The Rodney King Incident and Black Community’s Issues

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The analysis of the Rodney King incident can help identify the challenges of the African American community and assess the changes that have occurred nearly 30 years since that case. Abuse of power by law enforcement officers has not ceased to be an acute problem, as evidenced by periodic mass protests amid precedents of violence against Black citizens. One of the key changes is the scope of media coverage of such cases. Today, any situation involving the use of unjustifiably brute force against African Americans can become public. Previously, the vulnerable category of the population did not have such an opportunity, and the Rodney King incident can be considered accidentally documented, which became a trigger for mass protests.

The beating of Rodney King for police brutality and abuse of power reflects the difficulties that the black community in the US had to overcome in the late 20th century. According to Williams and Clarke (2019), the incident became popular due to the video that went public, but at the time, media coverage of such incidents was rare. African Americans could not count on comprehensive social support initiated by caring citizens. Since 1991, much has changed, including in the legislative environment. However, modern media coverage and liability for abuse of power by law enforcement officers is fraught with no less serious consequences than the Rodney King case. Moore (2022) draws a parallel to the killing of George Floyd as a result of unjustified brutality by a police officer. The mass unrest after the announcement of the verdict in the case of Rodney King in 1994 was significantly less large-scale than after the murder of Floyd in 2020 (Moore, 2022). Thus, one can speak of the increased social function of the African American community, which controls the actions of the police and reacts sharply to any cases of gratuitous aggression.

Over the past 30 years, few meaningful steps have been taken in the criminal justice system with regard to social issues relating to racial inequality. As Owusu-Bempah (2017) states, law enforcement agencies continue to maintain the status of “race-making institutions,” which is expressed in social stratification along ethnic lines (p. 27). The author gives the example of urban ghettos where racial minorities, mostly African Americans, are settled (Owusu-Bempah, 2017). The American justice system does not provide for special forms of interaction with non-whites. However, as practice shows, African Americans continue to report harsher treatment from police officers, such as during searches or arrests (Owusu-Bempah, 2017). Therefore, from the standpoint of the bias of the criminal justice system, one cannot speak of significant shifts toward advancing equality.

At the same time, in the social environment, more attention is paid to the cases of police lawlessness and brutality. According to Williams and Clarke (2019), the American Black community has become more active in advocating for individual rights and freedoms. One of the main prerequisites is the wide hype caused by the publication of relevant materials in media resources. At the time of the Rodney King incident, communication channels were limited mainly to print media and television. Today, any Internet user can initiate legal proceedings by providing relevant evidence of a specific violation. This suggests that, due to advances in technology, African Americans can count on public exposure to abuses of power by police officers. Nonetheless, from a legislative perspective, the situation has not improved significantly to speak of the changed social status of racial minorities.

References

Moore, S. D. (2022). From Rodney King to George Floyd: Characterizations of police, victims, & suspects in crime-related new media (Publication No. 29214176) [Doctoral dissertation, Regent University]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Owusu-Bempah, A. (2017). Race and policing in historical context: Dehumanization and the policing of Black people in the 21st century.Theoretical Criminology, 21(1), 23-34.

Williams, S. N., & Clarke, A. V. (2019). How the desensitization of police violence, stereotyped language, and racial bias impact black communities.Psychology and Cognitive Sciences – Open Journal, 5(2), 62-67.