack.
585
00:29:14,794 --> 00:29:15,837
Ahhh!
586
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:19,257
And what about Edward Song Lee, Rodney?
587
00:29:19,340 --> 00:29:21,634
Edward Song Lee.
What about Edward Song Lee?
588
00:29:21,718 --> 00:29:24,888
Edward Song Lee. He was only 18 years old.
589
00:29:24,971 --> 00:29:28,516
He figured he gonna throw down
in Koreatown,
590
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:31,728
come to the rescue
of Korean-owned bidness.
591
00:29:31,811 --> 00:29:34,814
But Korean-owned bidness mistook him
for a looter
592
00:29:34,898 --> 00:29:38,026
and they-- [mimics gunshot]
593
00:29:38,109 --> 00:29:41,196
It was Korean-on-Korean violence.
594
00:29:41,696 --> 00:29:43,865
And the rest is what, Rodney?
595
00:29:43,948 --> 00:29:45,700
Oh, that’s right.
596
00:29:45,784 --> 00:29:47,577
You didn’t take AP English.
597
00:29:47,660 --> 00:29:49,412
The rest...
598
00:29:55,543 --> 00:29:57,295
is silence.
599
00:30:02,133 --> 00:30:03,802
Alas.
600
00:30:07,639 --> 00:30:09,724
Poor Eddie.
601
00:30:13,478 --> 00:30:19,859
We hardly knew ye. [sobbing]
602
00:30:28,993 --> 00:30:30,453
Jack.
603
00:30:33,748 --> 00:30:35,375
John Doe number 150,
604
00:30:35,458 --> 00:30:39,087
he was burned out in the back
of a Pep Boys store...
605
00:30:40,004 --> 00:30:41,214
on Vermont Avenue.
606
00:30:41,297 --> 00:30:43,883
He was about 5’1”, 5’2”,
607
00:30:43,967 --> 00:30:46,678
maybe 125 pounds in weight.
608
00:30:47,595 --> 00:30:50,223
They don’t know if his name
was Manny, Moe or...
609
00:30:50,473 --> 00:30:51,516
Jack.
610
00:30:52,892 --> 00:30:57,981
So how you gonna let it go,
Rodney Glen, Glen Rodney?
611
00:30:58,064 --> 00:31:00,275
How you gonna let it go?
612
00:31:01,109 --> 00:31:02,902
You always loved the water.
613
00:31:03,528 --> 00:31:06,489
Your father, the Kingfish,
he taught you how to fish,
614
00:31:06,573 --> 00:31:08,908
and he taught you how to swim.
615
00:31:08,992 --> 00:31:11,494
And you taught yourself how to ski
616
00:31:11,578 --> 00:31:14,789
up on the top of Mount Baldy.
617
00:31:14,873 --> 00:31:16,457
In the morning, hittin’ the slopes.
618
00:31:16,541 --> 00:31:18,751
In the afternoon-- [chuckles]
619
00:31:18,835 --> 00:31:23,631
you taught yourself how
to surf the violent Pacific.
620
00:31:23,715 --> 00:31:25,091
Right, Rodney?
621
00:31:25,675 --> 00:31:26,718
Taking full advantage
622
00:31:26,801 --> 00:31:29,929
of Southern California’s
topographical options
623
00:31:30,013 --> 00:31:33,808
and breaking racial stereotypes
at every step of the way.
624
00:31:33,892 --> 00:31:36,644
“Hey, dude. Hey, Rod. Fuck yeah, man.
625
00:31:36,728 --> 00:31:39,105
Waves are gnarly today, man.
626
00:31:39,188 --> 00:31:41,733
Fuck yeah, Rod. Bitchin’, dude.
627
00:31:41,816 --> 00:31:43,902
This is where we were when LA was burnin’.
628
00:31:43,985 --> 00:31:45,695
Hittin’ the waves, dude.”
629
00:31:45,778 --> 00:31:48,197
And you liked surfing, didn’t you?
