9 Not-So-Random Thoughts About Rodney King

(suggested background music pairing:  BlackWidow, Buckshot LeFonque, 1994)

YES – I brought up Rodney King.  It was 20 years ago this week that he was beaten by the LAPD after leading them on a high speed chase, trying to avoid a DUI.  Instead of spending time going into details, here is the Wikipedia link.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King   

My thoughts:

1)  His infamous quote, “can we all get along” has been used many times, sometimes in jest, sometimes in seriousness, in both cases including by myself.  But it seems to me more often than not, it’s in jest.  I find that both sad and disturbing.  In and of itself, it is a very good message. 

“People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids?...It’s just not right. It’s not right. It’s not, it’s not going to change anything. We’ll, we’ll get our justice....They won the battle, but they haven't won the war....Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to work it out.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgiR04ey7-M 

The problem is that I believe his label of being a drunk, the way he presented himself, the way he appeared, was a convenient way for people to ignore and downplay that message.  Which, as I said, I find that sad and disturbing.

2)  Speaking of labels, we as a society are obsessed with labels…placing a label on someone or a group of people or even someone’s opinion, or even trying to live up to a label.  Is it, as Chris Rock suggested, people wanting to belong to something, a sort of gang mentality?  I tend to go the opposite direction, and sometimes to a fault.  If I feel someone is trying to place a label on me, sometimes I work at rejecting or fighting against that label.  The problem with labels is (as Chris Rock implied and I agree): do we stop thinking for ourselves, and instead fall into the trap of labeling or being labeled, which in turn leads to acting without thinking?

3)  Many labels are a collection of stereotypes.  I’ve said for years, a stereotype wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t at least half true.  BUT…on the flip side, a stereotype is NOT 100% true.  Few things drive me more crazy than people who complain about a stereotype but fall into it at the same time.  Except for people who seem proud to fall into one. 

4)  And guess what?  Labels and stereotypes feed into prejudices.  And for the record, yes, we are ALL prejudiced.  To be prejudiced is to enact in pre-judging.  Life is a series of judgment calls and practically nothing is pure black and white (pun NOT intended).  I have no issue with prejudices, they are necessary and unavoidable. 

5)  The issue I have is when people act indecently because of, and due to, their prejudices; when people act wrongly against someone because of a prejudice.  If you have a prejudice and because of that you avoid someone or something, OK, fine, no harm done.  But when you deny someone something, put them down, and most importantly,  not recognize when an individual is do something positive, then I find that disturbing and sad.  Like the Rodney King quote.

6)  And the above points are directed towards alcoholism as much as race.  (And also in class-ism/elite-ism but that’s for another day).  The negative connotation of the word drunk bothers me, because at the end of the day, there is a person underneath that label who is suffering and in pain.  Who am I to judge whether they should have gotten to that place or not?  To say an asinine comment like, “well, I wouldn’t let myself get to that place.”  That kind of thinking is where we’re in trouble as a society.  And yes, I find this too to be disturbing.  And sad.

7)  Speaking of labels and alcoholism, I personally disagree with labeling alcoholism being labeled a disease.  I think it puts alcoholism into dangerous territory in terms of how people react to it, since, it seems people react to labels instead of the specific item.  I personally think it’s even dangerous to label alcoholism as an addiction, as there are several types of addictions.   I’d rather alcoholism be called just that, without trying to stick a label on it.  Maybe we’d react to people suffering from alcoholism better that way?

8)  So, back to Rodney King and alcoholism (sans labels) and pain, and sadness.  He was on Celebrity Rehab With Dr Drew a few seasons ago, and it was very obvious how traumatic that beating incident was to him, and particularly how that brought him into the public limelight.  Fortunately, on the show, it appeared that he took sobriety seriously, and as mentioned on the Wikipedia page, he had at least 11 months of sobriety.  And I sincerely hope he is still winning the battle against alcoholism…

9)  …because we still haven’t answered the question of:  “...can we all get along?”