Not so. Back your quotation up to be a little more inclusive, and you'll find it reads as follows:
"...or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color..." The R. King event was not racially motivated. The nightstick response was motivated by King's vicious wacked out behavior. The defense failed to counter the rat prosecutor's BS. Race didn't matter. They'd have pounded anyone that led them on a 100 MPH chase and refused to stop fighting. Note the others in the car put their hands up and were never touched. The only one touched was the fat boy that kept swinging away.
That must have been a great comfort to former police officer Stacy Koon, now a convicted felon. as he sat in his jail cell and told himself what a swell fella he was. But those cops will never again work in law enforcement, and you wouldn't either if you ever refer to the plaintiff in such a case as the *fat boy who kept swinging away* when other officers on the scene swear otherwise. In which case, enjoy the recreational periods with your new cellmate, as Koon and Laurence Powell did for two years-plus.
The law requires racial, or alian motive, else it does not apply. Punishments, pains and penalties are not motives, they are imposed, because of motive.
" That must have been a great comfort to former police officer Stacy Koon"
The prosecutor did what he did with the judge's help and the jury believed him. It was up to Koon's and Powell's attys to counter the BS. Juries aren't required to believe in reality and neither are judges. The atty's just give it their best efforts.