630
00:31:48,281 --> 00:31:49,449
Rodney, you loved surfing
631
00:31:49,532 --> 00:31:52,827
until one day you mistook
a school of dolphins
632
00:31:52,911 --> 00:31:54,746
for a school of sharks.
633
00:31:56,539 --> 00:31:59,751
And when you got the settlement
in the civil case--
634
00:31:59,834 --> 00:32:01,419
How much did you get, Rod?
635
00:32:01,502 --> 00:32:03,212
Three-point what?
636
00:32:03,296 --> 00:32:06,883
Oh, wow. You got your ass kicked
and you got three-point what?
637
00:32:06,966 --> 00:32:11,429
Okay. First thing you did
was make an investment in real estate.
638
00:32:11,512 --> 00:32:14,432
’Cause you’re in California,
you’re gonna invest in some real estate
639
00:32:14,515 --> 00:32:15,767
if you can, right?
640
00:32:15,850 --> 00:32:18,394
You got your mom a nice crib,
641
00:32:18,478 --> 00:32:20,939
and you got yourself a modest home
with a backyard.
642
00:32:21,022 --> 00:32:24,108
Pool. Modest home with a backyard.
Pool. Modest home with a backyard.
643
00:32:24,192 --> 00:32:25,318
Pool. That’s cool.
644
00:32:25,401 --> 00:32:28,071
And then here on this side of the pool,
645
00:32:28,154 --> 00:32:34,577
you inscribed in black tile
that famous date, 3-3-91,
646
00:32:34,661 --> 00:32:36,120
night you got your ass kicked.
647
00:32:36,204 --> 00:32:38,373
And then over here
on this side of the pool,
648
00:32:38,456 --> 00:32:43,419
you inscribed in black tile
that other famous date, 4-29-92,
649
00:32:43,503 --> 00:32:45,338
the Simi Valley all-white jury,
650
00:32:45,421 --> 00:32:48,132
not guilty, not guilty,
not guilty, not guilty.
651
00:32:48,216 --> 00:32:52,553
And then here at the deep end of the pool
is what you thought you might do, right?
652
00:32:52,637 --> 00:32:54,555
Inscribe in black tile
653
00:32:54,639 --> 00:32:57,100
the final number of the fatalities
654
00:32:57,183 --> 00:33:00,645
from the riots-slash-
insurrections-slash-uprising-
655
00:33:00,728 --> 00:33:02,397
slash-rebellion.
656
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:06,150
But... you thought
maybe that’s too much blood.
657
00:33:06,901 --> 00:33:08,736
Too much death.
658
00:33:08,820 --> 00:33:11,364
Or did you think, Rodney,
659
00:33:11,447 --> 00:33:15,994
that maybe the final number
of the fatalities hadn’t been tallied yet?
660
00:33:17,161 --> 00:33:20,665
’Cause, you know,
there’s always one more to go.
661
00:33:22,625 --> 00:33:26,838
Have you read your autopsy report, Rodney?
662
00:33:27,672 --> 00:33:30,717
The coroner’s... file.
663
00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:33,970
Have you downloaded the pdf thing?
664
00:33:35,388 --> 00:33:38,933
They dissected you, Rodney.
665
00:33:40,059 --> 00:33:42,645
They removed all of your vital organs.
666
00:33:43,146 --> 00:33:45,982
They weighed them. They measured them.
667
00:33:46,858 --> 00:33:48,359
All normal.
668
00:33:48,443 --> 00:33:50,945
Your adrenal glands are normal, Rodney.
669
00:33:51,029 --> 00:33:53,781
Your kidneys are normal.
Your lungs are normal.
670
00:33:53,865 --> 00:33:56,200
Your esophagus is normal.
Your spleen is normal.
671
00:33:56,284 --> 00:33:58,286
Your genitals are normal. You’re normal.
672
00:33:58,369 --> 00:34:03,082
You’re a normal
middle-aged African-American male
673
00:34:03,166 --> 00:34:06,085
who wears a goatee
and has a receding hairline.
674
00:34:06,836 --> 00:34:08,546
Right, Rodney?
