Rodney King
Initially, I did not have that much knowledge of the Rodney King beating. I have heard of the event on multiple occasions and the brutality that came about after the trial verdict. I only had knowledge of King being an African American man who was beaten by white officers. I didn’t know he was speeding and that it led to a police chase. As to the riots, I had known of the protests and the violent outbreaks against the verdict of the officers. Hearing of Los Angeles people stand up against such a case as King’s gave me a good feeling. I strongly disagree with any form of prejudice acts and knowing that people from such a mixed city stood against it as well made me happy. Because of my little knowledge of such an event in California’s history, I think that it was in Anna Deveare Smith’s mind that year’s later, young kids will not know about Rodney King. Using a stance such as people that were actually involved in riots or effected by them or just knew about the events because they lived in LA is such a strong point of view to see. Reading real words that people spoke and see them portrayed on stage would be so much more effective than any fictional play that Smith could have thought of in the first place. She captured the events of through people’s words, different ethnicities and backgrounds at that, and that is something that history books could never show. “Twilight’s recognition that we must reach across ethnic boundaries is simple but true.”