Why exactly did white people hate Rodney King?

[Family Man]

I was just thinking about the shyt earlier today. I was a kid when that shyt popped off. did Rodney King do other than get the shyt beaten out of him? Any theories? Or is it just a case of CACs CACing?

 

[Blackking]

the latter.

 

[Slystallion]

i don't remember Rodney King hated...just made fun of for Can't we all just get along...the riots in LA though were what caused white people to probably shake their head and mumble racist things under their breath most likely

 

[Rapmastermind]

Rodney King became a symbol of White Racism being alive and well. Instead of focusing on the clear video evidence of police brutality, they wanted to focus on his Drug Issues. As a black man I seem to get a lot of people who I know that aren't black telling me Racism is over. I always found that a little funny. In White America's eyes, Racism is dead and gone and Blacks just complain to much. The Rodney King case proved that race was and will always be a factor when the majority is one race. What's really sad about the Rodney case is they had video evidence and everyone still got off. Imagine all the Blacks and others who don't got tapes recording and what they deal with cops. R.I.P. Rodney, you legacy will always be a reminder we are still fighting and no Rodney, some people just never want to get along cause hatred is strong with them.

 

[Mr. Somebody]

Because he got rich for getting whipped.

 

[daze23]

sounds like a strawman. who hated on Rodney King?

 

[Family Man]

sounds like a strawman. who hated on Rodney King?

 

[daze23]

that's the best answer you could come up with?

 

[88m3]

sounds like a strawman. who hated on Rodney King?

You're a pretty smart, observant guy.

 

[daze23]

You're a pretty smart, observant guy.

am I missing something here?

 

[daze23]

that's the best answer you could come up with?

bump

@Family Ram

 

[Wild self]

I keep forgetting that he's dead.

 

[88m3]

am I missing something here?

He was persistently hounded by the media until he died.

People looked at the settlement as unjust and King as a spendthrift.

 

[daze23]

He was persistently hounded by the media until he died.

People looked at the settlement as unjust and King as a spendthrift.

he became a 'celebrity' for various reasons. but I never saw much "hate" for him

does someone at least have a link since this is supposedly such a widespread obvious phenomena?

 

[feelosofer]

The thing with Rodney King and white people was that Rodney King was representative of a racism in America rearing it's ugly head. Keep in mind race relations in the early 90's had the image of improving. Blacks seemed to begin recovering from things like the crack epidemic, and there was an influx of African-American people becoming middle/upper-middle class and moving to primarily white communities as opposed to staying within their communities and improving them from within.

Remember most people weren't aware of the growing unrest between L.A. citizens and the police until the Rodney King beating happened and when most Black people expected the police to at least lose their jobs if not get jail. That acquittal was just a spit in the face of African-Americans.

White people sided with the police and tried to paint Rodney as an unruly ex-con that was hopped up on drugs and alcohol and while many felt the police went too far, they thought they were justified in using force to subdue Rodney King. So they didn't hate Rodney King per se, but hate what they believed he represented.