American History X
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:39:02
Maybe we should've.
:39:04
The irony is
that most of the stores...

:39:06
destroyed during the riots
were owned by black people.

:39:08
That's stupid, though.
Why trash your own neighborhood?

:39:11
Well, that's my point.
It's an irrational act.

:39:14
It's like an expression
of rage...

:39:16
by people who feel neglected
and turned away by the system.

:39:20
It's like we had in Watts
or the riots in Chicago in '68.

:39:25
I don't buy that.
:39:27
Calling a riot an irrational
expression of rage.

:39:29
That's such a cop-out.
It's opportunism at its worst.

:39:32
It's people grabbing
any excuse they can find...

:39:34
to go and loot a store,
nothing more.

:39:36
The fact that these people
ripped off the stores...

:39:38
in their own communities,
all that reflects...

:39:40
is that they have no respect
for the law at all...

:39:43
and certainly no concept
of community...

:39:46
or civic responsibility.
:39:47
Now wait a minute.
:39:48
White people commit crimes
against white people, too.

:39:51
Yeah, but they're not offing
each other in record numbers.

:39:54
Look at the statistics,
for Christ's sake.

:39:56
One in every three
black males...

:39:58
is in some phase
of the correctional system.

: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...


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