The Rodney King Verdict: Did Our Justice System Fail? And Now What?

I just had to explain my tears to my innocent 7-year-old son. The Rodney King verdict blared across the airwaves, sending cold chills down my spine. I had to explain to him that skin color doesn’t make a difference in who a person is. I had to explain to him that the job of a policeman was to protect people, while living within the same laws. I had to explain to him the concept of a trial and to define the word travesty . I had to explain to him why anger at the verdict was violently spilling into the streets of Los Angeles. I had to explain to him why the world wasn’t fair. And I had to explain to him things for which I had no rational explanation: a jury’s shortsightedness and the inexcusable brutality apparently condoned within the police department and the public at large.

SUSAN KNIGHT, Orange