20th Anniversary of Los Angeles Riots

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, which began on April 29, 1992. The riots themselves preceded the Korean's time in America, as he was an 11 year old living in Seoul. But having immigrated to the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the many scars left by the riots on Korean American community were quite palpable.

The Korean remembers the 10 year anniversary of the riots in 2002. Although Korean American community of Los Angeles sustained the greatest damages from the riots, the memorial coverage of the riots mostly skipped over Korean American community. Then-President George W. Bush visited Los Angeles to commemorate the occasion, but did not visit Koreatown or meet with any Korean American civic leaders. We will see if that will change this time around.

In the meantime, please do check out the top-notch coverage of the LA riots at KoreAm magazine. In particular, make sure to check out the oral accounts of those Korean Americans who were in the middle of the chaos, and the map of the destroyed Korean American businesses.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.