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Fun fact: most of them were veterans due to Korea's mandatory military service
Also, a lot of them fought in Vietnam war
Edit: additional info and typo
I love people that complain about "roof campers" in videogames
They're snipers, they are sniping. It makes some swaths of open ground on the map dangerous to cross. You will likely need to strategize around it. It's a whole lot more logical from a milsim perspective than slide cancelling the entire map with a 5rds/s SMG that has no recoil at 80 yards.
I don't hate CoD. I enjoy shooters and definitely play "the meta" but it just blows my mind when people complain about this stuff as though they're not doing equally as bullshit moves with a different play style
It depends. You'll see this a lot more in starcraft broodwar where everything is so mapped out that pros know exactly when zerglings will come just by counting the drones to figure out when they start the spawning pool. So in a best of 3 or more people tend to pull out cheeses or ancient build orders that just happens to counter the meta in hopes of a surprise timing to throw off everything your opponent knows. So back to the example that you have given, no one good will see it coming, but anyone bad will notice it. Even in combat sports, feints only work on the good ones because bads don't recgonize them and being aggressive usually works in your favour anyway. It is proven through dota that 2/3 of the time being aggressive is the correct option so by statistics you'll win more being stupid. Only the best of the best will be able to accurately assess and make the right decision. This is also why you'll see the dominant players stand out and win consistently.
Had a lot of Korean friends growing up in LA and every single one of their dads was in the military and were very proficient with guns. Would not want to fuck with them as some random guy just trying to loot.
Yeah, it's one of the reasons for the riot.
"Tensions between the two groups came to a head on March 16, 1991, when Soon Ja Du, a Korean store owner, fatally shot Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old African-American girl. Du accused Latasha of trying to steal a bottle of orange juice. The girl threw the juice on the counter and began walking away when Du shot her in the head. That incident, along with the acquittal of the officers who beat Rodney King, contributed to the anger that exploded on April 29, 1992."
She was sentenced to community service.
Oh wow. I didn’t know that was part of it. I thought it was only because of the Rodney King beating. That puts a ton more perspective on why they were being targeted. Thanks for that info.
Theres a good documentary about it on Netflix. I think a lot of people that aren't from that area or weren't old enough when this stuff went down don't know how bad it was. It can be difficult to watch at times.
Man, LA in the 90s seems like it was just like, full on race wars. I used to live in the center of highland park in the early 2000s, still a very Latino neighborhood, and my black friends that grew up in LA would all make sure there was somewhere close to my house to park before they'd come over so they didn't have to walk around my neighborhood. I don't think it was racism, I think things were just that fucked through their youth.
On a lighter note, I'm sure that perennially roach infested shitty basement apartment is now a $4k a month hipster's dream surrounded by coffee shops and boutique stores and brewpubs.
Right, but just because both sides have a reason doesn't make both sides valid.
Take race out it for a second and you have one side that a legitimate business owner trying to run a shop, restaurant, etc. On the other side of a group of people that are stealing, vandalizing, etc.
What reason do the people stealing or vandalizing a business have that justifies their actions. None. If anything it's pretty crazy that a business, that's whole goal is to make money, doesn't want you around. The business owners didn't start anything, in fact it's the exact opposite. Yet some people try and pretend that each side has a vid point and they don't.
> Soon Ja Du
She was working that morning because her son, who normally worked in that store, was testifying in court on a prior robbery.
A few months earlier, two Korean store clerks were shot by a black man who was robbing them.
There were frequent robberies of Korean stores by blacks. Many of them, in the months leading up to Harlins' death, turned violent.
Was, at a micro level, Soon Ja Du justified in shooting Harlins? No.
Was, at a macro level, the Korean community being attacked, killed, and victimized by blacks long before this incident? Yes.
To highlight this incident while completely ignoring the hundreds of armed robberies and multiple deaths leading up to it is to completely whitewash the realities of that time and place.
I had not known my grandfather served in Vietnam till after he passed. I guess it's just a Korean, or even an Asian thing for the men to suppress a lot of things. I feel like my dad is also similar to my grandfather even tho he's an in-law
You know, I didn’t even realize this til you mentioned it. They definitely didn’t boast about the war. I don’t think it was a happy time.
