cnn presents "race and rage: the beating of rodney king." beating of rodney king." it begins in just a few moments. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> what do you think when you see it? >> stay alive. i knew that i had to survive this. i went up like that with my hands up. showed no threat. >> this was a lynching on video. >> with the jury in the above-entitled action find the defendants -- >> i think the verdicts lit a match. but the tinder was already in place and very dry. >> are you able to forgive those cops? have you let those demons go? did you hang on to that money or did you throw it away. >> can we -- can we all get along? can we -- can we get along? >> march 3rd, 1991. 25-year-old rodney king is thrust from obscurity to a national symbol of police brutality. the brutal beating that took place here along foothill boulevard in los angeles, california, would reverberate across the country. >> reporter: a city in flames. entire neighborhoods burned to the ground. now, two decades later, what's it like to be the man whose beating seen round the world ig

accused of making the racial slur also disputed king's testimony. >> rodney king is no doubt a liar.vidence bears that out. >> reporter: first you said it wasn't racial. then you said it was. then you said you heard the "n" word. then you said you didn't. >> oh, no. i heard it. but my mom said, whatever you do, don't say it was racism so i respect her for that at that time. i know what i heard. >> reporter: after 45 days the federal trial ends. >> i think we will be acquitted. and -- but that 1%, you know, that we might not be is real worrisome. >> reporter: on the sixth day of deliberations, the jury reaches a verdict. >> we, the jury, find the defendant, stacey c. koon, guilty. [ cheers ] >> i had my arm on larry powell's shoulder. i leaned over to him, and i said, we're going down, bud. >> reporter: and what was his reaction? >> he tensed. he tensed. >> we, the jury, in the above-entitled cause find the defendant guilty. [ cheers ] >> reporter: two out of the four officers are found guilty. >> it was like, god damn. i just hope we just get one. i hope we just get one on that. if w

if you look at martin luther king jr. or frederick douglass, they said, "look at how great our ideals are." if you look at the average american, should be -- should america support dictatorships, the answer would be no, and if you ask them should we not be hypocritical and live up to our own ideals, i think most americans would agree, and it comes down to what it means to love your country. if you love your child and find that your child is beating people up or stealing, if you love your child, you try to correct them, and if you love your country and find that it is doing something it should not be doing, you try to correct your government. i cannot think of anyone more critical of their country than martin luther king jr.. no one is going to call susan b. anthony or mark twain or frederick douglass and patriotic. they are as patriotic as apple pie. you have to board your country accountable and help your country live up to its own ideals. >> -- tavis: i know what you mean when you are saying about not calling martin lut

they're going across the channel and killing kings? you know the channel they're talking about, the fog rolls in and the rest of the continent is separated from britain because they can't see across the channel. maybe that's what george thought. but it was a very contrarian view, and in fact, burke broke with the leader of his party over his opposition of the french revolution. ultimately, the party came back to him and the king actually said, burke, i've read your book. i think you're right. so maybe we should add to history, tradition and experience a willingness to be persiste persistent, not necessarily resista resistant, but persistent. his reaction to the french revolution galvanized an already conservative inclination which had been developed because of the history that was so proximate to his life and which was so clear to him followed on by di-- during his life, americ revolution supported the colonists, didn't support freedom for america. he supported the rights of englishmen who live in the colony differently. it's also cons

for how they selected a king but didn't elect the king, and there is nuances in english history that make it clear why he can't say they selected the king and what he did is follow the blood line which was a strong tradition and guideline for the english to select a person who met the requirements of the blood line and yet would be a king to do what they needed to have done which frankly was to be rid of james ii and his catholicism, to be re placed with a protestant who was interested, they thought, in the development of british culture and commerce. you must also understand that during burke's time england was pretty much the america of today. it was a world power, had, i think, without dispute the strongest most powerful navy in the world. navys are obviously still of enormous importance, perhaps beginning to get of more importance and in the period of the 1700s a strong navy was absolutely essential if you were going to be a world power. so 1679 they pick a king. 1649, just another 40 years back, they executed a king, and they chose another leader, cromwell led the commonwealth.

