American History X
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:40:01
Is that a coincidence...
:40:02
or do these people have
a racial commitment to crime?

:40:05
Not only that.
They're proud of it.

:40:07
Maybe it says something
about prejudice...

:40:09
in the judicial system.
:40:10
If you want to talk
about criminal statistics...

:40:12
take a look at the social
inequalities that produce them.

:40:16
That's exactly what I hate.
:40:18
You're taking one thing
and calling it something else...

:40:21
and just alleviating
the responsibility...

:40:23
these people have
for their own actions.

:40:25
It's like saying,
it's not a riot, it's rage.

:40:28
It's not crime, it's poverty.
That's just nonsense.

:40:31
It's exactly what happened
in this trial...

:40:33
because the media
twisted things around...

:40:35
so people got all focused
on these cops...

:40:37
and whether or not they were
going to get convicted...

:40:39
and whether Rodney King's
civil rights had been violated.

:40:42
Everybody lost sight
of old Rodney King himself.

:40:44
The guy's a multiple felon
by his own admission.

:40:47
He's high as a goddamn kite...
:40:49
driving 120 miles an hour
down the highway.

:40:51
He gets pulled over
by a bunch of cops...

:40:53
and he attacks them.
:40:55
He attacked police officers.
:40:56
That's the bottom line,
and he walked.

:40:58
And there's some yahoo there
with a video camera...

:41:00
who turned it on
halfway through...

:41:01
so that all we see
is them hitting him.

:41:03
You got Powell and Koon
cracking him with billy clubs...

:41:07
and Briseno's kicking him
in the back of the skull...

:41:09
so it looks severe, you know?
:41:11
People are going,
"Oh, this poor guy."

:41:12
This poor guy
who attacked four cops...

:41:14
and those cops
end up on the stand...

:41:16
defending themselves for using
standard textbook procedures.

:41:20
I don't think the tapes
showed that at all.

:41:22
You didn't think so?
And you're an authority?

:41:25
Murray, what do you think?
:41:29
I did think the police used
their clubs rather excessively.

:41:33
Who are you
to say what's excessive?

:41:34
I think it was
totally appropriate.

:41:36
They're in a better position
to make that call than you are.

:41:39
We, as society, grant cops
a certain amount of authority...

:41:43
to make those calls,
because we acknowledge...

:41:45
that their job is difficult
and dangerous.

:41:47
Very few people respect that
and respect that authority.

:41:51
Look who's talking about
respect--Mr. Junior KKK.

:41:53
What?
:41:56
You want to go to college?
Learn to listen.

:41:58
I didn't say I respect the laws.
I acknowledge a cop's authority.


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