Rooftop Koreans

Rooftop Koreans or Roof Koreans refer to the Korean American business owners and residents during the 1992 Los Angeles riots who armed themselves and took to the rooftops of local businesses to defend themselves. The unrest in urban areas was sparked by the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers in the beating of Rodney King and resulted in widespread violence and arson throughout the city.[1][2]

Background

For years, there had been tensions between the Los Angeles Korean community and the African American communities, including the killing of Latasha Harlins, an African-American teenager who was controversially fatally shot by a Korean-American convenience store owner who received no jail time.[3]

Events

Following the Rodney King verdict, Los Angeles police were unable to provide protection to many affected areas due to the overwhelming scale of the riots, instead opting to set up a defensive perimeter around the wealthier and typically white Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, cutting off Koreatown and abandoning other minority and low-income communities, leaving the Koreatown community to fend for themselves.[4] In response, many Korean business owners and residents took matters into their own hands. Local Korean radio stations in Los Angeles put out a call to help Korean business owners, leading to volunteers arriving with their own firearms. The intersection of 5th Street and Western Avenue served as a flashpoint, where the California Market (also called Gaju or Kaju) Korean grocery store was a major point of conflict. Other locations that were defended by citizens with firearms included 8th and Oxford, as well as Western and Third Street.[5] The Los Angeles Times stated there were multiple people on the roof of the grocery with "shotguns and automatic weapons"[2][3] while Ebony Magazine noted the use of "rifles and handguns."[6]

Because South Korea has a two year mandatory military service for males, it was noted that many Korean immigrants had experience with handling firearms.[7]

The actions of the rooftop Koreans sparked debates about gun control and vigilantism, while at the same time they were praised for their bravery and resourcefulness.[8] No rioters were fatally shot by any of the Korean volunteers.[9]

Influence

The rooftop Koreans have been cited by gun rights advocates for the value of citizen ownership of firearms and "being your own first responder."[10] In recent years, it has also been the subject of social media memes, contributing to tensions with African American communities especially in the 2014 Ferguson unrest,[11] the emergence of Black Lives Matter, and the increased racial tensions around Stop Asian Hate.[7][8]

References
  1. Wong, Brittany (2020-06-12). "The Real, Tragic Story Behind That 'Roof Korean' Meme You May Have Seen". HuffPost. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  2. Dunn, Ashley (1992-05-02). "KING CASE AFTERMATH: A CITY IN CRISIS : Looters, Merchants Put Koreatown Under the Gun : Violence: Lacking confidence in the police, employees and others armed themselves to protect mini-mall". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  3. Park, Jeong; Campa, Andrew J. (2022-04-29). "Thirty years after it burned, Koreatown has transformed. But scars remain". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  4. https://www.kcet.org/people/ryan-reft (2020-06-02). "Policing a Global City: Multiculturalism, Immigration and the 1992 Uprising". KCET. Retrieved 2023-08-15. {{cite web}}: External link in |last= (help)
  5. Tangherliini, Timothy R. (1999). "Remapping Koreatown: Folklore, Narrative and the Los Angeles Riots". Western Folklore. 58 (2): 149–173. doi:10.2307/1500164. ISSN 0043-373X. JSTOR 1500164.
  6. Monroe, Sylvester (May 2012). "South Central: 20 Years Since..." Ebony. 67 (7): 132–140.
  7. "Who were the Roof Koreans/Rooftop Koreans? The Crazy meme from 1992". Young Pioneer Tours. 2020-12-23. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  8. DeCook, Julia R.; Mi Hyun Yoon (January 2021). "Kung Flu and Roof Koreans: Asian/Americans as the Hated Other and Proxies of Hating in the White Imaginary". Journal of Hate Studies. 17 (1): 119–132. doi:10.33972/jhs.199. S2CID 240916281.
  9. Kim, Eddie (2020-06-05). "'Rooftop Koreans' Is More Than a Meme — It's a Violent American Fantasy". MEL Magazine. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  10. Zimmerman, Dan (2019-05-04). "As Rooftop Koreans Knew, You Are Your Own First Responder". The Truth About Guns. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  11. Ishak, Natasha (2020-11-06). "When The Police Abandoned Them, These Korean Business Owners Took Up Arms During The LA Riots". All That's Interesting. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
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