675
00:34:08,629 --> 00:34:12,550
And then they produce
that small chain saw,
676
00:34:12,633 --> 00:34:13,968
not unlike that...
677
00:34:14,635 --> 00:34:17,388
large chain saw that you used
678
00:34:17,472 --> 00:34:21,017
when you were fighting forest fires
in the Stanislaus National Forest.
679
00:34:21,100 --> 00:34:23,436
And they bore through your breastbone.
680
00:34:24,103 --> 00:34:26,397
And they produced your heart.
681
00:34:27,231 --> 00:34:31,652
And they held it up
as if you were an Aztec god.
682
00:34:33,112 --> 00:34:36,949
And then they weighed your heart
on the scales of justice--
683
00:34:37,033 --> 00:34:38,826
420 grams.
684
00:34:38,910 --> 00:34:42,080
Now, they say that a man of your stature
should have a heart
685
00:34:42,163 --> 00:34:44,248
that weighs only 360 grams.
686
00:34:44,332 --> 00:34:47,335
You have an abnormally enlarged heart.
687
00:34:47,418 --> 00:34:49,504
Did you know that, Rodney?
688
00:34:50,254 --> 00:34:55,259
And they also identified
the Four Horsemen of your Apocalypse.
689
00:34:55,343 --> 00:34:58,513
No, not officers Koon, Powell,
Briseno and Wind.
690
00:34:58,596 --> 00:35:01,933
No, we’re talking about booze and weed.
691
00:35:02,016 --> 00:35:03,851
And coke.
692
00:35:03,935 --> 00:35:05,394
And dust.
693
00:35:05,478 --> 00:35:06,938
PCP. Dust.
694
00:35:07,021 --> 00:35:09,315
And dust eventually
you would learn to trust.
695
00:35:09,398 --> 00:35:11,859
They said you were dusted
that night of the beating.
696
00:35:11,943 --> 00:35:15,154
But toxicology reports proved otherwise.
697
00:35:15,238 --> 00:35:18,658
And dust eventually
you would learn to trust.
698
00:35:18,741 --> 00:35:21,536
Then it’s DUI, DUI, DUI,
699
00:35:21,619 --> 00:35:23,871
DUI, DUI, DUI,
700
00:35:23,955 --> 00:35:25,706
DUI, why DUI?
701
00:35:25,790 --> 00:35:28,251
And it’s domestic abuse, no excuse.
702
00:35:28,334 --> 00:35:31,254
Domestic abuse and it’s DUI, DUI.
703
00:35:31,337 --> 00:35:34,173
And is it true that you got popped
by the po-po
704
00:35:34,257 --> 00:35:37,635
up in the Echo Parque,
in flagrante delicto,
705
00:35:37,718 --> 00:35:39,929
in the back of an auto, butt naked,
706
00:35:40,012 --> 00:35:43,766
with some cross-dressing cubana ho?
707
00:35:43,850 --> 00:35:48,354
Inquiring minds in the Lower East Side
wanna know.
708
00:35:48,938 --> 00:35:50,898
[chuckles] Rodrigo Rivas.
709
00:35:51,357 --> 00:35:53,484
Such a beautiful Shakespearean name.
710
00:35:53,568 --> 00:35:55,153
Rodrigo Rivas.
711
00:35:55,236 --> 00:36:00,449
He was shot down and killed, oh, Lord,
by the National Guard
712
00:36:00,533 --> 00:36:03,452
on the corner of New Hampshire Avenue
and Pico Boulevard
713
00:36:03,536 --> 00:36:07,123
in front of another theater
that featured another play
714
00:36:07,206 --> 00:36:09,709
about another riot in LA history,
715
00:36:09,792 --> 00:36:12,420
the 1943 Pachuco Riots,
716
00:36:12,503 --> 00:36:15,006
the Zoot Suit Riots, right?
717
00:36:15,715 --> 00:36:19,010
And the star of that play, Zoot Suit,
718
00:36:19,093 --> 00:36:22,180
was none other than Edward James Olmos
719
00:36:22,263 --> 00:36:26,392
of American Me,
Star Trek and Miami Vice fame.
