Those are some policemen that were eating dinner in a taco joint last night where I sat reading and eating shrimp tacos while Henry was at baseball practice. There was a white guy who looked like Eddie Haskell from Leave it to Beaver, a Korean guy, an Hispanic guy and someone whose ethnic identity was difficult to ascertain. I pretended to be reading something on my phone because I'm sort of afraid of cops in Los Angeles, but I took their picture. Yesterday was the twentieth anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, a terrifically awful day to remember but maybe it's a good thing. Our radio waves were filled with talk about it, and I heard black poets and Korean businessmen talk about the day; I heard Rodney King -- why can't we all get along -- himself reminisce about the routine beating that turned the city into a bonfire. I wasn't living in Los Angeles in 1992, but I have friends who stood on their rooftops in the Hollywood Hills with hoses, anticipating the sparks that might burn it all down. I'm not sure what has changed in the two decades since those horrible four days -- my own kids go to school in the middle of Koreatown where most of the rioting occurred, and as white boys, are nearly minorities now among their Korean, Asian and Hispanic classmates. They don't bat an eye, as the saying goes, about that. I yearn, sometimes, for a simpler life -- somewhere outside of this vast and busy, expensive city -- and then I feel grateful to be in the middle of it, making history in our own small way.
I was a college student at the time, in an African-American Studies class with almost all African-Americans in the class, as the only Korean kid (even though I'm from Argentina). It was an interesting discussion and a sad, scary time. There were a few small demonstrations in the Bay Area, where I went to school.
ReplyDeleteI was so shocked by the video, but also upset that such a thing could happen in my idealistic view of the American country I adopted as my own.
My maternal side of the family lives in your area! it is an interesting part of town. I always feel like I'm visiting Korea, since I've never been to Korea myself!
I can't believe it has been twenty years since the riots. This is a great photo. I must however, be getting old, because these policemen look like children to me. Geesh!
ReplyDeleteDiversity is a damn good thing and for some reason, when I see such excellent examples of it, it makes me want to cry. Why is that? Hope for humanity? Maybe.
ReplyDeleteI 100% understand you here. I want so much all at the same time in my surroundings each day. You and I are urban dwellers who long for simplicity while we love our cities at the same time.
ReplyDeletei am glad there are children in this world being raised by you.
ReplyDeleteI e=remember the riots. I think it was the first time that something terrible from overseas made it into my consciousness and left a mark. It must be a good thing that I consciously remember the riots when I teach about equality. I may not specifically reference them because the children I teach are too young and too far away but I remember them and the causes.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo. Times have changed. Thank goodness.
If you haven't seen Anna Deavere Smith's Twilight Los Angeles, rent a copy, it's extraordinary.
ReplyDeletethank god the woman in the picture is blue,
ReplyDeleteand we are 20 years down this road.
if we could only wake up "color blind" and willing.
key word,
willing.
Wow, E. I remember that. It was awful.
ReplyDeleteI remember how the tv was on all day in the conference room of our high rise office building in downtown newport beach ... we all felt like we were W O R L D S apart.
ReplyDeleteSeattle has some very similar tensions that LA had at that time. I wonder if every city has that going on.
I wondered if you would post about this anniversary. Of course you did. Kudos.
ReplyDelete