by
dominique DiPrima
My phone has been ringing and buzzing with texts all day. Rodney King is dead at 47 years old. Mostly people leave messages. It is Father’s Day 2012 and family calls so I don’t answer. Some of the messages are angry, some tearful, some resigned and emotionless. The texts are frantic, gossipy, or as flat as newscasts. The news spreads lightening fast through the ‘hood grapevine. CNN is the last to know.
The moving tributes have already begun. The painstaking analysis are now in full swing. What was King’s impact on the evolution of the LAPD? (Chief Beck releases a heartfelt statement,) What was the state of his sobriety? Was he really penniless? What did the future hold? And what really happened in the dim hours of morning that left him dead at the bottom of his swimming pool?
All of these questions and many more march through my head, taking turns on the mic. But my thoughts quickly turn to the last and only time I saw Mr. King. Vh-1 kindly sprung for a limo to bring Rodney to the radio station on April 30th 2012 – almost 20 years to the day since the civil unrest sparked by his beating rocked Los Angeles. I interviewed him alongside Carl Nelson at KJLH’s Inglewood studios.
Rodney King looked great! Much better than we expected. He was GQed out in a very nice suit, clean shaven, eyes bright with his signature chain of tiny beads around his suit. He was gracious and kind, with a gentle smile and a ready handshake for all. He even brought his fiancee, Ms. Cynthia Kelley AKA Juror #5 in his civil case. She got on the air with us and shared her strange urban fairytale. She was strong, engaging, and clearly protective of her husband-to-be. It was a hard, sad tale, with a happy ending (we thought.) King finds his princess, wins the settlement, writes a book and drives off to happily-ever-after in a Jackson Limosine.
But underneath all of what I saw was a profound sadness. Neither celebrity nor scholar in the true sense, Rodney King had become an odd icon. Everyone had an opinion about him: they loved him, they hated him, they let him know. And despite the fact that he was very candid in his book The Riot Within, about suffering abuse as a child and his lifelong battles with drugs and alcohol it was clear that he was still running. And still, in a haunting way, a victim of violence. Every April we replayed the video of his brutal beating over and over like some strange ritual. Yes, the LAPD has come a long way, and King’s pain helped to transform it, as the Chief so eloquently points out. But his sacrifice was ongoing, and I got the feeling the pain never really stopped. (My friend Marie calls it post Traumatic Beating SyndromeThere was no triumph in his eyes, no peace in his redemption. I wondered where do you go from here?
When I asked him if he was clean and sober he gave a non-answer: “I am comfortable with my sobriety right now.” I have close friends and family who are addicts. In drugspeak that means “I may be high right now…Leave me alone.”
I read on TMZ that he was upbeat just before his death. Slated to fight Jose Canseco in a celebrity boxing match, he was said to be looking forward to fighting, and making some money again. I couldn’t help thinking that once again, he would have been fighting for his life, his pain a spectacle, his “rehab” a reality show.
The first thing that crossed my mind when I heard Rodney King was dead was suicide. I have no proof, no facts and zero inside scoop – just a feeling. It is now widely reported that he was drinking and smoking weed shortly before he drowned. Despite his troubles Rodney King was a strong, physically fit 47-year-old. He is an Angeleno who has been swimming and fishing his whole life. How does he end up in the bottom of his own pool in the middle of the night?
I hope his death will make us reflect on violence and the many insidious ways it infects our lives. I pray we will indeed “all get along” and make peace with each other and ourselves. I hope we will not only demand that the police stop beating us, but that we stop beating each other, our spouses, our children, our “little homies,” ourselves. I pray that we will break this cycle of violence that infects our community, our city and our nation. We can only do this through conscious effort, through purposeful change, through creatively construting a new way. Rest in peace Rodney…May your passing help all of us face The Riot Within.
