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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1992)
Page 4 OPINION THE CLACKAMAS PRINT May 6, 1992 Try a revolution instead of a mob scene riot by Robert A. Hibberd Co-Editor-In*Chief The Rodney King court pro ceeding and verdict was the great est travesty of justice that I have witnessed in my entire life. The case seemed so cut and dry; a videotape of a man being beaten 56 times aired nationally for months. The beating was so obviously unnecessary. Really, I’m not at all surprised. The American justice system is not set up to protect the innocent or to deliver justice. The system, as it is now, is non-linear. It is a system that can be manipulated and al tered to achieve a desired verdict. A person with enough money or enough connections can get what they want from the court system. The Los Angeles Police De partment obviously has enough connections. The trial was first moved to a predominately white neighborhood with a large cop population; this was a blatant move to protect the guys with the clubs and guns. Next, the mostly all- white jury was asked by the judge to see the situation through the eyes of the accused police officers. After these riggings were in place, the court proceeded to fool the jury into believing that it is acceptable police behavior to beat the crap out of a motorist. Following the verdict came an outbreak of justified violence and destruction stemming from an absolute loss of faith in the system. However, this is not a new emo tion; the anger was always there, the King trial just sparked the fuel. I will by no means condemn the violence; actually violence is common and acceptable when pre serving a democracy. This country was built on blood. I will, however, critique the violence that took place in Los movement needs to be purpose ful, organized and with definite direction. Instead of a riot or a mob scene, this action should have taken the form of a revolt (revo lution) or an uprising. Revolts ceeds to alter that form of power. For instance, the people rioting in L.A. tore up their own neighbor hood, looted their own stores and killed their own people. Nothing makes a racist happier than seeing his target of hatred self-destruct. photo by Vivian Job neon A Los Angeles Police Officer marks in his notebook as men who were apprehended during the riots lay face down in a parking lot. Several arrests were made during the violence that took place following the Rodney King trial. Angeles following the King ver dict This violent reaction that took place in L.A. can be labeled as a riot, meaning that it was violence out of control. This particular form of violence is wrong. A violent have specific purposes and goals that are to be achieved during the action. Revolts target the specific individuals in power that are responsible for the particular oppression; then the revolt pro L. A. rioters should have taken more time to go after some of the big corporate businesses and people responsible for the corruption in government The most important step in any revolt is to stay organized. A mob out of control is too easy for an army toquell. Early in a revolt, find out who is on your side then unite with that person or persons and kick some butt A good way to find out if a person is on your side is to simply ask that person, “You Down with the Cause?” If that person answers yes, then you’re cool; if that person answers no, then you know what to do. When you are out of control with violence, you give the powers that be an excellent excuse to gun you down. When you are organized and purposeful, you’ve got achance to accomplish change. Anyway, the majority of the L.A. violence has ceased. For now, the brothers need to stop fighting among each other. Every time a brother kills another brother, that first brother has just assisted the state genocide agenda. One brother in jail and one brother dead, that’s two brothers out — You see, the government wants the brothers to kill each other. That’s why they stick them in the inner- city, then they pour drugs and guns onto the scene. On top of that, they put a large majority of black cops in the neighborhood so what you have is a full scale war pitting blacks against blacks. This is President Bush’s and his administration’s wet dream. It’s peace for the time being but the fuel is still there waiting for ignition. Next time, the flame will bum in control. If you have a mentality that divides by race, be lief or creed you will be taken out You are either part of the solution or you are part of problem. Bush enforces stereotypes on racial minorities By Greg Tully Staff Writer In the aftermath of the Rodney King trial and the subsequent riots, it’s important to ask some ques tions. For example, how could that jury come to that verdict? Who is to blame for the riots? And how did this country sink so far, anyway? The answers are not easy and there are plenty of fingers to be pointed. But it is clear that the politics of division have come full circle and now it is time for all of us to think about how we can make this a great country once more and how we can ensure liberty and justice for all. Finger number one must be pointed at that wonderful leader of our country, George Bush. In 1988, instead of talking about issues, George ran his now-infa mous Willie Horton ad. The ad showed Horton, a large black man, and portrayed him as the symbol of crime. The ad blamed Michael Dukakis for letting Horton out of jail. The Bush campaign went on to run another ad showing a Massa chusetts jail with a revolving door for criminals. All the criminals in the ad were either black or his- panic. The message was clear. Bush was enforcing the stereotypical beliefs of middle class white Amer ica that told suburbanites to fear the large black men. This helped put Bush in office. It also helped to set the moral tone of his admini stration. Bush’s message of welfare reform was a thinly-veiled attack on the stereotypically lazy black American. The message, essentially, is that all these lazyblackpeople are out there I ing civil rights bill. At the same time, George’s appointments to courts and cabi net positions have been almost exclusively white males. Through these actions, Bush has proven just how crafty he is. While doing and saying nothing overtly racist, he has used the racial divisions of this country When he says traditional fam ily values, he means an end to civil liberties and a call to arms against the Bill of Rights and the women’s movement and the civil rights movement. All the while, Bush clings to the failed trickle-down economic theories of the ‘80’s. These poli cies do nothing but take from the poor and give to the rich like some kind of satanic Robin Hood. And while for welfare re- form has come, I Bush talked last but when King weekendofend ing racial divi George tells us the way to solve I • ■ - jgETajl sions, he was the problems of I W-jK? planning another the poor, and I Willie Horton- mostly black, I type ad attack ing Bill Clinton. people of this With the same country is to cut off their fund- I ■ type of racially- ing, it must re- I loaded language ally make you ■ that got him wonder. elected and fos Mean- photo by Vivian Johnson tering the stere while, the “drag A building burns out off control in Los Angeles during the otypes that con vinced the jury war” Bush is riots that followed the verdict of the Rodney King trial, that Horton must now waging is strikingly one-sided. While whites to gain political advantages over have been dangerous and any means necessary should be used to sub- do 80 percent of the drugs, blacks his opponents. When Bush says Dukakis is due such an animal. serve 70 percent of the jail time. Finger number two must be George tried to appease the soft on crime, he means that black voters with a black Supreme Dukakis is going to free black pointed at the so-called black lead- Court nominee with a bad civil marauders to rape and pillage ers of the country. While Jesse Jackson basically refused to call rights voting record and a do-noth- through White Suburbia. sponging off your tax dollars. I The time I 3HBHI for an end to the violence and Al Sharpton was chanting “no justice, no peace,” to an angry mob, the rioters were destroying their own neighborhoods and looting stores that provided what little opportu nity there is for poor blacks. Finger number three must be pointed at every one of us who have ever made racial jokes and turned our heads to racism, allowing big otry to blossom into the hatred of the KKK and providing an atmos phere where a David Duke or an OCA could have any power at all. Finger number four must be pointed at the rioters themselves who have not only proven them selves to be as bad as those four police officers, but have proven themselves to be the biggest racists in the country. When an angry mob ignores the lessons taught to us all by Mar tin Luther King and lynches people due to their color, they deserve no more respect than the Klan. What is truly sad is that many of the angry black youths who are looting and burning have probably never voted in an election. When an individual refuses to use their Con stitutional power to legitimately change the country, but rather uses violence as a form of protest, they have done an injustice to them selves and everybody. What is now important is to rebuild and to learn some lessons from this ugly chain of events.
