MEDIA ADVISORY: The real story of Rodney King emerges through his daughter’s eyes
Contact: USC Media Relations, uscnews@usc.edu or (213) 740-2215
The killing of Tyree Nichols has reignited and enraged the conflict between police and Black communities. The videotaped beating of Rodney King came to symbolize that conflict more than three decades ago.
Now, his daughter is retelling the King story through a new interactive technology for posterity. Lora King is rewriting the first draft of history, sharing a “second draft” about a man who was a surfer, a high performing athlete and a figure who led younger members of his family through joyful journeys.
That changed on March 3, 1991, when a bleeding King was beaten and dragged from one police station to another. Mass violence and destruction followed a year later when four officers charged in the King beating were acquitted.
Engaging the same technology as USC Shoah Foundation uses for Holocaust survivors, Dimensions in Testimony, King presents a different side of her father, sharing a first-person account of a man who underwent a terrible change, never wanting to
be a historic figure.
Lora King’s testimony is preserved for generations to come and ensures that people will have a visible, interactive way to learn about the past, her experience and memory of her father — perhaps one of the best-known survivors of police violence. Her testimony marks the start of an archival effort by the new USC Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab at USC Annenberg to begin to educate and write a new draft of history for Black voices.
Lora King is open to discussing current events including the Tyree Nichols killing. Members of the media will also be able to ask questions of her interactive, virtual reality agent in hologram form.
WHAT: The USC Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab presents “Voices of a Movement”
WHEN: Tuesday, February 7, noon
WHERE: USC Annenberg Media Center
WHO:
- Lora King, daughter of Rodney King and Founder of the Rodney King Foundation
- Allissa Richardson, founder of the Charlotta Bass Journalism & Justice Lab at USC Annenberg
