About the LA Riots

by B.J. on 11/15/2002 09:10:00 AM 0 comments Print this post

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Hey B**ch Motherf*ckers, this is about the LA Riots so enjoy.

Social Inequality
In 1992, an explosion of violence channeled itself through the decrepit neighborhoods of Los Angeles because of a non-guilty verdict read for four white policemen beating a black man named Rodney King. A videotape of the event clearly showed that the police officers mercilessly, needlessly pounded on King. The ensuing explosion of violence manifested itself through lootings of stores, protests, vandalism, shootings, and physical attacks. In Anna Deveare Smith�s Twilight, a compilation of interviews regarding these riots with first-hand observers of many different backgrounds, the people generally speak of the riots as a release of ignored, mounting racial tensions.

As much as people see the riots as an explosion of racial tensions, the problem is truly the result of socioeconomic inequalities, in which race becomes incorporated to easily identify and blame a problem on. In the story, a disgruntled Korean Lady named Mrs. Young Soon Han expands on the point of racial tensions, but mainly highlights the struggle between blacks and Koreans over how much Koreans dominate the businesses in black neighborhoods. In contrast, thinking that the problem is generally white and black, the whites in the story, best represented by the Anonymous Hollywood agent, still contend that the riots are primarily a result of the privileges denied urbanites that white people have. The third opinion, this of the African-American Paul Parker, militant chairperson of Free the LA Four Plus Committee, reaffirms the two previous characters saying that the Los Angeles riots result because of the ongoing tension by the police in the urban slums. In sum, the different characters cite different battles of racial tensions, but all come to the conclusion that the riots result because of socioeconomic inequalities within the urban setting. Though racial tensions may have taken the blame for the riots, the real problem lies within the social inequalities presented within the vast pastures of Los Angeles.

Struggling for influence in the decrepit neighborhoods, Koreans and blacks battle for influence because of the lack of black businesses in the neighborhoods. Ninety-eight percent of the businesses robbed and run to the ground by rioters were Korean owned (Smith 175). A sorrowful Mrs. Young-Soon Han claims that while she admires America, she wonders aloud about the status of Koreans (Smith 245). While she does appreciate blacks for opening the door to freedom for other minorities, she still maintains that the lack of racial acknowledgement from the mainstream results in their being forgotten, and thus increases anger and frustration within the Korean community (Smith 246). Asserting that Koreans do not get the same benefits as blacks, she angrily pounds, �Many Afro-Americans who never worked they get at least minimum amount of money to survive. We [the Koreans] don�t get any!� (Smith 246). She asserts that while Koreans do not get the same benefits as the blacks, they still tolerate the same second-class treatment (Smith 248). In response to this second-class treatment, the Koreans make the blacks feel insufficient in their own neighborhoods by monopolizing the businesses and making the money, as Katie Miller, a black account claims (Smith 129). Even though Mrs. Young-Soon Han likes to acknowledge racial tensions as the root of the problem by nothing the violence of blacks, she acknowledges that the problem lies within this struggle for influence and power within their own neighborhoods between Koreans and blacks --- social inequalities.

Thinking that the riots are fostered mainly between blacks and whites, the anonymous Hollywood Agent highlights all the advantages he has over minorities. He underlines the guilt he carries as a white man, �All the, frankly, the white upper class, upper middle class---whatever your, the definition is---white successful . . .spending too much money, too ya know, too good a restaurant, that kinda thing. We were just getting ourselves into a frenzy, which I think a lot of it involved guilt, just generic guilt� (Smith 135-136). Essentially, the Anonymous Man absorbs generic, indirect guilt because of his powerful, unearned status as a white man. Like Mrs. Young-Soon Han, he acknowledges that the system fosters the riots because of its mishandling of the urban inhabitants. However, unlike her, he lumps the minorities into one group and cites that the problem lies more deeply between the whites and blacks, which oversimplifies the problem (Smith 139). The idea, however, remains consistent with Mrs. Young Soon Han�s view --- urbanites struggle to address socioeconomic inequalities (Smith 139). Further addressing the lack of socioeconomic equality, Peter Sellars, a director in the Los Angeles Festival, best affirms America�s ignorance of urbanites when he describes a metaphor about a house, representing America, being reluctant to address a fire in the basement, which symbolizes America�s urban scene (Smith 199). He asserts that ignoring the fire will only cause it to ignite even further (Smith 200). Race and socioeconomic inequality intertwine because minorities seem to lose out to whites.

Lastly, the African-American Paul Parker asserts that the riots will go on as long as peace is denied the urban scene. He diminishes any argument of the riots being mainly about racial equality when he claims victory over the business-owning Koreans (Smith 175). By claiming the victory, he implies that only the strugglers, not necessarily the minorities, deserve the chance to be heard by rioting. He reflects with disgust at the attention Reginald Denny, a Caucasian male, receives from the media after being beaten by black men in the midst of the riots, �If Denny was Latino, Indian, or black, they wouldn�t give a damn because many people got beat, but you didn�t hear about the Lopezes or the Vaccas or the, uh Quintanas or the, uh, Tarvins� (Smith 172). In Parker�s eyes, darker people suffer from police brutality because of their standings as minorities, which connotes socioeconomic insignificance and powerlessness (Smith 178). Expanding on police brutality, Teresa Allison, Founder of Mother Reclaiming Our Children, recalls �They [the police] used to take our kids from one project and drop �em into another gang zone and leave �em in there and let those guys kill �em and then say it�s a gang-related thing� (Smith 38). Basically, she underlines that the poor children in the housing projects suffer from police brutality. Even black middle-class children become shocked at the poor quality of life in the projects (Smith 208). In having even black middle-class children being shocked at the turmoil of South Central Los Angeles, the argument that the riots result because of racial tensions diminishes as the black children inadvertently claim no relation to the inner-city cause with their surprised reactions.

The Los Angeles riots resulted because of the social inequalities within the urban system, which in turn fostered much of the racial tensions inherent in Los Angeles. Before the riots, most Koreans simply fought to keep their businesses safe in their own neighborhoods and in the process alienated the blacks. Mostly distant from the inner cities and feeling guilty about the riots, most whites simply offered suggestions from afar for social reform. In response to the turmoil with Koreans and ignorance from the whites, urban blacks saw their actions as justified because of their plight in the inner cities. As long as even just a bit of minorities are kept subverted in the system, people will continue to complain about racial tensions as the main problem.

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