Jun 10, 2025
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March 3, 1991, George Holliday filmed the brutal LAPD beating of Rodney King. Officers hit King over 50 times, As Holliday quietly filmed the scene from his balcony, the LAPD officers, most of whom were white, surrounded King, a 25-year-old Black man. Over the next nine minutes, Holliday filmed the cops using batons, stun guns, and their feet and fists to beat King, even once he was lying prone on the ground causing severe injuries. Despite the video, the officers were initially acquitted of charges, sparking the historic 1992 L.A. Riots.
While the official police report claimed King only had "minor" injuries, the grainy camcorder footage revealed a violent assault that left him with severe physical injuries. Despite the world seeing the beating on tape, on April 29, 1992, the jury acquitted officers Koon, Wind, Briseno, and Powell of all charges (save for one assault charge against Powell that ended in a hung jury). Hours later, Los Angeles erupted into riots and changed the American conversation on police brutality forever.
Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s 1992 Rodney King essay.
During the LA Riots, fantasist Meghan Markle was actually with her father in Palm Springs. She was NOT in Los Angeles with Doria watching "snow" fall from the sky.
"Please let everyone know I just talked to my dad, my sister was no where near the riots. I watched them. She was whisked away to Palm Springs. She never saw buring trees, there was never rioting in Doria's neighborhood or Dad's! Liar!!! Duchess of Deception"- Samantha Markle (2020)
Meghan Markle's Legendary Lies: Soap & Riots
Would you have recognized this person if you had seen them in public when they were alive?
Yes, I know who this is and I feel confident that I would have recognized them
I know who this is but I’m not sure I would have recognized them in person
They look familiar but I’m not sure who they are
I have no idea who this is
Nuanced answer
Soundsuite - Nick Cave
After witnessing the videotaped beating of Rodney King, Chicago-based artist Nick Cave created his first "Soundsuits,’’ full-bodied costumes from colorful objects found in antique shops and flea markets that protected him like a "second skin.’’ He fashioned his initial suits as "a therapeutic object to hide his identity’’ as a gay African-American in a threatening world.
Picture this. It’s 2025. You’re home, alone, scrolling streaming services for something to watch.
You notice a trend. It seems like every other movie, show, or ad break has a similar theme in common.
Vampires.
Vampires.
Vampires.
Now, vampires can’t die. Not naturally. But, they can evolve. And lately? They’ve been everywhere.
But what does that mean? What does it matter? Why am I talking about this? Well, it’s not only because this is my final project for my history class. (Yes, seriously.)
It’s because media doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is influenced by the current world around it and it may influence future works that will be shaped in the same way.
Using historical examples and analysis, I’m going to try to answer a simple question: why are vampires back and what does that say about how we, right now, view race, class, and opportunity.
Let’s rewind. Historically, vampires have been used as a stand in for a variety of things, a metaphor for the insertable “other” of the era. As the culture shifts, so does the “other”. Vampires, especially in the modern era, navigate strikingly similar social tensions to our own.
A little over a decade after the end of WWI, on October 29, 1929 the US stock market began its fall that would lead to The Great Depression.
Less than two years later, Universal’s Dracula would be released.
Now, vampires don’t just live forever, they hoard wealth while they do it. In many ways they are an aristocratic final boss. Dracula? He was loaded.
He had a castle and everything. While America was in turmoil due to the poor decisions of the nations elites, citizens got to watch as the rich foreigner was vanquished by a proper Englishman.
With that in mind, we’re gonna fast forward a bit.
In the same decade that the officers that beat Rodney King were acquitted...
...and the first lady was indirectly referring to black boys and men as “super-predators”...
Our screens were blessed with Westley Snipes as Blade, a Black vampire hunter who is able to walk in the daylight. Blade exists between two words, fully accepted by neither, and actively fights against conforming to vampirism.
So where are we now and what are we saying? And why are vampires involved?
Vampire media of the 2020’s has been way more diverse. Back in the 90s Blade was one of a very small handful of vampire films with a slightly more diverse cast. But now?
We have Jaime Foxx as Bud, a blue collar vampire hunter who must save his family while also trying to re-join a vampire hunting union (I bet those benies is nice)
at a time when unions are largely under attack.
We have monster hunter Calliope falling in love with rich vampire Juliette that doesn’t want to carry on her families bloody legacy. Relevant when we’ve seen the exact opposite from wealthy people whose fortunes were made off the backs of others.
We have vampires literally try to gentrify the Bronx and forcefully assimilate/destroy the residents living there.
Vampires or Real Estate Developers, what’s the difference right now?
And that’s just on Netflix!
What’s a running theme in these works?
