Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to introduce a Senate resolution to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest. On March 3, 1991, an African American named Rodney King was driving on a Los Angeles interstate when officers attempted to pull him over for allegedly speeding. By the time he pulled over and exited his car following a high-speed chase spanning 8 miles, there were multiple LA police department units on the scene. King was tasered two times, and camcorder video footage recorded by a civilian witness--George Holliday--from his nearby apartment balcony depicted the brutal beating of King by four officers who surrounded him. The officers struck King repeatedly until he was bloodied and disfigured with a fractured cheekbone, 11 broken bones at the base of the skull, and a broken ankle. The video footage shows King being struck by batons over 50 times, Holliday's video was sent to news outlets and aired around the world. It shook the Nation and raised outcries about excessive force by police officers. But even before the videotape had become public, community leaders in Los Angeles had highlighted on numerous occasions the use of excessive force by LAPD officers. In fact, in the immediate aftermath of the Rodney King beating, then- Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley formed the Christopher Commission to thoroughly examine thousands of excessive force complaints made against LAPD officers in the late 1980s.…”