Chris Rock has a funny routine about flunking Black history because he thought the answer to every question was Martin Luther King. Just to be safe nowadays you should just always answer King as if you were on Jeopardy.
I was just listening to a rap song that plays during the credits to the movie Coach Carter when this line passed by my ears.
Can we all get along?/Just like Mr. King said
My first thought was that the song was referencing Martin Luther King, but then of course I thought about it for a second and realized that it was hyped up on PCP motorist Rodney King, which made me chuckle.
I was one of perhaps 5 white people to see the Oakland premiere of Spike Lee’s Malcolm X (I’m not really that brave, I went with my fellow Spike/Malcolm friend Rasheed, who looks like he should be a bodyguard for Snoop Dog.). Rodney King was there that night and had way better seats then we did, which was silly because Rodney King was never a hero. George Holliday, the guy who videotaped the beating was the hero.
I’m pretty sure that King skated on the charges due to the obvious mishandling of his arrest, but shouldn’t he have at least lost his driver’s license? The guy was a taxi driver. I’ve had taxi drivers on PCP before, it’s not fun.
I was in San Francisco during the riots, it was pretty bizarre. The streets seemed sort of empty and full of dread. My friend Rasheed actually saw some young black kids stirring up trouble, and went out to talk to them. The whole thing really affected him deeply and work the next day was really somber.
It’s pretty easy to lose faith in your Government after a thing like that. I don’t even blame Simi Valley, I blame the system that let the case be moved to Simi Valley.
In summation, I guess if they meant Martin Luther King, it would have said Dr. King not Mr. King.
Here’s another less famous Rodney King quote, “Shit, it’s the cops!”
