Crash Course Black American History – Los Angeles Uprising & Related Context

Ongoing Struggle for Black Lives (Present Lens)

• Movement for Black Lives, Ferguson, Baltimore, Minneapolis, NYC (and others) continue to organize against police brutality & racially violent public policy.

  • Police killings often “light the fuse,” but decades / generations of disinvestment supply the dynamite.

  • Activism ranges from quiet, local policy work ➔ street demonstrations & uprisings.

• Key framing question the episode addresses: What happens when communities feel perpetually disrespected, deprived of resources, and targeted by state violence?

The Power of Language

• The episode deliberately uses “uprising / rebellion” instead of “riot.”

  • “Riot” historically deployed to trivialize Black political protest as chaotic, irrational.

  • 1965 LA Times quote: “The rioters were burning their city now as the insane sometimes mutilate themselves.”

  • Re‐labeling as “uprisings” restores political intent & highlights systemic grievances.

Key Historical Echoes & Non-Linear Storytelling

• History follows loops, echoes, feedback— not a straight timeline.

  • The 1992 LA uprising echoes Watts (1965) ➔ echoes modern BLM.

  • Economic, social, racial pressures accumulate; specific flash-points ignite them.

Immigration & Demographic Shifts after 1965

• Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965:

  • Ended severe national-origins quotas ➔ influx of immigrants from Asia, Latin America, Caribbean.

  • Vision: innovation, cultural/economic benefits; aligns with U.S. “nation of immigrants” ethos.

  • Reality inside racist U.S. structure:

  • Black communities already confronted poverty, housing shortages, underfunded schools, de-industrialization, white flight.

  • New immigrants often settled in the same urban neighborhoods, perceived as additional competition for scarce (manufactured-scarce) resources.

Specific to California

• Large waves of Korean immigration in late 60s–80s.

• Korean entrepreneurs began purchasing & running businesses in historically Black neighborhoods (South Central LA, Compton, Watts, etc.).

  • Practice of “Kye” (개, rotating credit associations) let Korean families pool money ➔ buy shops cheaply, especially after property values crashed post-Watts.

The 1965 Watts Rebellion (Foundational Echo)

• Spark: traffic stop of Marquette Frye (young Black man).

  • Eyewitness: police “threw him in the car like a bag of laundry.”

  • Escalation: police beat Frye & family members ➔ crowd anger ➔ 6-day uprising.

• Outcomes & stats:

  • 34 deaths, 1,000+ injuries, 4,000 arrests, \$40,000,000 property damage.

  • Real-estate values plummeted; many white-owned businesses left or were destroyed ➔ vacuum for Korean entrepreneurs.

Resulting Tensions (1965-1990)

• Black residents’ grievances:

  • Feeling disrespected in Korean-run stores (poor customer service, suspicion, refusal to hire Black employees).

  • Sense that profits extracted from Black neighborhoods without reinvestment in them.

• Korean shop-owners’ grievances:

  • High local crime; armed robberies; believed discrimination & suspicion were self-protective.

  • Many stores family-run; limited resources to hire staff.

• Both communities experiencing fear, anger, scarcity ➔ manufactured by policy (redlining, disinvestment, de-industrialization).

Political & Cultural Landscape of the 1980s–90s

• Global & U.S. conservative turn (Reagan, Thatcher, Bush 41).

• Black cultural & political resistance:

  • Rise of Hip-Hop & Rap; public enemy, N.W.A. ("F--k the Police" references direct LAPD brutality).

  • Anti-Apartheid solidarity; Jesse Jackson’s “Rainbow Coalition” presidential runs 1984 & 1988.

Economic Snapshot 1990 (South Central LA)

• Estimated 65\%–80\% of businesses Korean-owned.

• 1992 survey revealed significant racial prejudice:

  • Black customers believed they paid higher prices for lower-quality goods.

  • Also felt shop-owners uninterested in community welfare.

Flash-Point 1: Murder of Latasha (Natasha) Harlins (1991)

• Date: 03/16/1991 – Empire Liquor (Koreatown).

• Victim: 15-year-old Black girl buying \$1.79 orange juice; money visible in hand.

• Clerk Soon Ja Du accused her of shoplifting, grabbed her backpack; scuffle.

  • Latasha slammed juice back on counter, turned to leave ➔ Du shot her in the head (killed instantly).

• Legal outcome:

  • Jury: convicted of involuntary manslaughter, recommended max 16-year sentence.

