Rodney King
His brutal beating, captured on a shaky home video, forced America to confront systemic police violence and ignited a city's fury.
1965–2012 (age 47)·Black American victim of police brutality·Birthday: April 2·Generation X
Biography
Rodney King was an ordinary man thrust into an extraordinary and painful moment in American history. In March 1991, after a high-speed chase, he was pulled from his car and savagely beaten by four Los Angeles police officers. Unbeknownst to them, a neighbor named George Holliday recorded the assault from his balcony. That grainy, amateur video became a national broadcast, a visceral and undeniable document of police brutality that many white Americans had chosen to ignore. The subsequent acquittal of the officers in 1992 sparked the Los Angeles riots, six days of upheaval that laid bare the city's deep racial and economic fractures. King, a flawed and reluctant symbol, stood before the flames and uttered his plaintive, historic question: 'Can we all get along?' His life was a struggle with the trauma of his fame, but his name remains shorthand for the fight for accountability and the power of citizen journalism.
Generation X
1965–1980
The latchkey kids. Raised during divorce, recession, and the end of the Cold War. Skeptical, self-reliant, media-literate. They invented indie culture, grunge, and the early internet — then watched the Boomers take credit.
Rodney was born in 1965, placing them squarely in the Generation X. The events that shaped this generation — economic uncertainty, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of personal computing — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Rodney Was Born
The biggest hits of 1965
#1 Movie
The Sound of Music
Best Picture
The Sound of Music
#1 TV Show
Bonanza
Rodney's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1965Born
US sends combat troops to Vietnam
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,600Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" — The Rolling StonesBest Picture: The Sound of Music
1970Started school
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
1978Became a teenager
First test-tube baby born
Gas: $0.63/galHome: $35,300Min wage: $2.65/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Shadow Dancing" — Andy GibbBest Picture: The Deer Hunter
1981Could drive
MTV launches; first Space Shuttle flight; AIDS identified
Gas: $1.31/galHome: $52,300Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Bette Davis Eyes" — Kim CarnesBest Picture: Chariots of Fire
1983Could vote
Internet adopts TCP/IP, creating the modern internet
Gas: $1.16/galHome: $57,700Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Every Breath You Take" — The PoliceBest Picture: Terms of Endearment
1986Turned 21
Challenger disaster; Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $66,600Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"That's What Friends Are For" — Dionne & FriendsBest Picture: Platoon
1995Turned 30
Oklahoma City bombing; Windows 95 released
Gas: $1.15/galHome: $96,500Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Gangsta's Paradise" — CoolioBest Picture: Braveheart
2005Turned 40
Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans; YouTube launches
Gas: $2.30/galHome: $167,500Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"We Belong Together" — Mariah CareyBest Picture: Crash
2012Died at 47
Curiosity rover lands on Mars; Sandy Hook shooting
Gas: $3.64/galHome: $143,200Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Somebody That I Used to Know" — GotyeBest Picture: Argo
Key Achievements
- The video of his beating became a catalyst for national debates on police brutality and race relations in the United States.
- His plea, 'Can we all get along?', delivered during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, became an iconic moment in American civil discourse.
- Received a $3.8 million settlement from the city of Los Angeles in a civil rights lawsuit.
- His case led to federal civil rights charges against the involved officers, resulting in two being convicted and imprisoned.
- Published a memoir in 2012 titled 'The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption.'
Did You Know?
He was a certified deep-water diver and worked as a construction worker for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
He was a father of three daughters.
In 1991, he was on parole for a robbery conviction at the time of his beating.
He appeared on the reality TV show 'Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew' in 2008.
He died by accidental drowning in his swimming pool in 2012.
““Can we all get along?””