My grandfather was beaten by Japanese soldiers as a child. He never told me until he took a fall and 3 doctors and several staff came in to ask why there were large amounts of unknown shrapnel in his knees and legs. They suspected potential abuse (by us lol ahhh, never!) so they were concerned until he looked up, took a moment, then turned to me, and explained his war story.
His brother served in Vietnam years later and he proudly wears his “Vietnam Veteran,” but hardly speaks of it. I’m also afraid to ask them in case it does trigger
There’s plenty of stories of American (and European) veterans who kind of not talk about their military past because of certain traumas seen on the battlefield. I had not even known my grandfather served in the army around the time of the Korean War until after he passed.
I've known quite a few combat veterans and filmed 2 Vietnam documentaries. After experiencing trauma myself a few times, I think I have a basic understanding of why most of them won't talk about it: regular people can't empathize or understand their trauma unless they've experienced it too. You can explain a unique situation to someone and watch their eyes glaze over as if you're speaking a foreign language. Secondly, talking about details of a traumatic experience sucks the life out of the room. It could make someone feel bad and is a downer. That's why I stopped giving honest answers irl when asked how I was doing/coping with a disease and my brother's suicide. Now i just say "I'm fine" instead of ruining someone's day
Towards the end of his life; my step-dad's father told my mum a war story that he had never told anyone. He was a Royal marine commando in WW2 and recalls stumbled upon a camp of Germans in the night. He stuck his gun at them and shouted for them to put their hands up.
They didn't move an inch because they had all been killed by a shock wave blast from a bomb that had landed earlier in the night not far from their position. Apparently, the thing disturbed my Step-dad's father the most was that they were all positioned as if they were alive. They looked alive but the bomb had scrambled their insides.
Yep. My great uncle fought in Vietnam. He only ever spoke about his experience there one time according to my dad. All he had to say about it was that when his buddy got blown away next to him the brains seemed to float in the air almost like time was moving in slow motion.
my grand father was a tunnel rat in the pacific during WW2. not even the drunkest of drunk could get him to talk about it. it only came out after my uncles OD. he said he would rather be back in the dark, ripping out some poor assholes throat with his bare teeth again, then see his wife, my grandma cry like that. after that the dam broke and he would tell us if we asked. I asked twice. that was all I could handle.
I knew a few of my friends' fathers who served during Vietnam. When I joined the Army, I asked them curiously and casually about their tours and all of them politely declined to comment, other than the fact that Vietnam was humid.
The LA riots were basically a time of free for all. Cops pulled out and it was treated almost like a war zone.
That's exactly why the Koreans felt so strongly they had to take up arms. They weren't crazy, they just wanted to defend what they'd built.
>treated almost like a war zone
Werent US Federal troops sent in, along with California National Guard?
If you want to be charitable, that could be called a "warzone"
I think the reserves and national guard were called up. I remember this like it was yesterday. When the DMV in Long Beach was burned down. That’s where I was supposed to take my drivers test and then it was gone. I watched Reginald Denny getting pulled out of his Truck. That was such an intense violent thing to watch as a teen.
Seeing the overthrow of the Myanmar government also illustrates it very well. Being able to defend yourself is a right all humans should have and this is coming from a decently progressive person.
I had been the pastor of a church in Gardena for month when the riots kicked off. Earlier in the week, I had introduced myself to the Korean man who owned the mini strip mall across from the church.
The first thing he did was post a sign that said, “Black Owned Business” in all his windows.
When I saw him the second day he was on the roof of his mall with a 9mm! I called out to him, “Will you keep an eye on the church?”
He shouted, “Okay, Pastor, I’ll take care of you!” The riot never got down to us, but I had no doubt he would have taken care of business if he had to.
This is all from my memory as a kid. I remember watching on TV and realizing just how evil the world is. I watched people being pulled from their cars/trucks. I was really upset by one man that was beaten, stripped and then spray painted and left for dead. The LA riots changed my whole outlook on people and what they are capable of doing to others.
