Months before he died, Rodney King told how the beating by LAPD officers changed his life
Rodney King, who died in 2012, spoke to Kurt Streeter a few months before his death, about being transformed from a troubled man into an icon of the civil rights movement.
Full story: The past still grips Rodney King.
It felt like I was an inch from death.
Yes, I would go through that night, yes I would. I said once that I wouldn't, but that's not true. It changed things. It made the world a better place.
I sometimes feel like I'm caught in a vise. Some people feel like I'm some kind of hero.
Others hate me. They say I deserved it. Other people, I can hear them mocking me for when I called for an end to the destruction, like I'm a fool for believing in peace.
Do they blame me for the all those people who died?
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