RODNEY KING

I had to learn to forgive. I couldn't sleep at night. I got ulcers. I had to let go, to let God deal with it. No one wants to be mad in their own house. I didn't want to be angry my whole life. It takes so much energy out of you to be mean.

People, I just want to say, can we all get along? Can we get along?

I'm a religious person. I remember my mom told me: 'Vengeance belongs to God. It's up to him to wreak vengeance.' It's hard for me to get to that point, but that's the work of God.

Over the years, a lot of rappers - Lil' Wayne, Ice Cube - have used my name in their songs. I'm a real touchstone of history.

It's not painful to relive it. I'm comfortable with my position in American history.

Can we all get along?

People look at me like I should have been like Malcolm X or Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks. I should have seen life like that and stay out of trouble, and don't do this and don't do that. But it's hard to live up to some people's expectations.

It's happening right now... it's just not on film, it's not being recorded.

When I leave here, when my final day on this earth is up, I want to leave in peace. I want to have peace in my heart.

What I've learned to do is arrest my addiction - arrest it myself, so I don't get arrested.

The trouble that they see me in is a part of my life that I'm working on.

I know and value what it means to wake up and be alive and to share my story. I'm so blessed to be here and to be able to talk about it.

As far as having peace within myself, the one way I can do that is forgiving the people who have done wrong to me. It causes more stress to build up anger. Peace is more productive.

I tell myself time heals. It really does.

For a long time, sure, I was letting the pressure of being Rodney King get to me. It ain't easy. Even now, I walk into a place wondering, 'What people are thinking? Do they know who I am? What do they think about what happened? Do they blame me for the all those people who died?'

Nice guys just don't finish first in the music industry.

As a black man, you run from the cops. It's different now, but back when I was coming up, you run.

I sometimes feel like I'm caught in a vise. Some people feel like I'm some kind of hero. Others hate me.

Anybody can get bigheaded once they know the seat cannot be pulled out from under them.

Waking up sober is a good day. I love being able to wake up and do positive things, to go to the gym.

We wouldn't be as far along as a country if we didn't take on some of Martin Luther King's ways that he instilled in us.

I realize I will always be the poster child for police brutality, but I can try to use that as a positive force for healing and restraint.

I don't see how you can grow as a world without being able to get along with people. So many people is hating out there and it's not making a difference.

Obama, he wouldn't have been in office without what happened to me and a lot of black people before me. He would never have been in that situation, no doubt in my mind. He would get there eventually, but it would have been a lot longer. So I am glad for what I went through. It opened the doors for a lot of people.

I saw my hometown burning that day.