RodneyKing

Dethroned

By V. Martin

After watching the horrific beating that man took by multiple police officers I can barely contain my anger.  Anger at everyone, myself included, for not standing up for this man from the beginning. Those officers need to be held accountable for what they did wether Mr. King believes he deserved it or not. We, no I, know better. No one no matter what they did to get the attention of the police deserve to be beat within an inch of their life, period. Short of molesting a tender age child, that is, for which I don’t believe he did. Anyway, Mr. King, obviously, was beaten so severely that even he believed he deserved it. It makes it easier for him to move on and take back some of the power and control he lost that night. 

There is also another theory that I have and that is the police beat him into it, probably threatening his life and the lives of the people he loves. Telling him with every blow that he asked for it. What did he think would happen? Driving at night through a part of town he had no business in? Who did he think he was? Pain, physical pain, inflicted so cruelly and with night sticks by the very people that are suppose to protect you, changes a person. Fear of it happening again or worse to the people you care most about can be the greatest motivator of all. 

As a society it is our job to protect its citizens when they cannot protect themselves. It is a form of PTSD and that night Mr. King stepped into a war he didn’t know existed or had forgotten he was still a soldier in. The war on drugs was simply a war on chocolate colored people, drugs was just the excuse they used to engage them, brutalize and kill them. 

Unfortunately, it is probably too late to get justice, not only for Mr. King but for his entire family and any people those police officers have brutalized since. Mr. King, I hope you are doing well and please forgive me for not defending you when you could not defend yourself. You in no way deserved what you got unless you were found molesting a tender age child or any child for that matter, which I don’t believe you were. Those cops did not have to beat you, they could have put you in cuffs rendering you defenseless. From what I saw you already were but they kept on hitting, kicking, bashing you with a night stick. They nearly killed you and probably gave you brain damage, that too could contribute to your delusions of asking for it.

Don’t get me wrong, it is in no way your fault. I mean you didn’t have a knife or a gun? I never even saw you try to hit any of them nor put up a hand to block their blows, you just took it and kept on taking it. It’s impossible for me to know exactly how you must have felt or still feel so I won’t pretend to. I have PTSD and I am becoming good at spotting it in others, now, not then. Trauma isn’t hard to spot when it is caught on camera and you know the signs in their reaction. 

I hope to do better going forward.