June 17, 2012 at 11:08 pm
So sad, another King gone too soon…
It was just last month that I was listening to Rodney King and his fiancee speaking on the radio on KJLH – Frontpage, and I’m glad that listened to him and that you were able to interview King prior to this unexpected tragedy. Such a monumental figure during the 1992 L.A. civil unrest and his infamous words “can’t we all just get along?” reflects the true power of change and resolve that has taken place within the community. Although we still have a ways to go. Even though I was just a young child in 1992, it still is a time in history that will never be forgotten. I will be buying his book very soon.
I don’t know. But, I think King was framed and his death was a set up. Just like Whitney’s death. First of all, Rodney King was found, like Whitney Houston, submerged underneath water (only he was at the bottom of the pool and she was in a bathtub in a hotel room) and just hours or minutes before that he allegedly had alcohol and weed also like Whitney. I think it is strange that Rodney’s body was found at the bottom of the pool…usually a body floats to the top
This story is just not adding up and its far too similar to Whitney’s (drowning death) to be some sort of freak accident…he seemed just fine when he was talking on the radio last month. I hope foul play is not involved or that there is some sort of cover-up going on here.
RIP Rodney King.
June 21, 2012 at 8:51 pm
RIP Brother Rodney King this is a tragedy, because I thought after hearing him on the Front Page he was getting his life together after that terrible beating caught on tape. I too question the fact that he was found at the bottom of the pool, because I too thought that the body floats at the surface for a while before it sinks to the bottomm but we weren’t there. Yahoo mis wrote the news when news first broke saying it might of been foul play then corrected their article. Plus I never heard of anyone dying of heart failure off weed, but Stress and Alcohol and who knows what kind of condition his body was in after that beating years ago. I’ve learned myself what looks good on the surface may not be as good on the inside. So heart failure or a stroke could of been the cause. I’ve seen a lot of people die a untimely death due to years of abuse. So my Heart goes out to his Family no mater what happend. He’s at Peace now.
June 21, 2012 at 10:04 pm
I have another version of what really happened…
Maybe Rodney King’s fiancee, Cynthia Kelly, had a verbal disagreement with Rodney King and recall neighbors do confirm hearing some people arguing leading up to the incident. Then Kelly went back inside the house and was talking to Rodney King through the screen door because she had locked Rodney King outside. King was “banging on the windows” after that to get inside just so the two could talk it out and work things out, but Kelly ignored King and left him outside all night. King was already depressed, despondent due to having drank weed and alcohol just moments earlier, and felt so bad and heartbroken that he started crying by the side of the pool all night long. This would explain all the “deep crying and sobbing” that the neighbors reportedly heard leading up to the incident.
Now, sometime after that Kelly must have feel asleep inside and woke up still upset at King (who was still locked outside in the back) and she wouldn’t let their disagreement go. She probably at some point observed Rodney King skinny dipping in the pool to regroup and try to get his thoughts back together. The fact that he seemed unphased after she had awoke after their earlier disagreement…caused her to get mad at him again and when King was close to the edge of the pool, Kelly crept up on King, who by now had gotten out of the pool upon seeing his fiancee and in an attempt to greet her and make things right.
When he got out and turned his head around at some point Kelly hit him in the back of the head with that shovel (that was police confiscated by the police,) and then he “fell” into the pool and was unconscious. That was the splash. Then Kelly made up the story about not being able to swim and not trying to help him…so she could collect the life insurance proceeds.
This is an alternate version because the fiancee’s story isn’t adding up.
June 19, 2012 at 6:23 am
Man listen..
Who knows what King was into?! Who and why would someone or a group want King dead?! There is an increasing voice for reparations in this country for Blacks and it’s getting louder and louder. Perhaps King would have been some sort of linchpin? Hmmmm.. Just throwing it out there.. Our Black Super Hero Johnnie Cochran was putting together a team of super lawyers to take the united states of america to court on behalf of the american negro much like the jews, and asians did. There is also a slow but increasing movement of negros to start pushing back against the so-called machine along with the rise of a new Black Panther Party. Hmmmmmm..
