social commentator mike davis pointed to the growing economic disparity in los angeles, caused by corporate restructuring and government deregulation, with inner city residents bearing the brunt of such changes. such conditions engendered a widespread feeling of frustration and powerlessness in the urban populace. they reacted to the king verdicts with a violent expression of collective public protest. to davis and other writers, the tensions between african-americans and korean-americans had as much to do with the economic competition between the two groups caused by wider market forces as with either cultural misunderstandings, or blacks angered about the killing of latasha harlins.