720
00:36:26,475 --> 00:36:29,103
And now it’s Thursday night,
right, Rodney?
721
00:36:29,187 --> 00:36:32,190
And Eddie-- Eddie Olmos is on TV,
722
00:36:32,273 --> 00:36:35,818
and he’s holding up a broom,
addressing the people of LA
723
00:36:35,902 --> 00:36:39,238
and says, “Come on. Come on, mi gente.
724
00:36:39,322 --> 00:36:42,283
Let’s sweep up LA. Let’s sweep up LA.”
725
00:36:42,366 --> 00:36:44,911
But fuck it, right, Rodney? Fuck it.
726
00:36:44,994 --> 00:36:47,705
He’d be better off
with a mop and a bucket,
727
00:36:47,788 --> 00:36:52,376
because the blood is running red,
up and down Olympic Boulevard.
728
00:36:53,336 --> 00:36:56,464
Where’s King Maintenance when you need it?
729
00:36:58,174 --> 00:36:59,800
Patrick Bettan.
730
00:37:00,635 --> 00:37:04,472
Patrick Bettan was an Algerian
who survived the Battle of Algiers
731
00:37:04,555 --> 00:37:06,849
only to lose his life right here.
732
00:37:06,933 --> 00:37:10,311
He was shot and killed
on Olympic Boulevard. Oh, Lord.
733
00:37:10,394 --> 00:37:11,854
He was a security guard.
734
00:37:11,938 --> 00:37:14,690
He got shot down
by another security guard.
735
00:37:14,774 --> 00:37:17,902
It was security guard-on-security guard
violence,
736
00:37:17,985 --> 00:37:20,238
and the rest is what, Rodney?
737
00:37:21,906 --> 00:37:24,575
Very good. Very good.
738
00:37:24,659 --> 00:37:27,411
You came into this world in what year,
Rodney?
739
00:37:27,495 --> 00:37:29,455
19-what? 65?
740
00:37:29,538 --> 00:37:32,708
The same year that Malcolm X
stepped off the planet.
741
00:37:32,792 --> 00:37:37,255
The same year that those famous flames
blew up in Watts.
742
00:37:37,338 --> 00:37:41,676
And the same year that Bill Cosby
won an Emmy for I Spy.
743
00:37:41,759 --> 00:37:44,470
The first Negro to do so.
744
00:37:44,553 --> 00:37:47,932
And now it’s Thursday night.
745
00:37:48,015 --> 00:37:49,850
Right, Rodney?
746
00:37:49,934 --> 00:37:54,647
And you’ve got a big speech
to make the next day, May Day.
747
00:37:54,730 --> 00:37:57,400
May 1, 1992.
748
00:37:57,483 --> 00:37:59,527
You know what you’ve got to do.
LA is burning.
749
00:37:59,610 --> 00:38:02,780
So you’ve got to put the fire out
once again.
750
00:38:02,863 --> 00:38:04,907
Right, Rodney?
751
00:38:05,741 --> 00:38:09,161
And it’s Thursday night, and...
752
00:38:10,288 --> 00:38:13,291
Mayor Tom Bradley is on TV
addressing the people of LA
753
00:38:13,374 --> 00:38:16,127
and saying, “Please be quiet. Don’t riot.
754
00:38:16,210 --> 00:38:18,504
We have a special treat for you tonight.
755
00:38:18,587 --> 00:38:23,426
We’re going to give you
the final episode of The Cosby Show
756
00:38:23,509 --> 00:38:25,261
without commercial interruptions.
757
00:38:25,344 --> 00:38:27,388
So sit back and relax.
758
00:38:27,471 --> 00:38:30,016
Get comfortable with the Huxtables.”
759
00:38:30,850 --> 00:38:34,854
Right, Rodney?
And so they’re fitting you for a sweater.
760
00:38:34,937 --> 00:38:36,105
Why a sweater?
761
00:38:36,188 --> 00:38:38,649
Because you got that big speech
to make, right?
