LETTER: Rodney King and George Floyd
On March 3, 1991, the Rodney King beating sparked nationwide rioting. In Historic West Side Las Vegas, outraged locals vandalized the neighborhood grocery store at Owens and 8th Street. Fire destroyed the store and accompanying Nevada Business Services, an employment and training service. NBS staff members were temporarily located to Cashman Field to try to resume services despite the loss of files for clients and providers.
I was a counselor there. It took us several years to get back to helping economically disadvantaged people of all races and ages.
Now, almost 20 years later, part of our community again feels the need for violent and self-serving actions that are unfairly and totally disrespectful to the local people who serve. Furthermore, it only adds to a perception of black culture never rising above destruction and violence.
Peaceful protest epitomized by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. is far braver and forthright an endeavor than the course followed by anarchists in masks.
