King’s Attorney, Black Leaders Fire Back in Tustin Controversy

Rodney G. King’s attorney and local black leaders lashed out Friday at school officials who condemned King’s surprise visit to Tustin High School this week, saying that King meant only to bring positive messages to youths.

Flanked by local black educators in an evening news conference at Second Baptist Church, attorney Milton C. Grimes took specific aim at Tustin schools Supt. David Andrews, who had derided King’s appearance as an attempt to win public support in a pending legal fight.

“I regret that some people not present felt that it was a bad thing or a trick by me to get publicity,” Grimes said. “It was neither a bad thing nor a trick by me.”

Grimes said King’s presentation Wednesday night to about 75 members of the African-American Student Alliance Club and some adults was “the most profound address to a young black audience I’ve ever participated in.”

The controversy erupted Thursday after school district officials and local parents read news accounts of King’s surprise appearance, at which he promoted education and talked about his experiences. By Thursday afternoon, the district was deluged with telephone calls, which school officials said were mostly critical of the visit.

Grimes had been scheduled to speak to the class, but later decided to bring King. Grimes said Thursday night that the visit was an attempt to turn around his client’s public image. But on Friday he said he brought King because he felt the young audience could relate to King’s experiences.

Students, some of whom were present at the Friday news conference, and club adviser Judy Sampson said they were pleasantly surprised by the guest speaker.

Grimes is representing King in a pending civil lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department.

“Rodney King is a very important role model,” said UC Irvine psychologist Thomas A. Parham, who joined Grimes and others at the church news conference. “He is a symbol of determination to fight in the face of overwhelming odds.

“What is distressing is that the comments (from school officials) I read in the paper represent a level of insensitivity unbecoming an educator. It is a dramatic example of how racism permeates our most senior levels of education.”

Supt. Andrews had said Thursday that King “is too controversial for a school district to deal with. . . . His name is infamous.” Andrews said that he had no idea the visit had been planned and that he would not have supported it if he had known about it.

The superintendent could not be reached for comment Friday, but a secretary in his office said the district was continuing to get telephone calls in support of Andrews.

By late Friday morning, Andrews’ secretary, Ann Morgan, said the district had received more than 50 calls from within and outside the Tustin Unified School District, most offering encouragement for Andrews’ position.

But Grimes said his office was swamped with supportive calls from schools throughout the Southland and that some invited King to speak to their school groups.