SOUTHEAST STUDENTS DECRY RODNEY KING VERDICT

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard Boyd Jr. said Tuesday he was "sickened and saddened" by the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King by four white Los Angeles police officers.

"These L.A. police officers are an embarrassment to every professional, hard-working police officer in the nation," he told a crowd of about 40 people, many of them black students, at a noon rally on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

The rally in the University Center lobby was held to denounce the acquittal of the four police officers on assault charges.

Boyd said that neither the Cape Girardeau Police Department nor the university's Department of Public Safety would tolerate officers using excessive force.

He said police should not use power "to trample human rights."

Michael Sterling, president of the Cape Girardeau County chapter of the NAACP, and several students also spoke at the rally.

Montrice Christian of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, who helped coordinate the rally, decried the verdict. "Our justice system failed," she said.

She and other speakers expressed sorrow over last week's rioting, sparked by the King verdict, which resulted in the death of more than 50 people and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Los Angeles.

She faulted the nation's political leaders for "trying to cure the symptom and not the cause."

Many of those in attendance wore black ribbons to mourn both the verdict and the rioting.

"We, too, in Cape Girardeau have experienced and are still experiencing vestiges of discrimination and racism in this city," said Sterling.

He urged the crowd to send a message that "we will no longer tolerate discrimination and double standards in this city."

Derek Hudson, Student Government president and past president of the Association of Black Collegians, said he was "angry" but not surprised about the verdict.

He said he's "very skeptical" of the nation's judicial system.

While not condoning the rioting, Hudson said he understands people's outrage over the verdict.

Damon Cannon of the Association for Black Collegians said the nation's history is filled with racism. "They beat our people, shot our people, hung our people and took them away," he said.

The beating of a black man, he said, is nothing new. "It happens everywhere. Yes, we see it every day," said Cannon. "It is just history repeating itself."

Ron Williams, another student, said the Rodney King incident proves that racism and discrimination are still prevalent. "I am very angry. It is time to be angry," he said.

"It's time that we demand we are protected by police and not rejected," said Williams.

Steve Cobb, chief justice of the All-University Judicial Board at Southeast, criticized the acquittal verdict.

But he said responding with violence is wrong. He said he hopes people will respond with "peace and education."

It was announced at the rally that a march will be held Sunday to protest racial discrimination. The march will begin at 3 p.m. at the University Center. Participants will march to City Hall and the Federal Building, and then back to the campus.

Following Tuesday's rally, Christian said many black students at Southeast feel there are subtle signs of racism at Southeast. "It's still here," she said.

University President Kala Stroup, sporting the symbolic black ribbon, attended the rally but did not speak.

Afterward, she told a Southeast Missourian reporter that she appreciates the approach students took to demonstrating their displeasure with the verdict.

Stroup said she is concerned about any appearance of racism at the university. "I think every person every day has to confront that we live with an element of racism."

But Stroup said there are many examples on campus of students of different races working together.