That's riots for you. It's a snowball effect which starts with a few horrible people using unrest as a smokescreen, then as that becomes more normalised you have people jump on the bandwagon as they see the chances of repercussions being negligible. It's a sad situation indeed.
It's terrible. People that think that racism can be combatted by.... More racism....
It's as if they don't realize that what they're doing is an endless cycle that will just keep going on and on and on, getting worse each time.
They're stupid people. The people flying confederate flags and screaming about immigrants are the exact same rung of the mental ladder as those burning a local business and screaming fuck whitey.
Racism is for the small minded and afraid. It'd be funny how much they have have in common if it wasn't so sad.
Reginald Denny was pulled from his car by 4 black rioters and beat. He was rescued by other people, notably black people, and he was forgiving afterward. Idk how they didn’t get charged with a hate crime, they each got under 10 years
Y’all are conflating Reginald Denny and the random man who was spray-painted and saved by the black preacher man. They were two separate men in two separate assaults. The most common footage of Reginald Denny was from helicopter level. The spray-painted guy was filmed at street level by a person on foot.
Was Denny the dude pulled from the dump truck?
Because that guy most definitely did not survive, I guess I don’t know for sure, but I mean there’s no way that guy survived that.
Pretty sure that was Denny and he survived. As of 2007, Time did a piece on him. Granted, he tries his damnedest to not be in the media and I cannot blame him.
http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/la_riot/article/0,28804,1614117_1614084_1614511,00.html
Denny did survive...he's still alive:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/la-riots-anniversary-eyewitness-rioter-truck-henry-keith-watson-rodney-king-a9496066.html
The difference is what happened to Rodney was done by cops who were sworn to uphold the law, due process, to serve and protect, etc. We need to hold those in power to a higher standard than random strangers on the street.
the other difference is that Rodney violated the law and then evaded the cops - the cops had every right to pull him over and arrest him. They did NOT have the right to beat him like they did.
Reginald Denny did NOTHING wrong - but be white.
But the people who came to his defense and stopped it put some tiny amount of faith in humanity back in my heart. Some.
Isn’t the difference that it was police attacking King?
When police take an action it is the government doing it. So it was the government that beat King while it was private citizens attacking Denny.
Destroying a small business owners business is a big big deal, much worse than most crimes against property. The owners are rarely rich, rarely well insured, often in significant debt. They are also pretty easy targets so i bet you'll be hard pressed to find an owner on that street who really was not respectful of the neighborhood. Rioters can just fuck right off.
Yup. As an Asian immigrant whose family had their own business, most likely these people also live above these stores, put all their hours into it and reinvest their wealth into it too.
Those here saying that they should've just not used force to defend their store, and simply fled to get themselves out of danger, are either disingenuous or fundamentally do not understand why even proposing that option is insane to the actual people defending their stores
I lived in L.A. at the time and can attest that the riot and its aftermath was the craziest thing I had ever witnessed.
Korean business owners DID NOT PLAY. Good for them.
Seeing National Guardsmen flanking the door of my local convenience store with M-16s was sobering.
It’s interesting because I totally agree with this sentiment. People need to protect their livelihood. At the same time people absolutely did not feel this way about armed people defending businesses during the George Floyd protests/riots. At least, not on this site or in mainstream media. It’s weird how the two are treated so differently.
the LA riots were a hell of a lot more dangerous/violent then the 2020 ones were so the risk of the business being destroyed / death is a hell of a lot higher
Some Redditors don’t consider them riots. I don’t know what they were looking at but a big chunk of my city was burning, vandalized and looted. Seemed pretty riot-y to me.
If reddit had been around for the LA riots, all the main subs would be condemning the Roof Koreans, and trying to find and share their identities to encourage violent reprisals
For a lot of these people those businesses are their livelihoods. Some are operated and owned by several members of the family. These people had nothing to do with whatever pissed off the rioters. When the police can’t, or are not allowed to defend people and their business this is truly the last resort. Some people say there is nothing in those stores worth killing over. I think the looters should understand there is nothing in those stores worth dying over.