  • Judge Joyce Karlin: no prison time – 5 yrs probation, 400 hrs community service, \$500 fine.

• Symbolic Meaning:

  • For Black LA, clear message that Black life valued less than a bottle of juice.

  • Cemented anti-Korean resentment.

Flash-Point 2: Beating of Rodney King (03/03/1991)

• High-speed chase ➔ LAPD officers Stacy Coon, Lawrence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno.

• Video (George Holliday’s camcorder) showed King on ground, pummeled with batons, kicks, taser; skull & cheekbone fractures.

• Indictment: 03/15/1991; trial venue moved to mostly-white Simi Valley.

• Verdict 04/29/1992: Acquittal on all assault charges.

Immediate Trigger ➔ LA Uprising 1992

• Verdict announced ≈ 3\mathrm{:}00 PM; uprising began by 4\mathrm{:}15 PM.

• First death reported 8\mathrm{:}15 PM.

• From 04/29–05/02/1992:

  • 63 killed, 2,000+ injured, 8,000 arrested.

  • Koreatown sustained heavy property damage when unrest spread 04/30.

  • Order restored after deployment of CA National Guard, U.S. Marines & Army, entire LAPD force.

• Civil resolutions:

  • Federal civil-rights retrial ➔ 2 officers sentenced to 30 months.

  • Rodney King awarded \$3.8 million; Harlins family \$300,000 insurance settlement.

  • Community impact far exceeds monetary payouts; many feel justice incomplete.

Core Themes & Analysis

• Manufactured Scarcity: Public policy (redlining, disinvestment) creates competition between marginalized groups.

• Inter-Minority Tension as By-Product of White Supremacy: Systems pit Black & Korean communities against each other instead of confronting root forces.

• Pressure vs. Diamonds Metaphor: Opposite of romantic “pressure makes diamonds”; here pressure ➔ explosions.

• Media Technology & Accountability: First mass-media police-brutality video (King) pre-social-media era; foreshadows smartphone era documenting misconduct.

• Legal System Injustice: Acquittals or lenient sentences undermine faith in courts, reinforcing perception of devalued Black life.

• Echoes into Present: 1992 ➔ Ferguson 2014 (Michael Brown), Minneapolis 2020 (George Floyd); same structural patterns.

Ethical & Philosophical Implications

• Justice vs. Order: Deploying military forces restored “order” without remedying underlying injustices.

• Collective Punishment vs. Targeted Accountability: Entire neighborhoods endure damage while individuals (few officers) face light penalties.

• Language Responsibility: Naming events shapes public memory & moral framing (riot vs. uprising).

Connections to Previous Crash Course Episodes / Broader History

• Continues thread of state violence beginning with slave patrols, Jim Crow lynch mobs, COINTELPRO, War on Drugs.

• Demonstrates cyclical nature of policy neglect → protest → criminalization.

• Builds foundation for understanding contemporary BLM protests and critiques of policing.

Key Terms & Definitions

• Uprising/Rebellion: Collective action against perceived oppression; acknowledges political motive.

• Kye (개): Rotating credit association enabling pooled capital among Korean immigrants.

• Manufactured Scarcity: Artificial lack of resources produced by discriminatory policy rather than true shortage.

• White Flight: Post-WWII suburbanization of whites, draining urban tax bases.

• De-industrialization: Loss of manufacturing jobs in urban centers from 1970s onward.

Important Statistics & Figures (LaTeX format)

• Watts Rebellion damages: \$40,000,000

• Watts: 34 deaths, 1,000+ injuries, 4,000 arrests.

• Korean-owned businesses in South Central (≈1990): 65\%–80\%.

• LA Uprising 1992: 63 killed, 2,000+ injured, 8,000 arrests.

• Rodney King civil award: \$3{,}800{,}000; Harlins family insurance: \$300{,}000.

• Soon Ja Du original bottle price: \$1.79; sentence recommended 16 yrs, received 0 jail.

• Officers (federal trial): 30-month sentences.

Concluding Takeaways

• Structural violence (policing, economic abandonment, legal inequity) breeds reactive violence.

• Naming & storytelling shape whether society views such moments as mindless chaos or as political demands for dignity and resources.

• Contemporary activism against police brutality draws direct lineage from Watts 1965 → LA 1992 → BLM present.

• As Clint Smith notes: “Pressure doesn’t always create diamonds. Sometimes pressure creates explosions.”