762
00:38:38,733 --> 00:38:43,029
And you gonna wear a sweater,
because a sweater reads “Dr. Huxtable,”
763
00:38:43,112 --> 00:38:45,781
and everyone trusts Dr. Huxtable, right?
764
00:38:45,865 --> 00:38:48,492
“Take two of these
and call me in the morning.”
765
00:38:48,576 --> 00:38:50,619
Right, Rodney?
766
00:38:50,703 --> 00:38:54,373
They’re fitting you with a sweater,
and they’re fitting you with a tie.
767
00:38:54,457 --> 00:38:55,833
Why a sweater and a tie?
768
00:38:55,916 --> 00:39:00,588
’Cause a sweater and a tie
reads Mister Rogers.
769
00:39:00,671 --> 00:39:04,508
And everyone trusts Mister Rogers, right?
770
00:39:05,009 --> 00:39:08,888
And you’ve got a big speech to make.
Right, Rodney?
771
00:39:08,971 --> 00:39:12,767
On May Day, May 1, 1992.
772
00:39:12,850 --> 00:39:15,186
You know what you’ve got to do.
773
00:39:15,269 --> 00:39:20,816
Those same lawyers who gagged you
have typed up a speech for you.
774
00:39:20,900 --> 00:39:23,736
Four pages, typewritten speech.
775
00:39:23,819 --> 00:39:28,157
And you’ve got to deliver that speech
and put out that fire.
776
00:39:28,240 --> 00:39:30,034
Right, Rodney?
777
00:39:30,743 --> 00:39:34,372
You never got to testify during the trial.
778
00:39:34,455 --> 00:39:37,291
We never got to hear during the trial
779
00:39:37,375 --> 00:39:40,878
that the officers had said that night,
“Run, nigger.”
780
00:39:40,961 --> 00:39:43,589
We never got to hear during the trial
781
00:39:43,672 --> 00:39:44,965
that Sergeant Koon,
782
00:39:45,049 --> 00:39:49,595
having found out that you worked
in concessions in Dodger Stadium
783
00:39:49,678 --> 00:39:51,389
after having kicked your ass,
784
00:39:51,472 --> 00:39:57,269
said to you, “Hey, Rod, we really played
some hardball tonight, didn’t we, Rod?”
785
00:39:57,353 --> 00:39:59,146
No, we never heard that.
786
00:39:59,230 --> 00:40:03,901
And we never heard
that the officers had told you that night,
787
00:40:03,984 --> 00:40:08,155
“We’re going to kill you tonight, nigger.”
788
00:40:09,782 --> 00:40:11,117
No.
789
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:13,619
We never heard the N-word used
790
00:40:13,702 --> 00:40:17,832
in its original
and most appropriate context.
791
00:40:19,583 --> 00:40:21,168
Have you...
792
00:40:22,711 --> 00:40:25,673
surfed the Internet yet, Rodney?
793
00:40:25,756 --> 00:40:29,593
Have you read
what they’ve been writing about you?
794
00:40:29,677 --> 00:40:30,678
Why don’t we?
795
00:40:30,761 --> 00:40:35,099
Even on the day of your demise,
it might come as some surprise.
796
00:40:35,182 --> 00:40:37,560
“Hey, fuck this guy Rodney King, okay?
797
00:40:37,643 --> 00:40:40,938
Fuck him. I don’t care if he’s dead. Okay?
798
00:40:41,021 --> 00:40:44,233
Now, he led the police
on a high-speed chase that night.
799
00:40:44,316 --> 00:40:46,527
A lot of people could have been killed
that night.
800
00:40:46,610 --> 00:40:47,945
Fuck him. Fuck Rodney King.”
801
00:40:48,028 --> 00:40:50,906
Have you heard the rap
called “Fuck Rodney King,” Rodney,
802
00:40:50,990 --> 00:40:53,117
by Willie D of the Geto Boys?
803
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:54,952
The one that goes,
“Fuck Rodney King in the ass.
804
00:40:55,035 --> 00:40:56,537
When I see the motherfucker, I’ma blast.
