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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
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ing racial divi
George tells us
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planning another
the poor, and I
Willie Horton-
mostly black, I
type ad attack
ing Bill Clinton.
people of this
With the same
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off their fund- I
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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.