Colorlines, News Report, Posted: Jun 18, 2012

An autopsy is scheduled for Monday to determine what caused Rodney King’s death. The 47-year-old was found dead at his home’s swimming pool in Southern California early Sunday morning.

Twenty years ago King became the brutalized symbol of police brutality after his beating by four LAPD officers was caught on tape. The acquittal of those officers later led to the 1992 L.A. uprisings, which left over 50 people dead, thousands injured, and billions of dollars in property damage. In the middle of the carnage King pleaded for peace, asking, “Can we all get along?”

April marked the 20 year anniversary of the uprisings, and King also released a memoir that month called “The Riot Within.” In it, he captured a sometimes tumultuous personal journey of drug and alcohol addiction in the years following the country’s worst urban riot. Read more here.