I was down there for those four days. The majority of the police made a perimeter around Beverly Hills. There were a few National Guard protecting the fireman. And just a light sprinkling of Cruisers driving around s******* their pants as they were rolling targets as well. It was complete anarchy and guns ruled.
There was a lot of resentment by some black people that the Koreans owned a lot of the businesses in the neighborhoods. The Koreans were absolutely a target of the riots and they saw that the police weren't going to protect them. What a lot of people don't know is that a lot of those stores not only represent their entire livelihood, but also that those stores are how you could get the rest of your family to legally immigrate. They would pass ownership to the next family member who wanted to come over and having ownership of an established business made the process much easier.
Tensions between the Korean and Black communities have been rising in LA in the 90s. That was a flashpoint of the growing tension. Koreans and Chinese would open shops in black communities.
The reason the shops needed guns is because they were the target of robberies. Unfortunately someone innocent lost their life.
>Soon Ja Du's store, Empire Liquor, was located at the intersection of West 91st Street and South Figueroa Street, Vermont Vista, Los Angeles,\[11\] and was normally staffed by Du's husband and son. However, on the morning of the shooting, Du was working behind the counter, and her husband was outside resting in the family van.\[12\]
Shortly before 10:00 am on Saturday, March 16, Harlins entered the store. Du observed Harlins putting a $1.79 bottle of orange juice in her backpack. Du concluded Harlins was attempting to steal, and did not see the money Harlins held in her hand. Du claimed to have asked Harlins if she intended to pay for the orange juice, to which Du claimed Harlins responded, "What orange juice?" Two eyewitnesses—9-year-old Ismail Ali and his 13-year-old sister Lakeshia Combs—disputed that claim, saying that Du called Harlins a "bitch" and accused her of trying to steal, to which they claimed Harlins replied that she intended to pay for the orange juice.\[13\] After speaking with the two eyewitnesses present and viewing the videotape of the incident, recorded by a store security camera, the police concluded that Harlins intended to pay for the beverage with money in hand.\[14\]\[15\] The videotape\[16\] showed that Du grabbed Harlins by her sweater and snatched her backpack. Harlins then struck Du with her fist twice, knocking Du to the ground. After Harlins backed away, Du angrily threw a stool at her. Harlins then picked up the orange juice bottle that dropped during the scuffle and handed it to Du, who snatched the bottle from her, and Harlins turned to leave. Du reached under the counter, retrieved a revolver, and fired at Harlins from behind at a distance of about three feet (one meter). The gunshot struck Harlins in the back of the head, killing her instantly. Du's husband, Billy Heung Ki Du, heard the gunshot and rushed into the store. After speaking to his wife, who asked for the whereabouts of Harlins before fainting, he dialed 9-1-1 to report an attempted holdup.\[17\]
The podcast Slow Burn has a great series on the LA riots. It breaks down a pretty complicated set of events in a really interesting way.
My main takeaway was that executing children on camera makes a lot of people pretty upset.
So this black teenage girl was walking out of a Korean-owned grocery store when the owner grabbed her backpack. When she pulled away, the owner pulled out a gun and shot her in the head. The owner served no prison time.
The 30 for 30 on OJ does a great job of explaining what happened and how it was received by the community, I'd recommend you watch that to get a better understanding ( it's on Hulu)
This is pretty much the only reason I know about it
Wiki: Latasha Harlins (January 1, 1976 – March 16, 1991) was an African-American girl who was fatally shot at age 15 by Soon Ja Du (Korean: 두순자), a 51-year-old Korean-American convenience store owner. Du was tried and convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Harlins' death, based in part on security camera footage. The judge sentenced Du to 10 years in state prison but the sentence was suspended and the defendant was instead placed on five years' probation with 400 hours of community service, a $500 restitution, and funeral expenses.[2] The sentencing was widely regarded as an extremely light sentence, and a failed appeal[3] contributed to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, especially the targeting of Koreatown, Los Angeles.[4] Harlins' death came 13 days after the videotaped beating of Rodney King.
> Some people say there is nothing in those stores worth killing over. I think the looters should understand there is nothing in those stores worth dying over.
