When Will Smith slapped Chris Rock during a live broadcast of the Oscars and then used profanities regarding his wife on a worldwide stage. I saw all black men who suffered indignities including myself in different life situations in the past. There was one racial incident that happened thirty years ago that changed my attitude about race in America.

A black man refused to stop for a traffic violation his name was Rodney King. This was a time when video cameras were available to the public for the first time. A young man purchased one and was testing it out when he saw the LAPD catch up with Mr. King he started filming the officers taking turns beating and kicking this man of color, and then they lied about what happened until the video came out. The officers involved went to trial in Simi Valley a well-to-do area, to say the least.

The officers were found to be not guilty by an all-white jury, and when one of the former defendants was asked what he would do next he said he was going to Disneyland. Within hours the LA riots started and the rest is history

Things haven’t changed much in the past three decades when it comes to race relations in America but with all the events we see on a global level we are all in the same basket again. The question is what will we do about it before it’s too late to save ourselves.