EDITORIAL
Jury verdict sends
disturbing message
Here was something that seemed clear cut.
Four white Los Angeles Police Department officers
savagely beat black motorist Rodney King, and they got
caught Even worse, they were captured on video lor
the whole world to see over and over again.
For HI seconds, the officers delivered blow after
blow — fit) to be specific — to King s body King's leg
and facial bones were broken in the beating, but for
these officers, it was just another black man subjet ted
to LA PD polity. In fact, several of the officers joked af
terwards about the beating King took. One even taunt
ed him at the emergency room, saying. "We hud a pret
ty good hardball game tonight you lost and we
won."
Officers Laurence Powell. Ntacev Koon. Timothy
Wind and Theodore Briseno thought, at the time, they
would get away with
thr healing, and al
though a \ ideotape
showed otherwise. they
were riglit
After nearly a year
of controversy over the
beating, after a lengthy
thr.month trial, and
after seven days of de
liberation, a six man
Reason dictates
that no jury in
America, given the
tape, could find
these officers
acted justifiably.
and six woman |urv lour mspame one Asian ann no
blue k.s) found th.it ‘Hi blmvs to a disabled suspet t’s
prone body do not constitute exi essive force
The verdict itself would not generate much contro
versy nationwide if it was just King'-, word against the
officers' accounts Hut we all saw the condemning
piece of evidence the videotape of the heating It
was clearly exc essive force It was clearly an assault.
Powell, who was accused of delivering the* most
blows, sairi, 1 was completely in fear for my life,
sc ared to death" of king because* lie believed king was
on PCI*. The videotape, however, clearly shows an in
capacitated king, in no condition to c hailenge officers,
still being brutally beaten.
Reason dictates that no jur> in America, given tile
tape. could find these officers ae ted justifiably
In addition. Hriseno told the* jury that he thought
"the* whole thing was out of control." and even tile*
most naive jury should have found these men guilty
The officers obviously used excessive* force, they obvi
ously filed falsi' reports, ami they obviously thought
they could get away with it because king was a black
man
The incident xvas clear cut.
Hut the sy stem tailed
In essenc e', by entering a not guilty verdict, the
Ventura County jury sanctioned unnecessary violence
against the citizens of I .os Angeles and said that these
same* citizens will alloys themselves to live in the kind
of disgusting society where such iojustie es are allowed
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The pep'C'T Declare 5ANKRuPTcY
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Banner-rippers show me the light
j THE FINE
1 PRINT
BY PAT MALACH
The word in m In linin'
something on campus vim
don't like or don't agree
w itli' Destrov it1
1 llilt N thl! lessllll W l> l .111
learn from the actions of some
of our more progressive and
opcn-mindmi students on
i iiinpun Tuesday A mob of
these righteous do-gooders
stormed the summer si bool ad
vertising banner hanging above
llth Avenue tore It down,
painted their (pnlitirul) rorrei
lions on it and dropped it on
the steps of Johnson Hall
What could one little banner
have done to rile the ire of the
enlightened There were till
ages of 11 historical figures on
the banner all of them were
whiti True, a l‘Diversity that
pa Vs extensive hp servn e to d i
versitv should be more aware
ol the subtle messages such a
banner i an put out. but de
stroying something because
you disagree with it is a much
more heinous i rune against our
society than one ilia omened
banner
There are better wavs to ac
comphsh things During the
w inter holiday season (formerly
known as Christmas), the I’m
versitv bookstore dei orated its
windows with a mural com
prised ol several while char.u
ters A group ol properly con
corned students took the issue
to the bookstore manager, who
had the artist come hack in the
next d.n to add some color to
the painting It was activism
with a point, and it made a dif
ference.
So what steps did these
guardians of banner diversity
take before deciding to remove
the advertising from the v tew of
the lest of campus' Well, there
was one letter to the editor of
this paper but summer session
Duet tor Ron Trehon said he re
reived no complaints about the
banner So alter one letter to an
entity that has no control over
the situation, the activists de
i tiled they had exhausted all of
their options to have the prob
lem dealt with And in a mo
ment o! unplanned mob van
lent !■. they- righted something
they saw as wrong
Wi ll 1 see ili.il as wrong
And then- .in1 .1 tot of things on
i ampus I don i like But iifli’T
Tuesday's ( ivie s lesson I have
seen the light M\ mission has
tieeume 1 leaf One thing ! don't
like Is that tills l-.arth Week (el
eliration we've been enduring
for the past few days has lost
sight ol the big pie (lire instead
of an ev elit to eefue ate thi'
masses about environmental
concerns. what we've got is a
week that's been co-opted In
the same old activist fates we
normally see- at Saturday Mar
ket l-.arth Week has become an
eve use to bring in had folk mu
sicians who sing to the 1 holr.
So when I walk In the groovy
granola gathering that turns oft
the u t\ people who need to
learn the most, I'm going to run
up on stage, disable the poor
folkies who happen to he there,
anei smash all their instru
ments I've been taught that's
the was I., deal with things you
don't like
And the next time the l.esbl
an. Gay and Bisexual Allium e
pills up 1 photo montage on its
door of group members en
gaged ill fellatio and other sex
ual aetivitie’s, I'm going to tear
it down because 1 personally
find it inappropriate, as I
would lor any other student
group
In i ,im‘ m\ attempt .it using
s.itin- to highlight this issin* has
eluded you, hit in« put It in
clearer language The people
who decided they had the au
thoritv to tear down the banner
are hypocrites Kvtrerne hyp
ot rites lor all the cow Hop we
hear ahout being diverse, being
an individual, and allowing ev
eryone the right to form and ex
press independent beliefs, the
unstated truth is that you are
expec led to express only pre
approved beliefs What hap
pened Tuesday was a group of
people dec iding their personal
judgments .ire the only correct
ones They decided the banner
was wrong and that no one else
at the University should be able
to see it and form their own
opinion alxiut it
'The traditionally oppressed
became as bad as what they say
they are fighting against Op
pression from the left is on no
I’m going to run up
on stage... and
smash all their
instruments. I’ve
been taught that’s
the way to deal
with things you
don’t like.
higher moral ground Ilian op
prcssion from the right, and it
i*. not the wav to create healthy,
long lasting (not reactionary)
change ()! course, this state
ment is not correct and will
he dismissed as the ramhlmgs
of another culturally insensi
live while male, unenlightened.
Ingot, i r.n ker. palsy, pawn of
The Man. eti , etc . ail infmit
urn
I'he only interesting thing to
tie seen is how thoroughly the
Office of l»uhlii: Safety investi
gates the destruction of Univer
sity property During spring
term of last year, lour students
were prosec uteri tinder the Stu
dent Uunduct (lode tor their
rules in painting the sidewalk
near knight Library to protest
the removal o( several tir trees
And those of us concerned
with equal rights (and equal re
sponsihilities) can only hope
Oi’S launches as tenacious an
investigation into tills incident
as it did into last year's hale-fli
er boondoggle In an effort to
find the person responsible for
posted tilers that were inter
preted as misogynist and
homophobic, OPS rounded up
all known lesbians named Kirs
ten and put them through in
timidating interrogations Of
course, it was later discovered
the fliers were made und posted
by a lesbian student who was
attempting to use satire to ad
dress the military’s misogynist
and homophobic practices
This banner incident is no
different than the cases men
tioned above The Student Con
duct Code has been broken.
University property has been
destroyed (SDHO worth to Ixi ex
act). and the students responsi
ble for it have the right to fie
prosecuted just as harshly
Put Maluch is tho managing
editor of the Emerald