@BumbleBeeBoogie,
The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption
by Rodney King (Author), Lawrence J. Spagnola (Author)
Book Description
Publication Date: April 24, 2012
On a dark street, what began as a private moment between a citizen and the police became a national outrage.
Rodney Glen King grew up in the Altadena Pasadena section of Los Angeles with four siblings, a loving mother, and an alcoholic father. Soon young Rodney followed in Dad's stumbling steps, beginning a lifetime of alcohol abuse.
King had been drinking the night of March 3, 1991, when he engaged in a high-speed chase with the LAPD, who finally pulled him over. What happened next shocked the nation. A group of officers brutally beat King with their metal batons, Tasered and kicked him into submission—all caught on videotape by a nearby resident. The infamous Rodney King Incident was born when this first instance of citizen surveillance revealed a shocking moment of police brutality, a horrific scene that stunned and riveted the nation via the evening news. Racial tensions long smoldering in L.A. ignited into a firestorm thirteen months later when four white officers were acquitted by a mostly white jury. Los Angeles was engulfed in flames as people rioted in the streets. More than fifty people were dead, hundreds were hospitalized, and countless homes and businesses were destroyed.
King's plaintive question, "Can we all just get along?" became a sincere but haunting plea for reconciliation that reflected the heartbreak and despair caused by America's racial discord in the early 1990s.
While Rodney King is now an icon, he is by no means an angel. King has had run-ins with the law and continues a lifelong struggle with alcohol addiction. But King refuses to be bitter about the crippling emotional and physical damage that was inflicted upon him that night in 1991. While this nation has made strides during those twenty years to heal, so has Rodney King, and his inspiring story can teach us all lessons about forgiveness, redemption, and renewal, both as individuals and as a nation.
About the Author
Biography
Rodney Glen King (born April 2, 1965 in Sacramento, California) is best known for his involvement in a police brutality case involving the Los Angeles Police Department in 1991. King has three children. He is engaged to marry Cynthia Kelley, who was a juror in the civil suit he brought against the City of Los Angeles.
Rodney Glen King is known for being the victim in a notorious police brutality case with the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991. King was born in Sacramento, California, to Odessa King. His father, Ronald King, an alcoholic, died at age forty-two. King grew up in Pasadena, California. In 2008, King was a cast member on VH1's second season of Celebrity Rehab, a popular TV show hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky that seeks to help celebrities become clean and sober.
READER REVIEWS
By Chris Frank
This is a shattering but illuminating story of a man I thought I knew but did not really know at all. Now I get a lot of his pathetic past and understand why King seemed doomed to repeat his mistakes. There is a tragic honesty on these pages, and Spagnola captures Rodney's voice and puts us in the room with this tortured soul. There's a lot of revealing material in here, and the chapter about his beating is one of the most brutally shocking passages I've ever read.
Rodney may have waited 20 years to tell us his story, but in a way, it was worth it.
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By A customer HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE
regardless of Rodney King's flaws and we all have them and battling personal demons and the day to day trials and tribulations, that beat down he took nobody ever deserves that. fortunately it was caught on tape and it also made him a stronger person and he is truly blessed. i applaud how he talked about civil right marchers and the past in this book and how he wants to give back and do other things. he had a story that needed to be told and heard and in light of recent situations with Treyvon Martin this Book came at the right time. healing and respecting are two very important topics that are a day to day need for more social improvement and acceptance. very important and enlighten book. never to be forgotten.
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By Jonathan Wiedemann
After living through all this in LA and hearing about Rodney's troubles with the law over the years, I didn't think the book would have many surprises, but it does. There's bribes by the mayor, racial remarks by the cops, and lots of manipulation and greed from his attorneys. The chapters on Rodney's father's abuse and the beating at the hands of the LAPD are brutal. It is a compelling read.
In addition to the narrative, I really liked the honesty of this book. In a world where everyone seems to be padding their resume, sugar-coating the truth, and trying to look good to get on a reality tv show, this is an honest, 'warts and all' story. Rodney King doesn't try to look good or bad - he comes off as a normal guy who got dragged into an extra-ordinary situation, and he tells it like it is without posturing or positioning himself. Co-writer Lawrence Spagnola must have won over his trust because King really opens up about his alcoholism and the sad way he keeps messing up. Rodney seems to be using the book to say he intends to clean up his life. I hope so, he deserves better than the cards life has dealt him so far. Only time will tell...