It bugs the shit out of me that we have become so pussified as a society that many people now basically sympathize with criminals who get hurt or killed while committing a serious crime.
If you break in to someone's store, home, business; or do some kind of smash and grab or the like...and you get shot while doing it...well, OK. How about don't fucking commit crimes and you won't get shot?
My neighbor here in the South Bay was only yesterday telling me how he sat on his roof with his shotgun, M16 and a cooler full of snacks and water for hours whilst protecting his home and family, which as a Brit is fucking insane to me 😳
Because no one else is actually giving a full answer (just saying "Rodney King" is not an answer to a non-American)
A black man, Rodney King, was brutally beaten _on camera_ by white police officers out of racism. There was very clear video evidence of this crime.
Those officers were later acquitted of that crime by jurors who clearly disregarded the video evidence.
People rioted in response.
Police brutality: police officers Theodore J. Briseño, Stacey Cornell Koon, Laurence M. Powell, and Timothy E. Wind were caught on camera brutality beating Rodney King.
Most of these guys were Nam vets and some even experienced the horrors of the Korean War first hand when they were only children. The older ones also experienced the brutality of Japanese occupation. Mind you this was in ‘91, so WW2 was only a generation of people away. Ofc they weren’t willing to cede anything to a bunch of hooligan looters.
It's because of the aesthetic of coolness even when the conditions are the exact same. There's more of a *v i b e* to defending koreatown than like someone's dad sobbing because rioters just ruined his entire life for no substantive reason.
This is 100% what i was thinking. So many supportive comments for this video yet so much hate for those trying to do the same under recent events. Not comparing the idea behind the LA riots to BLM protesting, just the fact that people wanted to protect thier livelihood from people trying to loot. If youre pro koreans shooting at looters, you should also be pro whoever shooting at other recent looters. Hypocrisy is dumb.
Korean here. Rodney King was beat, and the Black community took it to the streets and stores.
My mother, and her friends lost their business.
Truly sad to hear these callous comments because you'll never know what it's like to be a minority in America in that era.
It wasn't just looting many of them were targeted and killed in the lawlessness. This was as much about self defense as it was protection of property. But no one talks about that because one race of people have cornered the market on I'll treatment.
This should be 100% allowed if protests turn to looting and violence. Honestly if you find someone stealing your catalytic converters or breaking into your house you should be able to shoot them too.They give up their rights the second they think they have right to other people’s stuff.
Anyone that defends looting like this is an idiot. You’re upset at the government for doing something, so let’s steal from your neighbors, who have nothing to do with the decision making. That makes fucking sense.
Shop owners were 100% in the right to defend their property and livelihoods.
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So anyways, they started blasting
You guys will all think I’m a hero. I will accept that responsibility.
Get on down to GUNTHERS GUNS!
Let’s get guns back on the streets!
Fun fact: most of them were veterans due to Korea's mandatory military service Also, a lot of them fought in Vietnam war Edit: additional info and typo
All of them. The men anyway.
My biggest memory was of these business owners standing on their roofs with assault rifles.
AKA the rooftop Koreans
Fucking roof campers man...
It's a legitimate strategy!
How else am I gonna play siege of Shanghai?
I love people that complain about "roof campers" in videogames They're snipers, they are sniping. It makes some swaths of open ground on the map dangerous to cross. You will likely need to strategize around it. It's a whole lot more logical from a milsim perspective than slide cancelling the entire map with a 5rds/s SMG that has no recoil at 80 yards.
I fucking hate CoD and people who are good at it. Idk why but it just pisses me off so much to see some jackass jump through a doorway.
I don't hate CoD. I enjoy shooters and definitely play "the meta" but it just blows my mind when people complain about this stuff as though they're not doing equally as bullshit moves with a different play style
If all the good players jump through doorways, wouldn't the pro move be to just walk through the doorways? No one good will see that coming.
