Tonight's Last Word: The Death Of George Holliday

[Music] we were not told about rodney king being hit 56 times in 81 seconds with batons we saw it with our own eyes it was on video so we saw four police beating rodney king it was clear cut 56 times in 81 seconds something like this that was new jersey senator bill bradley in 1992 and i will never forget that day in the senate as we all watch when bill bradley made that impromptu decision on the senate floor to hit his podium 56 times in 81 seconds to drive home to the united states senate what everyone in america had seen in the video of rodney king being almost beaten to death by los angeles police officers in 1991 the senate chamber got quieter and quieter with each tap of bill bradley's pencil he did it 56 times in 81 seconds and we know about those 56 times in 81 seconds because a 30 year old plumber named george holliday reached for his new sony video camera when he heard police sirens in a helicopter in the middle of the night he told the los angeles times quote you know how it is when you have a new piece of technology you film anything and everything george holliday stepped onto his balcony of his apartment and he aimed his camera at what the la police officers were doing to a black man lying on the pavement that video soon became the lead story on every newscast in america and then every news cast in the world george holliday's video gave white america their first real look at how policing works in black america last weekend after being hospitalized with coronavirus for about a month in simi valley california george holliday died at age 61. last year george holliday hoped to buy a home by auctioning off the video camera he used to make history he said he was hoping to quote inspire people to use their cameras for everything the bad and the good when there were no bidders for his camera george holliday told the sun quote i've been a plumber for 43 years it looks like i'm gonna have to be a plumber for quite a few more years in 1993 reverend jesse jackson said this about george holliday what was missed by and large and news commentary was that the only reason we know anything about rotten mccain is a white man named george halliday filmed the beating and took it public that george heller did not had the quickness of thought and the character to take the film public you had never known of a rodney king in other words george holiday went beyond color went beyond race up to the high plateau of of courage with character to make america better and true to its truth its commitment reverend jesse jackson gets tonight's last word about george holiday [Music] you

Channel: MSNBC

Views: 50,982

Rating: 4.9355607 out of 5

Keywords: Lawrence O'Donnell

Id: sB-8xVn9Gpk

Length: 4min 6sec (246 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 21 2021