805
00:40:56,620 --> 00:40:58,539
Boom, boom in his head, boom in his back.
Yeah, just like that.”
806
00:40:58,622 --> 00:41:01,208
Have you heard that, Rodney?
Shall we go back to the Internet?
807
00:41:01,292 --> 00:41:04,211
Why don’t we? “As an African-American--
808
00:41:04,295 --> 00:41:07,423
Honey,
is there a hyphen in ‘African-American’?
809
00:41:08,048 --> 00:41:10,885
As an African-American,
I think it’s ludicrous
810
00:41:10,968 --> 00:41:13,220
that the late Rodney King
should be held up
811
00:41:13,304 --> 00:41:15,806
as some sort of role model
in our community.
812
00:41:15,890 --> 00:41:19,477
Certainly, there are people
who are more worthy of this honor.
813
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:22,980
Uh, Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas certainly.
814
00:41:23,063 --> 00:41:28,027
And let’s not forget
about former First Lady Condoleezza Rice.”
815
00:41:29,612 --> 00:41:33,032
Shall we go back and continue
with the Internet? Why don’t we?
816
00:41:33,115 --> 00:41:35,826
“OMG. OMG. OMG. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
817
00:41:35,910 --> 00:41:38,829
OMG. OMG. WTF?
What the fuck? What the fuck?
818
00:41:38,913 --> 00:41:40,831
OMG. Oh, my God.
819
00:41:40,915 --> 00:41:43,250
I’ve been like, like, like.
I’ve been like, like, like.
820
00:41:43,334 --> 00:41:44,502
I’ve been like, like, like, like,
821
00:41:44,585 --> 00:41:50,007
listening to the 911 emergency call
from Rodney King’s swimming pool,
822
00:41:50,090 --> 00:41:51,258
like, nonstop.
823
00:41:51,342 --> 00:41:54,470
Oh, my God. OMG.
I don’t know who’s the bigger idiot, okay?
824
00:41:54,553 --> 00:41:57,181
The person who calls in and says,
‘Help, help.
825
00:41:57,264 --> 00:42:00,392
He’s at the bottom of the pool.
Come quick. Come quick. Come quick.’
826
00:42:00,476 --> 00:42:04,063
Or the operator who says,
‘Is he breathing?’”
827
00:42:06,398 --> 00:42:09,443
They’re laughing at you right now, Rodney.
828
00:42:09,527 --> 00:42:11,570
You’re the butt of a joke
in New York City.
829
00:42:11,654 --> 00:42:13,113
They’re laughing at you right now.
830
00:42:13,197 --> 00:42:17,451
They have no idea that you a father,
that you a grandfather,
831
00:42:17,535 --> 00:42:20,955
that you expired
in the bottom of your swimming pool
832
00:42:21,038 --> 00:42:22,581
on Father’s Day.
833
00:42:23,499 --> 00:42:25,793
The same way that your father,
the Kingfish, expired.
834
00:42:25,876 --> 00:42:29,046
You found him, didn’t you, Rodney?
835
00:42:29,129 --> 00:42:33,259
When you were just a teenager,
he had drowned in his bathtub.
836
00:42:33,342 --> 00:42:35,469
He had done drunk hisself to death.
837
00:42:35,553 --> 00:42:38,889
So you’re a second-generation,
alcoholic drowning victim,
838
00:42:38,973 --> 00:42:41,183
but they don’t know that.
839
00:42:41,850 --> 00:42:46,188
Maybe they just know you
from Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
840
00:42:46,272 --> 00:42:49,233
Or maybe they just know you
from Celebrity Boxing
841
00:42:49,316 --> 00:42:52,486
where you kicked that ex-cop’s ass
in Philadelphia.
842
00:42:52,570 --> 00:42:54,989
Mumia Abu-Jamal was not the referee.
843
00:42:55,072 --> 00:42:59,034
Or maybe they know you
from the BET comedy hour
844
00:42:59,118 --> 00:43:01,745
when you were introduced from the audience
845
00:43:01,829 --> 00:43:04,290
as “Rodney damn King.
