the Wired Press > Archives

Monday marked the ten year anniversary of the verdict in the Rodney King beating trial which would change the face of Los Angeles forever. That verdict, an acquittal for the officers charged in the beating, set off 3 days of riots which left the Los Angeles area and its people scarred. White kids across America on Monday, in remembrance of the riots, missed school and brought in a signed note by mom the next day, claiming that they were sick.

Justice?

"I was in tenth grade during the riots. Mom just wouldn't let me go to school for fear of me getting my ass kicked. When I handed in my note the next day, I had to stand in line. Seems we all caught the same flu," said Curtis Harvey of Richmond, California.

"I saw 1200 notes that day asking to excuse little Billy because he was sick. You know how many little bubbles I had to fill in? I wanted to beat the kids myself," exclaimed Judith Parker, a school secretary at John F. Kennedy High School in Fremont, CA.

All of the anger and rage on that day could be seen in the faces of the looters crashing through the front windows of local department stores while they went on a shopping spree. The smiles and laughter were obviously just masking the pain that they were feeling.

How much pain does one have to be in to swipe a rack of clothes? "A lot," claimed Joe Washington.

Washington said he wanted to remember the riots in his own manner. "It wasn't about the free shit... we were making a statement. I got there kinda late, so all the good TVs were gone. I had to settle on a 13 inch black and white GE. But it was for Rodney. This all was for Rodney."

He then proceeded to grab a can of gasoline, strike a match and set his neighborhood on fire.

-Jehovah Rock