I think it made all the papers. “Why can’t we all just get along?” That was the question. It was 15 some years ago, and it seemed like a fair question. I mean where’s the love, man? Do we really have to riot in the streets when a few brutal cops are aquitted by an all-white jury? Do we really have to get all bent out of shape over a little institutional racism? Do we really have to beat a man half to death for resisting arrest after a high-speed chase? It’s a fair question. So when Rodney King was shot square in the face standing on a neighborhood street corner earlier today, I’m sure right after the obvious one, “Who was that Popeye’s-Fried-Chicken-eating sumbitch that just blew my face off?”––his next question had to be, “Why can’t we all just get along?”Just off the top of my head, I’m thinking the answer has to have something to do with: envy, greed, malice, strife, enmity, fear, racism, class-ism, narcissism, shame, covetousness, rage, anxiety, lasciviousness, chauvinism, feminism and plain, downright orneryness. You know, all that sinful stuff Moses jotted down on those stone tablets. The same reasons we put cops on the beat and lock our doors at night. Which brings me to my question.”How many times does the gentle Mr. King have to take it in the face before he grasps that mankind––with all its noble intentions––is not basically good?”Another fair question.
my apologies 