A privileged , pale, influential figure, will try to seduce, target, or otherwise manipulate vulnerable populations, such as people of color and the poor in order to reach their goal. They’ll offer marginalized people the “opportunity” to join their ranks. And often people don’t realize until it’s too late that the “opportunity” isn’t actually optional and comes with deadly strings attached. The figure will try to force people to conform to it’s beliefs, even if they are in direct conflict with their personhood.
And the only way to defeat the monster?
Community. Real community.
The American people of the 2020’s are seeking unity to defeat a common enemy, the wealthy. After being quarantined, after economic upheaval, after repeatedly watching lives be lost, America wants working class solidarity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Works Cited~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“ 1996: Hillary Clinton on ‘Superpredators’ (C-SPAN).” YouTube, C-Span, www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0uCrA7ePno. Accessed 16 May 2025.
Ch VIII. “World War I & Its Aftermath.” The American Yawp, 7 June 2013, www.americanyawp.com/text/21-world-war-i/.
Introduction. “The Great Depression.” The American Yawp, 7 June 2013, www.americanyawp.com/text/23-the-great-depression/.
Ford, James. South Bronx Residents Face Displacement as Gentrification Takes Hold, PIX11, pix11.com/news/local-news/bronx/south-bronx-residents-face-displacement-as-gentrification-takes-hold/. Accessed 16 May 2025.
Gateward, Frances. “Daywalkin’ Night Stalkin’ Bloodsuckas: Black Vampires in Contemporary Film.” Genders 1998-2013, 2 July 2004, www.colorado.edu/gendersarchive1998-2013/2004/07/02/daywalkin-night-stalkin-bloodsuckas-black-vampires-contemporary-film.
Greenhouse, Steven. “‘Old-School Union Busting’: How Us Corporations Are Quashing the New Wave of Organizing.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 26 Feb. 2023, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/26/amazon-trader-joes-starbucks-anti-union-measures.
McKee, Patricia. “Racialization, Capitalism, and Aesthetics in Stoker’s ‘Dracula.’” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, vol. 36, no. 1, 2002, pp. 42–60. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1346114.
“Los Angeles Riots of 1992.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 22 Apr. 2025, www.britannica.com/event/Los-Angeles-Riots-of-1992.
2025 / 23
Aperçu of the week
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
(Sonnet by Emma Lazarus, inscription on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty)
Bad News of the Week
I can still remember 1992, when serious riots broke out in Los Angeles after the police officers who had mistreated African American Rodney King a year earlier were acquitted. The images that made their way to Europe conveyed exactly the same sequence of events as Rodney King's arrest itself: a minority commits a relatively harmless offense, and the state responds with disproportionate force. After four days, there were 53 reported deaths, several thousand injured, and property damage amounting to approximately one billion US dollars.
Right now, I wish I were experiencing some déjà vu - but unfortunately, it was reality back then. And it is now. It started with increasingly reckless actions by ICE (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement), which now even snatches parents of minors born in the country off the street and takes them to detention centers with the intention of deporting them without due process. It is obvious that civil society should resist this. Especially when plain clothes and neutral vehicles cast doubt on whether these are actually representatives of the authorities.
The whole situation is now apparently escalating in two ways. On the one hand, protests are increasing in other parts of the country. This is out of solidarity, but also because the division of the population is progressing everywhere and everyone knows someone with an unclear residence status who hardly dares to leave their home because they could be caught in the supermarket parking lot and deported. Unfortunately, the readiness to violence is also increasing.
And on the other hand, the federal government is not shying away from any kind of martial measures. First the National Guard, then even the Marines. Both against the express wishes of Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom, and serves nothing good but adds fuel to the fire. Why is Trump doing this? Does he want to show the two Democrats who's boss? Does he want to demonstrate to his unsettled voter base that he is a strong man who can still act where others fail? Or is he simply willing to use any means necessary to combat his arch nemesis called immigration?
Only one thing seems certain: this US president doesn't give a damn about rules, conventions, standards, processes, regulations... in short: limits. Donald Trump simply does what he wants. In 1776, the United States of America declared its independence from the Kingdom of England in order to establish a democracy. Viewed from the outside, it almost seems as if the nation is now regressing back into a monarchy. That would be fine if the people had decided to do so of their own free will. But as it stands, they are simply being gradually stripped of their power - essentially a coup d'état.
Good News of the Week
So-called rare earths are crucial for our economic future. Without them, there would be no high tech. Take lithium, for example: this alkali metal is often referred to as "white gold" and is a basic component of rechargeable batteries. Without rechargeable batteries, there would be no digitalization or electric mobility.