burke has trouble with the french revolution because human nature is king. man is not inherently good. i think in a nutshell i am not here to talk about ropes pierre so i can get away with being glib on this, i think that the french thought that man being inherently good they could put something nice together and burke says the king wasn't nearly as bad as we read in the history books. burke did believe that liberty was god's gift. we're going to get to that in a moment, too. so the english revolution started in 1215 when they told king john you have to stop taking stuff away from us and you have taken our power away, and these were enormously wealthy landed people. this was not joe six pack, not even joe the plumber and started in 1215. it was gradual. it was gradual. all through this change, even through henry the viii, parliament survived, waxing and waning and more powerful, less powerful, and that survival and that growth i think is why we are the way we are today. burke's opposition to the french revolution was a very contrary notion. it was so contrar

when that king, king henry died, his son, king edward game the king. he in a similar situation, his grandfather needed some money to fight wars in france. he sought from noblemen some more money. they asked him to agree to a new magna carta. he actually did so in 1297. this comes from 1297. this advantage of this one over the 1215 one, though more famous, this became the law of the land of england and is still the law of the land of england. this actually became something that really set the trend for common law in england whereas the 1215 version was abrogated. while the 1215 has many things in it as this version, this 1297 is still the law of the land and that's why it's so important. is that -- >> very good. what of the magna carta is in our founding documents? >> in our bill of rights we have in effect -- well, the whole government is based on no taxation without representation. representative government. we have the right to habeas corpus. we have punishment proportionate to the crime. trial by jury. things like that are the inspiration for our bi

congressman steve king see earlier this week scott keys over at think progress interview came for the to discuss the role of government in private business and the beginning of the interview king was eager to point out that he does not believe the government should have any say and who a private company hires or fires so he's followed up that statement by asking about situations where an employer might be discriminating against a gender or person's sexual orientation and this is king's response how do you know someone's sexual orientation i don't know how you discriminate against somebody because their sexual orientation that's their business there. are now see that's the kind of statement it's a total rhetorical copout and a way of skirting around the fact that king apparently doesn't think that discrimination is a problem because you can't tell by looking at a person what their sexual preferences but i guess we just have to pretend like discrimination based on sexual preference never happens i want to somebody does tell you who gave the interview then once you know does that change

after king king was killed his can be martin luther king jr. was kill -- after martin luther king jr. was killed his family still fighting to have the files released by the government. >> wii watching that our -- we're watching that story and your weather first. we're back in two minutes with 9news now. >>> good morning, 4:43. this thursday morning, welcome back to 9news now, howard bernstein is taking a couple of days off. we have olga greeses here and she has another nice day forecast for us. >> yeah, wore bringing in a little bit of sunshine when we come in here into the studio but we are looking at 8:00er temperatures particularity stepping out this morning. we're dipping down into the 40s outside the beltway. 50s noise the beltway. so yes a little bit of a cool start but with that sunshine i think you will like the way things ease on up later on this afternoon. forecast today is going to take us on the sunny side most definitely but by the time we get to the 9:00 hour you should see the temperatures push out of the 40s and into those middl

i am at martin luther king avenue se. that is the apartment building where there were plenty people at home at the time of the fire. you can see martin luther king avenue all the way from malcolm x to milwaukee has been shut down. it has been shut down since 9:30 a.m. this morning when the fire broke out. our photographer was on scene when one of the d.c. fire fighters was pulled out of the fire. we have been told that she is suffering perhaps from some type of knee injury. this is not a life-threatening injury. this was a two-alarm blaze. it started at 90 5:00 a.m. this morning. that meant 100 d.c. firefighters were on -- it started at 9:35 a.m. this morning. that meant 100 d.c. fire fighters wore on scene. i spoke with waves later. he suffers from multiple sclerosis and needs a walker to get around. fortunately, his health aide was with him and helped him get out of the apartment. >> i can get up and get to my walker and i just walked as fast as i could. i came out front. >> what was going through your mind when all of

, one king.have a pair. the absence of the gun slingers, we've reverted to the old fashioned investing that was the hall mark of this stock market until be everything got so confused, so speculative. that's how we got those 400-point days. that was hedge funds going crazy. we reverted to the kind of thinking pioneered by the greatest investor in my time and i'm not talking about warren buffett. i'm talking about peter lynch, the man who made millions of people fortunes when he was runs the magellan fund. he wrote the best book i ever read, "one up on wall street." he preached if you found a product you liked and store you wanted to shop at and you researched the company to check out the fundamentals using many of the techniques i'm trying to teach you on the show, you can buy the stock and expect to make money, as long as you held on to it through thick and thin. that's what's happening now with this market the broad macro speculators have been crowded out by the neals of the world who like their

