On riots and race. What has changed, and what’s still bubbling
under the surface, 20 years after the riots in South Central Los
Angeles: The L.A. Riots (or uprising, civil unrest, or
rebellion, depending) are often considered the first
‘multiethnic’ riots. As a pivot point of race and urban
relations, they constitute a resonant moment for immigrant
America. Korean Americans living on the West Coast at the time
remember the first day, 4-29, or sa-i-gu, with time-freezing
clarity. For many of us, the riots were a schooling in color and
class. Our household, run by two working-class parents, was
consumed by frantic arguments and phone calls about race,
cities, and the distribution of wealth. There was talk of
structural, large-scale discrimination, not merely individual
prejudice or circumstance, which shaped the course of my life.
Last summer, approaching the riots’ twentieth anniversary, I
sought out the lessons of 1992. I was drawn in particular to the
riots’ crucible in South Central, since refashioned as ‘S