846
00:43:05,791 --> 00:43:10,170
The nigga who survived
the biggest ass-whupping in history.
847
00:43:10,254 --> 00:43:11,755
Stand up, Rodney.
848
00:43:11,839 --> 00:43:14,341
Stand up, Rodney. Stand up, Rodney.
849
00:43:16,093 --> 00:43:18,429
Stand up, Rodney!”
850
00:43:22,433 --> 00:43:24,435
But now it’s May Day.
851
00:43:25,394 --> 00:43:27,021
May 1...
852
00:43:27,938 --> 00:43:28,939
1992.
853
00:43:29,023 --> 00:43:31,275
Come on, Rodney King.
854
00:43:31,358 --> 00:43:34,111
You’ve got your sweater and your tie.
855
00:43:34,194 --> 00:43:38,407
You got your bulletproof vest.
Your Jheri curl is dripping.
856
00:43:39,033 --> 00:43:43,621
You’ve got your four-page,
typewritten speech.
857
00:43:43,704 --> 00:43:46,415
You look at the first page.
858
00:43:48,125 --> 00:43:50,127
You can’t read it.
859
00:43:50,210 --> 00:43:51,795
’Cause at a very young age,
860
00:43:51,879 --> 00:43:54,923
you were diagnosed as what?
861
00:43:55,007 --> 00:43:56,216
Dys...
862
00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:58,302
What’s the word? Dys--
863
00:43:58,844 --> 00:44:03,182
Dys-- so you take this first page
and you toss it.
864
00:44:03,974 --> 00:44:06,226
And you take the second
and the third pages
865
00:44:06,310 --> 00:44:07,811
and you toss them.
866
00:44:07,895 --> 00:44:11,190
And you take the fourth page
and you toss it,
867
00:44:11,273 --> 00:44:13,108
because this...
868
00:44:14,443 --> 00:44:17,237
performance has no script.
869
00:44:18,113 --> 00:44:20,407
It’s completely improvised.
870
00:44:20,908 --> 00:44:22,660
Right, Rodney?
871
00:44:23,494 --> 00:44:26,330
You gonna-- [chuckles]
872
00:44:27,039 --> 00:44:29,249
speak from your heart.
873
00:44:31,001 --> 00:44:33,545
You gonna speak from the bottom...
874
00:44:34,254 --> 00:44:38,175
of your abnormally enlarged heart.
875
00:44:40,928 --> 00:44:43,222
You ready to start?
876
00:44:45,516 --> 00:44:47,017
Five...
877
00:44:49,228 --> 00:44:52,064
“Let it go, Glen. Let it go, son.”
878
00:44:52,147 --> 00:44:53,565
Four...
879
00:44:54,608 --> 00:44:56,485
“That’s it, son.
880
00:44:56,568 --> 00:44:58,570
Throw out your line.
881
00:44:59,488 --> 00:45:01,407
Reel in your catch.”
882
00:45:02,783 --> 00:45:04,451
Three...
883
00:45:05,327 --> 00:45:07,121
“Slow down, Glen.
884
00:45:08,747 --> 00:45:10,666
Glen, slow down.”
885
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:13,710
Two...
886
00:45:15,754 --> 00:45:17,965
“We’re going to kill you tonight...
887
00:45:20,050 --> 00:45:21,510
nigger.”
888
00:45:23,137 --> 00:45:24,513
One.
889
00:45:27,891 --> 00:45:29,810
“Mr. King.
890
00:45:40,112 --> 00:45:41,697
You’re on.”
891
00:45:53,250 --> 00:45:54,835
“People.
892
00:45:59,965 --> 00:46:02,509
I just wanna say, you know,
893
00:46:03,469 --> 00:46:05,220
can we...
894
00:46:07,347 --> 00:46:09,766
Can we all get along? Can we...
895
00:46:10,726 --> 00:46:12,519
Can we get along?
896
00:46:14,771 --> 00:46:18,692
Can we stop making it horrible
897
00:46:18,775 --> 00:46:21,612
for the old folks and--
898
00:46:23,238 --> 00:46:25,032
and the kids?
