Rodney

Friends, while I try to spend most of my time on this blog exaggerating things that irritate me and making lists of everything else, I have to pause for a moment to pay respects to the short, tragic life of Rodney King. 

For me, growing up in the 1970s, King’s videotaped beating in March in 1991 was the first incident where I really saw how race worked in the United States.  King, a black man, drunk off his rocker and driving at speeds in excess of 100 miles an hour was stopped by the police, and exited the car in a highly nonconforming manner.  Based on his behavior, police used tasers on King, and when he still did not submit, they commenced to beat the living shit out of him, as seen on George Holliday’s videotape. 

America was divided, much like it is divided today with the Trayvon Martin killing.  King was a bad dude.  The police were, arguably, threatened and not taking any chances. On the other hand, the force used against him was overwhelming, and reactions seemed to contrast white America’s fear of the black man and desire for strong law and order with black America’s assertion that this sort of treatment occurred in every place, for every reason, and black people had little recourse.  Also, in 1991, the war on drugs was on in full force, and King, reportedly high (although never substantiated) on PCP, looked like the poster child for Scary Drug Users in Action.

As most of us recall, in an ensuing trial, the police offers who committed the beating were acquitted, there was an unimaginable race riot, and in the end, OJ was acquitted for murder.  Possibly even more memorable, was Rodney King, full of emotion, recovered from his beating, but still fragile, pleading with the city - no, the country - “Can’t we all just get along?” It was unscripted, and undeniably heartfelt.   

Years later, King, an alcoholic whose body was turning against him, entered rehab in the most public way possible – on Celebrity Rehab 2 with Dr. Drew.  Now, I know that there are people who find Dr. Drew a shameless publicity whore who is doing nothing but making tabloid TV out of horrible problems that face real people, but I happen to think oppositely.  I am a huge fan of Celebrity Rehab, because it shows that drug and alcohol abuse isn’t just for Crappy Poor People who Have No Self Control.  Addiction can happen to anyone, everyone has their secret pain, and recovery is not a one-day process.  Rodney King on this show was absolutely mesmerizing.  He was a really lovely, sincere person, who genuinely struggled with finding the person under his demons.  He was still dealing with the trauma of his beating, and becoming the face – both good and bad – of the events that happened afterwards.  

As of this writing, I don’t know what killed him.  I am guessing it wasn’t squirrels that pushed him in his pool.  But regardless of the circumstances of his death, Rodney King’s death has left a very sad, empty place in my heart.  This was a guy who had an ugly past, who paid for it publicly and dearly, and who shouldered everything that occurred in his life with acceptance.  He never denied that he had troubles of his own.  He forgave the people who harmed him.  He acknowledged that life is not black and white – that things that happen have shades that can change instantaneously.  He was a supremely human person, and just listening to him humbled me, with my ridiculous first-world problems, in an instant. 

That Rodney King was not able to conquer his struggles is devastating.  Because that means that many of us won’t overcome our struggles, and the optimist in me has a hard time facing that reality.  So instead, all I can do is think to myself that Rodney King is in a place right now, where he is standing in a beautiful garden.  He stands in the rays of the sun, and he’s been given peace, calm, hope, serenity, and all of the shining love and acceptance that exists.  He is at peace, and his family is at peace.  He is whole.