On the very surface, the LA Riots were a conflict led by racial tensions between African Americans and Caucasians of America as the riots were a result of Los Angeles police brutality. However, it created a lasting impact on all minority races in the area. On March 3rd, 1991, Rodney King was brutally beat by police officers and the officers were charged with assualt with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force. However, in April of 1992, those police officers were acquitted after 3 months of trial by a white jury which galvanized a massive riot in South Central Los Angeles and lasted 5 days resulting in 50 deaths and $1 billion in property damage.
The photo above depicts two Korean business owners on the roof of their store armed with weapons and smoking cigarettes to prevent looters from looting and setting their business to flames. Koreatown was heavily affected by the riots as they themselves sustained $400 million of property damage. The root cause of the riots was from the government neglecting these communities, such as the low funding of education with the last straw being the Rodney King incident. The neglect of the area is clearly shown through the events in the riots. In an interview with a gun store manager David Joo (link below picture), Joo stated that he needed to help his boss protect his business and that "as soon as the gun fighting started, they ran away." This alone just shows the neglect to community; the police officers had one job, which was to serve and protect but instead they are seen running away and leaving the riot in the hands of American citizens residing in LA. Due to the police abandoning Koreatown, business owners were forced to protect their own businesses. Gun fights ensued between looters and store owners and in the end 2300 Korean owned businesses were destroyed. Korean businesses took a huge hit as between 1992-1997, 3587 Korean businesses were lost in Los Angeles with 24,207 Korean businessess lost in all of California. However, this is not just about the racial tensions between African Americans and Koreans. The racial demographic of LA county is changing as African American populations have decreased and there is an influx of people with Latin and Middle Eastern origins. The arrival of these immigrants have led to an increase in Latin American and Arab American owned businesses. If the riots were to happen today instead, we might be talking about the destruction of Latin and Arab owned businesses. Although these riots may have been a result of racial tensions between whites and African Americans, in the end all people with all ethnic backgrounds were affected.
~Kevin Jiang
I'd comment that we are already seeing the destruction of Latin and Arab owned businesses, families, and institutions through things such as ICE raids, travel bans, and violence against Latinx and Muslim communities through things such as mosque bombings etc.
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