A video of Rodney King being attacked by police officers in 1991 was the first time Americans had been forced to confront such savagery from their living rooms. The deaths of black people at the hands of law enforcement are now, more often, caught on mobile phone cameras.
When watching the horrific video of Tyre Nichols being kicked and punched by police officers, many minds in America were transported back to footage of another black man being beaten in similar circumstances more than 30 years ago.
The video of Rodney King is grainy and shaky, before the era of police-worn body cameras and mobile phones.
It was filmed, fortuitously, by a plumber who had bought a new camcorder to capture his friend running a marathon but happened to see Mr King from the window of his apartment, being attacked by officers.
Mr King had also been pulled over in his car, in Los Angeles, and was mercilessly beaten. The video of his attack was picked up by local and then national news broadcasters and was shown on television for days.
It was the first time America had been forced to confront such savagery from their living rooms, the brutalising of a black man by those who swore to protect.
Mr King survived the beating, but the video of the deadly assault on Tyre Nichols has painful parallels, felt especially keenly by Mr King’s family.
«People wonder where the anger comes from, this is where if you see someone time and time again, who looks like you, your dad, your brother, how would you feel? It’s a pattern and we’re still here,» his daughter, Lora Dene King, told NBC News after watching the Nichols footage released by police,
The video and the subsequent acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers who had been criminally charged in relation to the assault on Mr King sparked violent protests in LA and beyond.