martin luther king jr.>>> and first, afo 2-year-old pulled from the with well and help from an i-phone. the rescuers could hear him and turned on the video camera to see how the positioning of the rescue would work and it worked perfectly. the boy is free and doing well.  . >> 44 years ago today, dr. martin luther king jr. was shot to kindergarten at a hotel in memphis. tonight, there is a memorial to him in the strict and that will host a candle -- in the district and that will host a candlelight vigil. harry johnson senior, the president and ceo of the martin luther king jr. national memorial project. thank you for coming in. what message do you hope the crowds will come away with tonight? >> reporter: thank you, brian. we want the crowd to come away with that dr. king was not an morn hero or an african- american hero row, but dr. king was a citizens of the world. tonight, we're focusing on the world peace. dr. king was a world of peace and that is a message tonight. >> you were so proud of the memorial

reason number two king is the perfect veep. steve king is looking out for small businesses. last monday he outlined how business owner kos avoid discrimination lawsuits from gay employees. >> i would think that unless someone makes their sexuality public, it's not anybody's business. so neither is it our business to tell an employer who to hire. if you don't know anybody's sexuality you can't discriminate against them. >> stephen: hear that, the gays, it's up to you to keep us from discriminating. because once we know you're gay, i have a natural desire to fire you. (laughter) >> stephen: and unlike gays, discriminating is not a choice. that's why i insist no one at the report tell me they are sexual orientation, from the lowest intern to my cameraman julian, right jules. all right, say hi to the wife and kids for me. so folks, we don't need anti-discrimination laws any more than we need the americans with disabilities act. you hear that, disabled people? stop rubbing your disability lifestyle in my face. just let me continue thinking that you are a lazy man in a chair from

the riot within by rodney king. word. >> thanks for having >> romney now says the rich like him should be congratulated, let

king's two friends are arrested without incident, but rodney king would have a much different fate. >ned the door, she said take three steps back away from the car. when i took the three steps back, they said lay down. when they said lay down, i laid down like this and my face was facing this way so i could see them. they said put your f'ing head down. when i finally went face down, bam, i took the blow, bam. a real hard blow to the temple. when he did that, i just looked and i went up like this and ran this way with my hands up to show no threat. and that's when i didn't know if my leg was broke. >> so suppose twitter had been around for the l.a. riots that followed king's beatings, here's what it would have looked like. check this out, realtime l.a. riots. it's a twitter feed that live tweets and re-enacts the l.a. riots. it is run by nbc l.a. and some of the tweets say, crowd smashing windows starting fires in downtown l.a. off-duty officers report to duties, ordered by the lapd. it's interesting. it's an interesting twitter feed to follow. >>> you know that pain in your brain that

called king a bear. a bull. a gorilla.ehumanizing descriptions of black americans that fuelled hatred and discrimination throughout our history. >> that was bill bradley addressing the senate on april 30th, 1992, the day after the four police officers on trial for the beating of rodney king were acquitted. this sunday will mark 20 years since rit on thing broke out in los angeles after that acquittal. the jury acquitted the police officers despite the infamous videotape proof of the almost deadly beating that by then had been seen around the world. at the end of six days of the most destructive rioting in american history, 53 people had been killed and more than 2,300 injured and the city had suffered nearly $1 billion in damage. as the riots were ramging in los angeles, rodney king himself stepped forward to try to bring order and calm to the place where he spent his entire life. what he said that day remains painfully seared into the memories of everyone around the world who heard him speak. >> people, i just want to say

when king henry died, his son, king edward became king, he was grandfathered, needed money to fight wars in france, sought from noblemen more money and they asked him to agree to a new magna carta. and he did so in 1297. this became the law of the lan of england. this actually became something that really set the trend, and the 1215 was abrogated. this is the one that's really the law of the land and that's why it's so important is that -- >> well, that's very good. >> what about the magna carta do we have in our laws? >> well, in the bill of rights we have in effect -- the whole government is based on no taxation without representation. representative of government, we have the right to habeas corpus. crime, punishment proportionate to the crime, trial by jury, things like that are the inspiration for our bill of rights, but if you read the early writings of hamilton and jefferson and adams and madison, many times they say it's because of the magna carta that we're doing this, and, remember, these people who were breaking away from england, they viewed themselves as englishmen. and they

during the jury to botswana, the kings fell and broke his hip. from madrid, will report on this incident. >> as spain's king recovered in hospital, animal rights protesters protested outside. he has received a barrage of criticism for hunting elephants in botswana. the story only came out because on the trip, he fell and fractured his hip. now, before leading hospital, his first ever public apology. >> i am much better. i would like to thank all the medical team. i look forward to my duties and i am very sorry. i have made a mistake and it will not happen again. >> now that the king is home, he is hoping that scandal over his hunting triple died down. this is not the only recent episode facing spain's royal family. in february, the king's son-in- law appeared in court on charges of misusing millions of euros of public money. he denies the allegations, but the scandal has damaged the image of the spanish monarchy. in times gone by, publicly criticizing the royals was not the done thing. partly because of the kings by double when spain became a dem

