by Kimberly King
Monday, Aug. 13, 2007 at 5:38 AM
kkinghall@earthlink.net
On Saturday, Aug. 11, during the last performance of the night of the all-day Rock the Bells hip hop concert at the Hyundai Pavillion in San Bernadino, the audience was pepper sprayed as Rage Against the Machine played their encore. Luckily, the audience did not become overly panicked, as this might have caused many injuries as audience members hurriedly escaped from the venue, coughing and confused.
Police brutality marred the end of the much-awaited Rock the Bells hip hop concert held at the Hyundai Pavilian at Glen Helen in San Bernadino on Saturday, Aug. 11, 2007. During the last performance of the night of the Rock the Bells hip hop concert at the Hyundai Center in San Bernadino, the audience was pepper sprayed as Rage Against the Machine played their encore. Luckily, the audience did not become overly panicked, as this might have caused many injuries as the diverse crowd of mostly young people hurriedly escaped from the venue, coughing, confused, and some visibly angry. Whomever sprayed the pepper spray did not seem to think about the potential to cause a stampede among the huge crowd. From where I was standing, there was no evidence of a disturbance, so the reason for the use of pepper spray is unclear. This was a disrespectful, dangerous, and abrupt end to a fantastic series of performances by conscious hip hop artists including The Roots, Mos Def, Public Enemy, Living Legends, and Immortal Technique, among many others, who had shared their creativity and positive energy throughout the day and evening.