The image of Korean merchants standing on rooftops to protect their stores is particularly poignant to me. It was at this time that Korean-Americans realized what the rest of the country thought of them, which is to say that they didn’t matter. First, it showed that other minorities did not care for the Koreans as a whole. Korean store owners suffered the most damage during the riot, with Koreans suffering about $500,000 of property damage, which is about half the total amount of property damage. As for why Korean stores were targeted specifically, there are several reasons. One reason was how Koreans often bought stores which were sold to them by white store owners who were leaving the area. This often left Korean stores the only way to buy things. Another reason is the result of the trial of a Korean store owner shooting a black teenage girl, which occurred a year before. No doubt this did little to change the black community’s opinion that Koreans were just as much to blame as were whites.
While it may seem like Koreans may be on “their” side, this was no the case. Despite the amount of damage that Korean stores were taking, the LAPD did not protect them, forcing Koreans to arm themselves to defend their stores. Due to the Koreans lack of political power and their lack of visibility, they were ignored by the police and also whites. This revealed something else. Koreans were not only not accepted by other minorities, they were not accepted by the majority. This spurred the Korean community into action by moving into the political sphere. Relations between African-Americans and Korean-Americans have also improved due to both of their efforts.
-Kenneth Yang
This was great commentary on one of the more overlooked sides of the Rodney King Riots. I think another reason there was so much intrinsic hatred toward Koreans was because of the Korean War and that some ignorant American assumed Korean American who had nothing to do with the war owed them something.
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