he would have been a noble just below the rank of king. he has his own sculptured facades on his buildings. he has a sculptured bench. he's got his own titles. he's able to enjoy altars and status symbols of all kinds in his compound here. he was probably polygynous, probably had a number of wives and concubines. so, he was a very important person indeed and there were probably a number of people like him in this political system who dominated other courtyards with similar political followings. keach: maya society is no longer egalitarian as were the hunter-gatherers. now there are people with more wealth and power than others. one of the consequences of cultural evolution is the creation of social classes. but these nobles did not represent the highest social level in copan society. less than a mile away from the compound lived the kingdom's royal family. this is the acropolis, a magnificent group of palaces, temples, and plazas. 16 kings ruled here for almost 400 years. after his inauguration, each new king would build his own palace ato

king has the right to dissolve parliament and also to sack ministers and to take decisions to go to war separately. therefore, at the reform movement in egypt is an attempt to reform the constitution to return to -- to restore to the people its rights as the constitution has under 39 amendments between 5 it -- 52 and the prnt time and the people are no longer the source of legislation. we would say that we are before two main problems. the main dilemma, the first dilemma, it's a dilemma that relates to the political system, and the fact that the regime itself does not, is not serious about reform. but they respond to, partially, to some of the pressure out on the streets, and, also, responding to the general state of unrest in the region. that's why there's a continuous attempt to absorb the reform movement, and overpower it. for example, the king brought a government who's head was involved in the biggest fraud election -- election fraud in 1997. in 2007, he was involved in a scandal and yet this prime minister was brought back to lead the reform movement. but the people has, the p

a who done it baffling police. 20 years later, rodney king on the beating, the acquittal and the riots that set l.a. ablaze. and to the dogs. a new breed looking to collar a and to the dogs. a new breed looking to collar a whole new audience. captions paid for by nbc-universal television . >>> good eveningeveryone. from high above the stunning campus of pepperdine university where i delivered the commencement address earlier today for the class of 2012. we'll share moments of that later in the broadcast. but we want to start with an intriguing story of one brave's man who cold, bold move could complicate relations between two world powers. it's playing out in china where in the middle of the night a leading human rights activist outsmarted china's elaborate security apparatus. escaped from house arrest and may now be at the u.s. embassy in beijing. what makes it all the more remarkable is that chen is blind. this comes just days before secretary of state hillary clinton travels to china and could complicate relations between the countries at an especially sensitive time. we get the sto

king was shot and killed in an us. we've got a look at how people were remembering the slain civil-rights leader on this dark day in history. >> on the anniversary of his assassination, people packed the memorial to honor his life and legacy. she traveled to honor the man she worked alongside. >> millions of people come here and thinking of things they could do to make the world a better place. >> dr. king fought for fair housing for all. his death has long been associated with the fair housing act. they laid a wreath at the base of the statue. >> we have an important responsibility to the nation to make sure their housing is the wall and every neighborhood and community is open to all people in the united states. >> many visitors at the memorial today reflected on their a -- on king's i. accomplishments. she remembers where she was when he lost his life. >> i remember where i was the day he died. to see this monument to his wife and work is very emotional. >> tonight, another gathering at this memorial. there be a can

the king has promised in the aftermath of the arab spring, real reforms. i don't think there have been real reforms. he's worried about something that we're not worried about. this can be positive or negative, that is i don't think he's so much worried what's going to happen between now and december. he is worried whether his son will be king of jordan and has to figure that out. i think if you try to think what would you tell him if you were his brother or a close adviser in the royal court. how do you maneuver through this over time. you know, i would argue that the game he's been playing really for ten years of -- i think it's fair to call fake reform, will ultimately have to be jaet sinned for real reform. give at any political situation on the ground that's easy advice to give from washington and hard to implement in amman. >> i guess i'll add a little. elliott's description and analysis is quite apt. in the case of sala there were extensive conversations over -- in the obama administration, with him to try to move him out, to get him to accept the tr

