The video of motorist Rodney King being beaten to within an inch of his life was the first viral video I can remember. When the LAPD officers who savaged King got a "not guilty" verdict 20 years ago today, parts of Los Angeles began to literally burn. Good thing King was still around to, as has been noted in many a retrospective recently, pour water on the whole situation with his famous question, "Can we all get along?"
In subsequent years, when it was no longer "too soon" to do so, the remark became comic fodder. It's no wonder some people don't remember the power of King's words, and how much they mattered then. An excerpt from King's new book, noted this week in the interview with the Rev. Al Sharpton above, reminded me of a lyric from perhaps the strongest track I remember about the riots, Ice Cube's "We Had to Tear This Motherf***** Up":
You had to get Rodney to stop me, 'cause you know what?
We woulda teared this muthaf****up
As true as those words may have been, I was always struck by the lack of self-control they indicated. I don't judge it, because I was a young black teenager that day, full of my own rage. What if Rodney King had died, and there was no one with his prominence to pour water on the fire that was burning (metaphorically if not literally)? What if it were to happen today? Is it happening today?
In Sunday's show, Melissa will note the anniversary of the verdict by addressing not only the power of King's words, but correlating them to the Trayvon Martin case. You'll want to see this.
Melissa will also confront the question Ronald Reagan initially asked of voters when he ran against President Jimmy Carter, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" Republicans are using that phrase again, presumably not only to draw a connection between Presidents Obama and Carter, but to use the economy as a talking point. Whether or not it's true may not matter; as so many have noted, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney has a loose relationship with facts. The point is, it worked in 1980. Will it work now?
We'll also take a close look at the moral and legal questions surrounding the death penalty; examine the complex politics of Melissa's native Virginia; and look at the worth of social programs (that work). And if you haven't heard of Charles Taylor, Melissa will offer an introduction.
Our guests will include:
- Tom Perriello, former U.S. Congressman from Virginia, President and CEO for the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and Counselor for Policy at the Center for American Progress.
- Bill Schneider, CNN senior political analyst and Distinguished Senior Fellow and resident scholar at Third Way.
- Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project.
- Vera Thomas, whose son is on death row in Missouri.
- Faiz Shakir, editor-in-chief of ThinkProgress.org, and Vice President at the Center for American Progress.
- Jeff Jacoby, op-ed columnist for the Boston Globe.
- Dorian Warren, assistant professor of political science and international public affairs at Columbia University.
- Anthea Butler, professor of religious studies and graduate chair of Religion at the University of Pennsylvania.
As always, be sure to interact with us during the show on Facebook and on Twitter, using the hashtag #nerdland. See you all at 10am ET!
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Melissa, on today's show one of your round table made reference, that the economy was to big to control, I would like to differ in that when FDR was President he took control of the economy and through regulations, made it fairer to 99% of the people who worked, so they could earn a living and not die in the streets. In 1967 Congress started to disassemble the New Deal so that by 1990 the economic benefits derived by the economy were pointed to the 1%, Bush 2 exacerbated the problems by additional tax cuts, unfunded wars and mandates so that when President Obama took the reins the die was already cast, the economy was RIGGED(controlled) for and by the 1%, whiles the 99% lost their savings and assets, the rich got richer.
There is precedent for the view of most the wealthy and how they look upon the working class, it was expressed by a Railroad Tycoon of the last century named Jay Gould, quote " I have so much money that I can hire half the working class to kill the other half", no matter how much lipstick you use, a pig is still a pig, end Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps and all the other Social Programs will have one result, people will die early, and from the Jay Gould position it can be done with out any labor cost.
One last thought, the 99% has been taken advantage of, for the last 5,000 years or more by the wealthy, royalty, nobility, barons of industry ad nauseam, they are now using the vast transfer of wealth to justify their greed at everyone expense.
Thanks, for all you bring to a public forum, I've been a supporter since I first heard your positions on Bill Maher.
Mike Greenspan
Melissa, please help to pass this on - to properly understand how huge BO achievement in getting rid of both OSBL and Gadaffi.
Facts:
You get to pass it round to let American people know how great OB achievements are... and must not allow the GOP to dictate how these achievements are used in the election campaign because OB rightfully deserve and fully owned the right to do so....
Has anybody given a thought to God forbid if the mission to get OSBL has failed like President Carter's attempted rescue of American hostages in Iran (which caused Carter re-election) went? OB's prospects for re-election would have all been about such failure to get rid of OSBL. Don't listen to those sour grapes GOP's failed leaders, like John McCain who are full of bitterness but completely vacous in 'ability to show good leadership' for the nation...
i was sitting home thinking about your show Sunday and you had on the spokes women for the tea party amy kremen and i was taken back by the conversation it sounded to me like she was saying that all those tea party protest were just thousands of good hatred people from what i saw there were folks talking bout ,i want my country back and posters that called obama Hitler and pictures of obama with a bone through his nose calling his wife a terrorist a Muslim ect,ect,ect, that played out for the whole summer of 2010 and into the fall that got us to where we are today you left out the part that no one came out and said stop with this racist talk and and the riot talk that was going on and is still going on so i can't and don't buy this it was a grass roots movement and those people were outsiders
if i had the chance to speak with her i would have said that the tea party was wrong to let the hate mungers run them or are they the hate i think you get what im saying
much love to yall
watching this interview with Rodney King and having seen the video of him being beaten by 4 police officers is very sad, and so hard to understand. I mean, we the people are suppose to feel safe with having police officers around. They are suppose to be there to help us and protect us from others that may harm us in any way. Looks like we need to be protected by someone other than the police. I am not saying that all of them are bad and so cruel, but these 4 officers make the good ones look bad and give them all a bad reps. Who are we suppose to trust? Why is this world so full of hate and violence, we cant we all just get along, be at piece with everyone and everything. God did not put us in this world for all of this. We were all put here for a reason, and all this hate and violence is not one of those reasons. May God be with us all. Much love and respect goes out to everyone in this world.