King not a man community should honor posted Thursday, July 5th, 2012 @ 12:00 pm  E-mail Story |  Print Story  Editor: The Associated Press once had a reputation for impartially informing the public about events of interest, giving journalism a good name. They now, apparently after the influence of several generations of liberal schools of journalisms, no longer honor this tradition. What was once limited to the opinion-editorial page is now routinely delivered as "news." The "when, where, what, and who's" of reporting degenerated into a simple "what we think about it" form. Today, an article attributed to the Associated Press reported the funeral of Rodney King. With apparent appreciation for the eulogy given by Al Sharpton, the article began by saying that "Rodney King was remembered as a forgiving man who bore the scars of his beating with dignity." Further, after saying that King never showed bitterness to the officers who beat him, Sharpton was quoted as saying that "he became a symbol of forgiveness." As a reminder to the people perhaps not old enough to remember this affair, in 1992 Rodney King was with two other intoxicated men speeding in excess of 100 miles an hour in a residential neighborhood, pursued by highway patrolmen until he finally stopped, and when he exited his car, knowing he was on parole from a robbery conviction, fought the officers with all his might. While the other two gave no resistance, King's resistance was videotaped by a bystander, and thus a record of "the beating" was available. The Associated Press article neglected to mention that over 60 people lost their lives in the riots that followed 30 minutes after the Los Angeles policemen were acquitted by a jury of their peers. Had Rodney King not resisted arrest, this needless bloodshed would have never taken place. Rodney King is to be honored? Not by the families of the 60 some odd victims of the riots, I don't think. To paint a picture of this man as someone the black community should honor is a sham. He taught a great lesson for black youth. Break the law. Resist arrest. And win a lottery ticket with a civil action against the authorities, and live in a big house like he had and a big swimming pool that eventually swallowed him. When the Sharptons of the world want to commemorate a man like Rodney King as a role model for black youth, they have simply lost their minds. President George H.W. Bush's decision to have the Justice Department retry these same officers who had been acquitted was the crowning blow, resulting in their incarceration for years, a virtual payback to the rioting criminals who destroyed much of Los Angeles after the first trial, and making the protection against "double jeopardy" seem a lost right of American citizens. William W Watson St. Joseph