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Entry tags:
1992-2021
The first major story of injustice that I can remember is the Rodney King verdict.* I was at home by myself when the verdicts were announced, and my parents came home not long after and found me in tears. That was April 29, 1992, and I was almost 15 - the time in a relatively sheltered White girl's life when her thoughts turn to social issues.
I was done with work at 4:30 yesterday, but I stayed at my computer for another 40 minutes waiting for them to announce the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin. My hands were shaking, my heart was pounding, and I wasn't sure I had heard properly the first time the judge said "guilty." I hung up my headphones when he started polling the jury (and Himself came out of his office wondering if I'd seen the news and heard me crying, so he knew).
Things that are good:
Things that are bad:
* The fact that we know it as the Rodney King verdict is problematic, because Rodney King, like George Floyd, was not on trial. The names of the defendants were Sgt. Stacey Koon, Officer Laurence Powell, Officer Timothy Wind, and Officer Theodore Briseno.
I was done with work at 4:30 yesterday, but I stayed at my computer for another 40 minutes waiting for them to announce the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin. My hands were shaking, my heart was pounding, and I wasn't sure I had heard properly the first time the judge said "guilty." I hung up my headphones when he started polling the jury (and Himself came out of his office wondering if I'd seen the news and heard me crying, so he knew).
Things that are good:
- A man who did a murder was convicted of doing that murder.
Things that are bad:
- We all knew there was a very real chance #1 would not happen.
- We are all shocked that #1 did happen.
- While #1 was happening, a teenager in another state called the police for help, and they shot and killed her.
* The fact that we know it as the Rodney King verdict is problematic, because Rodney King, like George Floyd, was not on trial. The names of the defendants were Sgt. Stacey Koon, Officer Laurence Powell, Officer Timothy Wind, and Officer Theodore Briseno.