Before Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Terence Crutcher and too many other black Americans died during encounters with law enforcement, African American cab driver Rodney King was brutally beaten by LAPD officers in an incident caught on tape. The officers’ acquittal by a mostly white jury sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and King came to represent the rampant racial tension in the United States — which persists to this day. Actor Roger Guenveur Smith takes the stage with his one-man show, Rodney King, in a powerful performance using spoken-word poetry, monologue and authentic broadcast media clips to connect America’s racial past and present.