i am the dean at martin luther king middle school. i am going to quote from this, from a restorative practitioners workshop, "schools are made up of relationships, interactions among people." we do not have this with our current administrative staffs. most of our students do not even know who the principle is, let alone her name and the same goes for the vice principal. [applause] >> my name is dr. karen green. i am a counselor at mlk. i am speaking on behalf of the counseling department. the goal of the counseling department is to help children make the school better and give the children positive experiences. we are trying to improve the quality of life. the counseling department is made up of dedicated educational professionals with many years of experience. i have 15. all members of the counseling department at -- spend far more hours of school than the contract calls for. we do the best job possible no matter how long or how much effort is required. we go above and beyond the call of duty. we work in the best interest of the chil

cnn presents "race and rage: the beating of rodney king." beating of rodney king."ts. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

you can foresee the day when maybe the martin luther king street will just be known as king. >> you did that, you know, a lot of these streets, they don't have great reputations for the neighborhood, and comedian chris rock, he once joked if you're lost on mlk, first thing you should do is run, and people sometimes think, yeah, this is kind of ironic, right? somebody who supports peace and some of these neighborhoods, did you find that to be true? >> except i sort of -- maybe i'm defensive about the streets but i take exception what's the point of naming a street. if martin luther king were to come back today and say what's happened since i have been gone, we have an african-american president in the white house, he'd say great but what's happened to the people i care about. let's go to the streets that bear his name. he would still see the poverty and the unemployment and the crime, and it's remarkable to me that this grassroots movement created these streets that map this nation and that still remind us of the truth about what hasn't happened in america, and i think that's a much more

king says, any of us can be great because any of us can serve. out it takes is a heart full of great and the soul generated by love. we're back to the formulation of love and -- if you're going to write, i want to know do you love what you do? do you love the people you talk to? and who are you serving in your audience? who are you trying to love, who are you trying to serve through your odd audience? so i'm glad you understand that greatness and success or two great things and the greatest obstacle i face -- i told somebody the other day in the conversation -- this is somebody i was meeting with because they are so highly placed so highly placed in the industries they work with, and so high on the hierarchy charts i was trying to meet we the on a project. so i'm meeting with them. i'm goo-goo gaga over meeting them and we had an hour and a half in washington, and for the better part of 90 minutes i was listening to this person who i was seeking help and partnership with, not complain but just open up to me as if i were intimate with him. opened

martin luther king jr. decided that james earl ray was not responsible for the death and that the testing of the rifle in the '90s showed the fatal bullet didn't come from that gun that was supposedly the one used by ray in the case. >> reporter: visitors to dr. king's memorial on the mall on whether the records should be released -- >> we always believed there's been some kind of conspiracy that's contributed to his death and it's time for full record of release for all things that pertain to his life. >> we're intelligent people. it's almost impossible to be just one person and i think there's a bit of conspiracy. >> even if they show us no smoking gun, we should own our own history and i think that it's important for us to -- to take that history back from the national security state and know what the government was doing and what it was thinking about dr. king. >> reporter: gary nuremberg, 9news now. >> members of the house and senate have said they will introduce bills which would expedite the release

and he said, "he told me i am now king." with christ. they put down their garments, every one of the generals, and they blew trumpets at the top of the stairs, and they said, "gehu is king," and elijah said he wanted them to take vengeance for murdering the profits of jehovah and the servants of the lord, so he goes on out, 50 seconds, and he takes the bow and arrow, shoots the king through the back, and the era travels at such as speed that it comes out of his heart, and he sees the queen, jezebel, and he says, who is on my side? very similar to the language of moses, who said who is on the lord's side? you will remember the story an exodus chapter 32. but they throw him down, and they trample him, and the blood sprinkles on the horse, and he takes vengeance on jezebel. the dogs eat her and leave the palms of her hands and feet. it is a brutal story, but got actually rewarded him, and he said he would let his son sit on the throne for four generations. president chiu: thank you very much. are there any other members of the public who wi

thanks, kate. >> thank you. >>> burger king announcing big moves.ompany will go public after two years of going private. bill ackman will pay $1.4 billion for a 29% stake. should investors bite on this ipo? our bear today, howard penny, and bull, our bull on burger king is jim sanderson. thank you both for joining us. jim, let me ask you about this ipo in terms of being bullish here. what do you like about it? >> specifically, i think burger king has made great strides to adjust their menu. they have worked hard to figure out what is wrong with the brand and tried to repurpose the brand. and now we're going to start seeing them advertise. so they can support that new product introduction and close the product, something they haven't been able to do for a number of years. so it's not necessarily that they are trying to mimic mcdonalds. they are trying to get their customer base to expand a little bit to get an ice cream or a smoothie or a salad that you might get at wendy's. i really think they thought through their menu, they are trying to restructu