The clip above is of interviews of individuals who acted during the LA Riots when it hit Koreatown, Leo Estrada, a demographer, and Larry Elder, a radio talk show host. As described in the video, they were told to evacuate the area; after seeing looters David Kim, an attorney, urged the radio to broadcast a different message: Defend the town. This video interests me because it gives some more context as to why these Korean Americans would bear arms.
Not one person in the interviews were against the actions of the Korean Americans, and it is great to see that. Instead of leaving and letting their livelihoods be ruined, they fought for what was theirs and for their fellow neighbor. As said by David Kim, "Radio Korea became the command post for these people and people would call in to say where they're being attacked, and other volunteers in other areas would actually converge there...". This quote brings forth the idea of how tight the community of Koreatown is; strangers of the same racial background came together to defend and aid one another. Sadly, some of them were arrested by the police for defending someone else's property; in one instance, the arrests indirectly led to a building being burned down.
Their actions were brave, selfless, and patriotic. They embody the American citizen who wants to make something of their life and is willing to defend it and I wish all communities would come together like the people of Koreatown.
- Richard Trejo
Given the political environment, the unity along racial lines is interesting. During this time, pragmatic liberalism and neoconservative agendas both tried to ignore or invalid race. The pragmatic liberalism agenda wanted to unity people along class lines and create social solutions by solving poverty and fixing the problems of the lower classes. The neoconservative agenda pulled social services and blamed marginalized races for their circumstances. However both these efforts only distanced the people in power(mainly white) from minorities. Both agendas only pointed out how people in power don't understand minorities and bred more resentment between the races instead of less. Having said that, certain minority groups also hated each other. For example, African Americans disliked Korean Americans for coming into their neighborhoods and starting businesses that charged high prices for basic supplies. In this environment, it makes more sense to bond along racial lines because the Korean Americans faced discrimination from the government and hatred from the people they sold to, so they turned to people of the same race for protection.
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