I’m just spitballing here but Rodney King for better or worse did represent some sembalance of hope. To me King was someone that whites had a measure of respect for and sympathized with the plight of not only the american negro but of all who are blatantly wronged and in the center of that wronging still shines like gold. King represented that to me. All I know is that something is not right here. It doesn’t make sense. They will say that King had drugs/heart desease blah blah blah.. The “official” word will say all of that. If it doesn’t make sense it’s usually not true..
..and the way things are done in this country hasn’t made sense in like forever..
June 19, 2012 at 6:36 am
When I asked him if he was clean and sober he gave a non-answer: “I am comfortable with my sobriety right now.” I have close friends and family who are addicts. In drugspeak that means “I may be high right now…Leave me alone.”
Strange question to even ask this man.. When we speak of this man being hounded perhaps it was this exact type of questioning that weighed heavy on him by the same community that’s suppose to shelter him. As if he somehow DESERVED the beating. I suppose you were just asking the hard question and doing your job.
I suppose.. “Leave Me Alone”.. Indeed..
June 19, 2012 at 9:05 am
Why would anyone want Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dead?
Why would anyone want Malcolm X dead?
Why would anyone want Rodney King dead?
Why? One thing these men all have in common is that they are political figures whose actions sparked deep change on many levels, and changed society as people knew it at the time. Rodney King is no different because it was his case that was caught on live camera and ultimately publicized around the world for all to see how African-Americans were the victims of police brutality (and still often are) by racist white cops. Especially in the inner cities of L.A., Chicago, New York, etc.
As far as Rodney King goes, he was sort of thrust into the political spotlight when LAPD officers beat him to near death but didn’t kill him the first time. This was all under the racist Daryl Gates legacy, now police chiefs are not appointed indefinitely, complaints against police officers are investigated, there are more cops of color and female officers, etc. Arguably, set in motion and sparked by the King beating and the already racial tensions between the cops and blacks during that time. No different from the 1960s when Malcolm X and Dr. King was around. I was born in the 1980s and even I know this stuff since because I read about these injustices.
I wouldn’t put it past LAPD if after King’s body was pulled from the pool that LAPD beat the body again while it was back at the coroner’s office, or at least got in a few baton hits when no one was looking just for fun. Still upset behind the changes that King’s beating sparked relative to subsequent changes within that police department.
June 29, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Although Rodney King’s claim to fame was a humiliating beating at the hands of the LAPD, he unfortunately lived a life, that showed he was a reckless individual who did not learn from this valuable mistake.
He became an icon for the unjust way people of color are treated at the hands of law enforcement and who’s recorded beating and ultimate acquital of the officers caused substantial devastation to LA, especially around my alma mater, St. Michael’s High School. The school has since closed, however, the remnants of those days in 1992 have remained.
I always give pause at how much we destroyed our OWN community due to the injustices levied against Rodney King, and how did he thank us for supporting him? He continued his path of self destructive behavior.
It comes as no surprise he died penniless, and if accounts are true, that his family doesn’t have the resources to bury him, what would the fiancee truly gain by killing him?
RIP Rodney King and I pray your souls will finally be at peace.
June 30, 2012 at 11:08 am
There’s no more than a camera and a microphone to become to mourn or scorn publicly. Being beaten to a pulp doesn’t count the same off camera than on. To be written on a blog a day or two after your surmise by a well known radio personality. What price to loss what price to fame? I’m not disposed to inject the world of change on King as much the video camera that caught the incident. How about a “Being In The Right Place At The Right Time Award”? This isn’t to besmirch King. The issue is not in his being who he is, but his being in the right place at the right time to receive the butt kicking that paid off. It only added to what was already ongoing in his life however. A mess infused with greater means to violate one’s self will do so.
I remember a film project Rockney King was up to. I don’t know what happened to the product. I don’t know the name. I do know the name of a tune I’ve written that would give some substance to my name. Right time right place, how much do we miss by not being where King was in his condition on the night he was beaten.
Sooner of later police brutality would have met its waterloo. King taking the beating had an abrupt effect. Would want to make a folk hero out of King, but it’s more about the event his life has meaning. Not that his humanity should not be commonly shared. We need not allow media to become who we celebrate is all I’m saying.