UNDERSTANDING THE RIOTS / PART 3 : WITNESS TO RAGE : IN THE MIDDLE : ‘It was sort of a reality check.’

A considerable amount of sadness came over me when I heard the verdicts. I tried to conduct business. I had some media calls and things to do, but the emotion kept coming up so I finally stopped. I became tearful and began to cry.

I was trying to fight back the tears, and then there was a point when I just basically stopped the business that I was doing, and I let myself really think about what had just happened, and that was when I became very upset and saddened.

I don’t know Rodney King, but I think he symbolizes a lot of people. Part of me. He is an African-American and so am I. The Rodney King incident has brought out frustrations that I have. I’ve had a basic desire to be accepted as simply a human being. I think now that that a person of color is always viewed differently.

What I believe happened when I heard the verdict was the reality that some people are never going to see me, or may never see me, or my brother, or a friend of mine, or somebody within my family, as a human being.

We may share the same basic views on life, the same morality. We may pray to the same God, we may love in the same capacity, basically we’re the same, and I may not be viewed by some people in their class in that way.

That’s what made me cry, because it was sort of a reality check. That was perhaps something I had kept in the back of my mind, and that came forth as a result of the verdict.

A lot of legislation has been passed so that I can go through life with the same opportunities of other people and be treated fairly and justly. The verdict made me realize that some people, no matter what, may have preconceived notions, and ultimately the system that is supposed to protect me and my rights is flawed.

I don’t condone the riots. I understand the riots. I understand them as being a result of people who are looking to vent what is pent-up frustration, in some cases, people who don’t have, didn’t have clothing or didn’t have certain household items, and too, when they saw an opportunity to get those things took advantage of it. Some who were just simply crying out in frustration, and it was a rebellion basically.

What makes this very different from the Watts riot was that in this case there were people from all different colors who were rioting. People of all different colors who were rebelling.

We need to develop programs that will increase cultural awareness. We become afraid of something that we really don’t understand, who people are, what they are all about.