Panorama of South Central, Los Angeles. April 28th, 1992, Evening Skyline, Part One, 2005
MAY 1963 , news footage of black civil rights protesters being attacked by police, dogs and fire hoses in Birmingham, Alabama. This footage has a profound effect on the public opinion during debates over the civil rights act in 1964, illustrating the power that media has on the public consciousness.
MARCH 1991 , two videotapes - one from an amateur's camcorder and the other from a store surveillance camera.
TAPE ONE:
SUNDAY MARCH 3rd, 1991 midnight - a speeding motorist by the name of Rodney King suffers baton blows, stomps and kicks to the head and body. Rodney King had just done less than a year in prison for trying to rob a Korean-American store with a tire iron. He got out of prison early for good behavior and found work as a construction worker. After a hard weeks, King needed to relax at a friend’s house where he drank 8ball brand malt liquor and watched some basketball. At 12 a.m. King is drunk past the limit and behind the wheel of his Hyundai. Going way beyond the speed limit King was urged by his passengers to pull over. He then notices the California Highway Patrol car was behind him, it's red and blue light strobes bouncing off Kings rear view mirror. He attempts to escape increasing his speed way beyond the limits of the Hyundai, he is then followed by a dozen squad cars, and exits off the 210 freeway near Sunland, CA, to the entrance to Hansen Dam in Lakeview Terrace. The Los Angeles Police Department officers Timothy Wind, William Powell, Ted Briseno and head officer Stacey Koon give orders to the unknown passengers of the Hyundai. King's passengers comply with the officers. King does not and the four officers begin to deliver fifty-six baton blows and six kicks to King over a two minute period in the presence of seventeen other LAPD officers and four CHP officers. That same night a man named George Holliday is awoken by the commotion outside his home, he had just bought himself a brand new camcorder. Scrambling out of bed he grabs the camcorder. Missing the first part of the standoff with King and passengers Holliday manages to get most of the beating on tape. Within twenty-four hours the videotape is broadcast natonwide.
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Panorama of South Central, Los Angeles. April 28th, 1992, Evening Skyline, Part Two, 2005
