Rodney King Speaks May 1, 1992

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Rodney King speaks to the public for the first time after the acquittal of police involved in his traffic stop beating through Los Angeles into multi-day riots. He appeals to citizens to stop the violence and work out their differences peacefully.

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[CNN News Cast]

RODNEY KING: I just want to say - you know - can we all get along? can we, can we get along? Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids? And... I mean we've got enough smog in Los Angeles let alone to deal with setting these fires and things... it's just not right - it's not right. And it's not going to change anything. We'll get our justice; they've won the battle, but they haven't won the war. We'll get our day in court and that's all we want.

And, just, uh, I love - I'm neutral, I love every - I love people of color. I'm not like they're making me out to be.

We've got to quit - we've got to quit; I mean after-all, I could understand the first - upset for the first two hours after the verdict, but to go on, to keep going on like this and to see the security guard shot on the ground - it's just not right; it's just not right, because those people will never go home to their families again. And uh, I mean please, we can, we can get along here. We all can get along - we just gotta, we gotta.

I mean, we're all stuck here for a while, let's, you know let's try to work it out, let's try to beat it, you know, let's try to work it out.

Courtesy of CNN

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Rosa Parks: Speech at the Million Man March

October 16, 1995 (over 17 years ago)

Rosa Parks changed the face of America by refusing to give up her seat in a bus one evening in 1955. Two scores later, she restates her commitment to the civil rights cause in a speech before social activists assembled in Washington, D.C.

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Source: Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development