899
00:46:27,534 --> 00:46:29,328
I mean...
900
00:46:31,205 --> 00:46:34,291
There’s enough smog in Los Angeles
901
00:46:34,374 --> 00:46:36,293
without, you know,
902
00:46:37,252 --> 00:46:39,922
setting these fires and things.
903
00:46:40,005 --> 00:46:42,174
It’s not right.
904
00:46:43,425 --> 00:46:45,761
It’s not right, and it’s not...
905
00:46:46,803 --> 00:46:49,598
It’s not gonna change anything.
906
00:46:52,476 --> 00:46:54,645
We’ll get our justice.
907
00:46:56,605 --> 00:46:58,815
They’ve won the battle,
but they haven’t...
908
00:46:59,691 --> 00:47:01,193
won the war.
909
00:47:02,819 --> 00:47:05,280
We’ll get our day in court,
which is all we want.
910
00:47:05,364 --> 00:47:06,823
I...
911
00:47:09,993 --> 00:47:12,037
I love...
912
00:47:13,914 --> 00:47:15,749
I love ev--
913
00:47:18,001 --> 00:47:19,378
I’m not a...
914
00:47:20,087 --> 00:47:22,130
I’m neutral. I’m--
915
00:47:22,965 --> 00:47:25,008
I’m not what they’re picking me out to be.
916
00:47:25,092 --> 00:47:28,887
I love... people of color.
917
00:47:34,393 --> 00:47:36,895
We’ve got to quit. We’ve got--
918
00:47:37,604 --> 00:47:39,856
We gotta quit. I mean...
919
00:47:40,941 --> 00:47:43,527
I can understand, you know...
920
00:47:44,987 --> 00:47:47,573
I can understand the first upset,
you know,
921
00:47:47,656 --> 00:47:51,201
the first couple of hours
after the verdict.
922
00:47:51,285 --> 00:47:54,329
But it’s just, you know...
923
00:47:54,913 --> 00:47:57,332
keep on going on.
924
00:47:59,209 --> 00:48:01,169
Like, this-- this is--
925
00:48:01,253 --> 00:48:03,380
this is not right.
926
00:48:03,463 --> 00:48:06,592
And to see...
927
00:48:07,593 --> 00:48:09,928
the security guard...
928
00:48:10,888 --> 00:48:13,515
shot down on the ground.
929
00:48:14,224 --> 00:48:16,226
That’s not right...
930
00:48:17,060 --> 00:48:20,230
because these people will never go home
931
00:48:20,314 --> 00:48:22,816
to their families again.
932
00:48:27,487 --> 00:48:29,615
We can get along. We can get along.
933
00:48:29,698 --> 00:48:31,700
We can get along.
934
00:48:32,242 --> 00:48:34,911
Just have to, you know...
935
00:48:37,456 --> 00:48:41,376
I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while,
so let’s, you know, work it out.
936
00:48:41,460 --> 00:48:43,420
Let’s work it out.
937
00:48:43,503 --> 00:48:48,634
Let’s, you know, try to be the...
938
00:48:52,846 --> 00:48:54,348
You know.
939
00:48:55,766 --> 00:48:57,100
Let’s...
940
00:48:58,935 --> 00:49:01,063
Let’s work it out. We can work it out.
941
00:49:01,146 --> 00:49:03,231
We-- We--
942
00:49:09,404 --> 00:49:11,698
I can’t breathe.
943
00:49:16,495 --> 00:49:18,455
I can’t breathe.
944
00:49:18,538 --> 00:49:20,082
I can’t--
945
00:49:21,708 --> 00:49:23,710
I can’t breathe.
946
00:49:26,838 --> 00:49:28,048
I can’t...”
947
00:49:28,131 --> 00:49:31,843
-[flames crackling]
-[sirens blaring]
948
00:49:43,605 --> 00:49:46,525
[sirens continue]
949
00:49:48,902 --> 00:49:52,406
[helicopter whirring]