Rodney King: 'Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right'

Anyone considering violence as vengeance for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin should think twice, Rodney King told the Daily News.


Speaking days before the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, the icon of police brutality weighed in on reports that a Chicago teen admitted jumping a white man last week because he was enraged over Martin's alleged murder.

"Two wrongs do not make a right," said King, 47.


A video frame from 1991 appears to show a group of cops beating King.


"It's a horrible, horrible thing that happened to Trayvon, but we have to be patient," he said. "The justice system works. It's a slow process, but I know it will work for him. I just have faith that it will."


King released a new book this week, "The Riot Within: My Journey From Redemption To Rebellion," and said he's now at peace with the notorious 1991 police attack that made him a household name.


Amateur video of the beating showed police officers raining more than 50 baton blows on his crumpled, unarmed body after a freeway chase.


MARTIN: Because the officers had been captured on video repeatedly hitting and kicking King, the verdict shocked many people around the country. In Los Angeles, disturbances began just hours after the verdict was announced. Later in the program, we'll speak with a Korean-American supermarket owner who survived the riots and actually encouraged his community to defend the businesses even with force.


But first, we are joined by Rodney King. He is the author of a new memoir, "The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption," and he's with us now. Welcome. Thank you so much for speaking with us.


RODNEY KING: Thanks for having me.

MARTIN: I know this is not the only interview you're doing, where I'm assuming that you're being asked to relive many of these moments. Is that hard?


KING: You know, as time goes on, you know, it gets a lot easier. It was very hard for me to watch the video and it still is to this day. You know, it all depends on what kind of mood I'm in.


MARTIN: You talked about how an investigator for one of your attorneys is the person who first shared the news of the acquittal. Can you talk about what was going through your mind when you heard that news?


KING: What went through my mind was I felt like I was in the '40s or the '50s. I was just so hurt and disappointed. But I was also relieved to know that the president had - he had sent down prosecutors to prosecute the guys since they had got away in the first trial.

MARTIN: You write about that in the book. You talk about President - this is President George H. W. Bush, Bush 41, and he'd said a couple of weeks after the beating that it was sickening to see the beating that was rendered, there's no way - no way in my view to explain that away. And you said that you held on to that statement.