Gorge Holliday's Effect On Police Brutality

In the early morning hours of March 2, 1991 a young man named Gorge Holliday was awakened by the sound of helicopters and police sirens. Gorge being curious, (no pun intended) stepped outside onto the balcony of his Lake View Terrace apartment complex and began to watch as police savagely beat a black man on the street in front of his apartments. But it was what Gorge did next that would change the way America looks at police brutality forever. Gorge went into his apartment and removed a brand new Sony camcorder from the box and begins filming. His 12 minute long video of the Las Angeles police department officers became the most famous home video of all time. It is the video forever known as the beating of Rodney King. I was only five years old when the beating of Rodney King happened so I did not know the effect that it would forever have on our society. The ensuing trial of the police officers, and the riots that came about due to the verdict would probably have never happened had it not been for Gorge Holliday and his camcorder. There is …show more content…
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s police brutality was common during labor strikes where striking citizens would routinely be viscously bludgeoned by patrolmen or militia men with their night sticks, beatings, and even killings of striking workers almost became common practice amongst authorities.. One of the first documented incidents happened during the Great Railroad strike of 1877 when state militia members fired on striking workers killing 10 including a news boy and a 16 year old student. Again on April 20, 1914 the Colorado National guard attacked striking coal miners killing more than two dozen people including women and children, and these stories are just a few of the countless incidents that went on in the history of our great country. From there came Prohibition, where police where often paid to be