When we think of the origin of rare earths, we think of China - with its dubious reliability and commitment to contracts. We think of Australia - with its questionable environmental standards. Or Chile - with its poor labor standards, not to mention child labor in the mines. And then Angela Merkel went to Ulaanbaatar a few years ago to strike a deal with Mongolia. Never heard anything about it again? Exactly.
Germany, like virtually all other established industrialized countries, must therefore consider how it can meet the growing demand for raw materials for the development and production of components for future technologies. And in doing so, it is dependent on international agreements, commonly known as globalization. Which is currently not really trending to put it mildly. It is a pity that there is practically no mining left in Germany after ore and coal ceased to be an issue or became cheaper to purchase than to extract.
"Berggeschrey" ("Mountain clamor") is an old term that appears already in Grimm's dictionary and refers to the loud, widespread news of the discovery of rich ore deposits in the mountains, which puts the entire region in a state of excitement - some kind of gold rush atmosphere. In 1168, it was silver in Saxony. The discoveries marked the beginning of an era of prosperity and wealth. For 800 years, the mining of silver, tin, cobalt, and uranium shaped the country. "Everything comes from the mines," say the Saxons. With the fall of communism, it was all over. For good. For good?
Now, according to news magazine Der Spiegel, the clamor for legendary findings is audible once again. Niobium, lithium, tungsten, nickel, and indium are raw materials in high demand worldwide. And they lie beneath the ground in Saxony. Mining could be a billion-dollar business that could bring another boom to the nowadays relatively structurally weak region of Saxony.
There is still local resistance to the renaissance of mining. Many people still associate mining with environmental damage and health risks from the days of the GDR. Ironically, this is where the world's oldest mining academy trains students and where Alexander von Humboldt once conducted research. However, with modern mining technology and the protective regulations for people and nature that are now in place, there is no need to fear. Instead, people can look forward to well-paid jobs and a little more independence. Good luck!
Personal happy moment of the week
Last week, colleagues from all our offices got together for a summer party in Ulm, on the border between Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Those of us from Munich traveled there together by train. It turned out to be an unexpected adventure, as instead of a two-hour ride on one train, we ended up spending five and a half hours on four different trains. But we didn't let that spoil our good mood. The evening was very nice and delicious, and the night was short. Almost all of us slept through the return trip the next day. With a little smile of satisfaction on their sleepy faces.
I couldn't care less...
...that even after its bad experiences with Brexit, Great Britain is still seeking salvation in isolationism. A current example: foreign nursing staff. Without them, nothing would function on the island in this regard - because they make up the majority of the workforce. Labour now wants to get rid of them for opportunistic reasons, even though there are no citizens to fill the jobs that will then be left vacant. The main thing is to stop migration. Even if it means shooting yourself in the foot.
It's fine with me...
...that rhinos are now being deliberately "dehorned" in South Africa's famous Kruger National Park. Scientists at Nelson Mandela University have proven that between 2017 and 2023, the number of rhinos killed by poachers in eleven reserves fell by three quarters after the horns of these endangered animals were trimmed. Unfortunately, there are still enough men in Asia who believe that rhino powder is a remedy for impotence. Yet it consists only of keratin - just like human fingernails.
As I write this...
...I think back to a danger I wasn't even aware of. I was driving in a taxi with colleagues across a bridge over the Rhine in Cologne. Later that same day, three huge American aerial bombs from World War II were found at exactly the same spot. This led to the largest evacuation since that very war. Twenty thousand residents had to be evacuated, 58 hotels were cleared, the city center was completely emptied, and ship, train, car, and air traffic were halted. And then, after a good hour, the defusing was over. And so was the strange feeling in my stomach.
Post Scriptum
This year, our second home, Canada, is once again being ravaged by devastating forest fires, with a new sad record looming. According to Canada's national forest fire report, there are currently well over a hundred fires burning across all provinces, causing unimaginable damage. Exceptional dryness and wind have contributed to the formation and spread of the fires. Over 25,000 people in sparsely populated areas have been evacuated as a precaution. Even in more distant cities such as Toronto and Montreal, the air quality is now so poor due to the smoke that there are health risks. We are talking about the second largest country on earth!
Normally, most Europeans only hear news from North America that has something to do with Donald Duck or Donald Trump. This year's forest fires are different. And you don't even have to look at the TV to see it, just look up at the sky. We haven't been able to see the Alps for days now at our home because the air is so hazy. And the sunsets have a strange pastel orange hue. That's because the emissions have now traveled 7,000 to 8,000 kilometers over the Atlantic to Europe. For the third year in a row, the situation is extreme. This also applies to the climate: the journal Nature has calculated that the total carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions from the fires between May and September 2023 was comparable to India's annual CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. Ouch.