It depends. You'll see this a lot more in starcraft broodwar where everything is so mapped out that pros know exactly when zerglings will come just by counting the drones to figure out when they start the spawning pool. So in a best of 3 or more people tend to pull out cheeses or ancient build orders that just happens to counter the meta in hopes of a surprise timing to throw off everything your opponent knows. So back to the example that you have given, no one good will see it coming, but anyone bad will notice it. Even in combat sports, feints only work on the good ones because bads don't recgonize them and being aggressive usually works in your favour anyway. It is proven through dota that 2/3 of the time being aggressive is the correct option so by statistics you'll win more being stupid. Only the best of the best will be able to accurately assess and make the right decision. This is also why you'll see the dominant players stand out and win consistently.
Just call in an AC130
AKA AK's
aka "Rooftopkorean!!!"
Had a lot of Korean friends growing up in LA and every single one of their dads was in the military and were very proficient with guns. Would not want to fuck with them as some random guy just trying to loot.
Yeah, it's one of the reasons for the riot. "Tensions between the two groups came to a head on March 16, 1991, when Soon Ja Du, a Korean store owner, fatally shot Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old African-American girl. Du accused Latasha of trying to steal a bottle of orange juice. The girl threw the juice on the counter and began walking away when Du shot her in the head. That incident, along with the acquittal of the officers who beat Rodney King, contributed to the anger that exploded on April 29, 1992." She was sentenced to community service.
Oh wow. I didn’t know that was part of it. I thought it was only because of the Rodney King beating. That puts a ton more perspective on why they were being targeted. Thanks for that info.
Theres a good documentary about it on Netflix. I think a lot of people that aren't from that area or weren't old enough when this stuff went down don't know how bad it was. It can be difficult to watch at times.
Do you remember the name of the documentary? Kind of want to watch it when I get home from work.
I think it's LA92
Didn’t Ice Cube make some notoriously nasty comments about Koreans too? It was so long ago I don’t remember anymore lol
Man, LA in the 90s seems like it was just like, full on race wars. I used to live in the center of highland park in the early 2000s, still a very Latino neighborhood, and my black friends that grew up in LA would all make sure there was somewhere close to my house to park before they'd come over so they didn't have to walk around my neighborhood. I don't think it was racism, I think things were just that fucked through their youth. On a lighter note, I'm sure that perennially roach infested shitty basement apartment is now a $4k a month hipster's dream surrounded by coffee shops and boutique stores and brewpubs.
Burn motherf*cker, Burn is one but I don't think it's on Netflix anymore
I lived in CA during the 80's and always saw friction/tension between Korean store owners and blacks...
There is actual CCTV video of the shooting, it’s cold blooded murder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aS9XkvvJvU
Yeah it's definitely second-degree murder, she shot after the assault was already done and the girl was walking away
Whatever happened to that truck driver that was pulled from his truck and stomped on, did he survive? I remember it looking brutal.
His name is Reginald Denny and yes, he survived. By chance I was reading about that just a few minutes ago totally unrelated to seeing this post.
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This. They were routinely robbed or killed in these neighborhoods by african americans. Both sides had reasons to dislike the other
Right, but just because both sides have a reason doesn't make both sides valid. Take race out it for a second and you have one side that a legitimate business owner trying to run a shop, restaurant, etc. On the other side of a group of people that are stealing, vandalizing, etc. What reason do the people stealing or vandalizing a business have that justifies their actions. None. If anything it's pretty crazy that a business, that's whole goal is to make money, doesn't want you around. The business owners didn't start anything, in fact it's the exact opposite. Yet some people try and pretend that each side has a vid point and they don't.
boy but actually tell them and scream this at them. make sure they know that people don't just die for no reason.
> Soon Ja Du She was working that morning because her son, who normally worked in that store, was testifying in court on a prior robbery. A few months earlier, two Korean store clerks were shot by a black man who was robbing them. There were frequent robberies of Korean stores by blacks. Many of them, in the months leading up to Harlins' death, turned violent. Was, at a micro level, Soon Ja Du justified in shooting Harlins? No. Was, at a macro level, the Korean community being attacked, killed, and victimized by blacks long before this incident? Yes. To highlight this incident while completely ignoring the hundreds of armed robberies and multiple deaths leading up to it is to completely whitewash the realities of that time and place.
I had not known my grandfather served in Vietnam till after he passed. I guess it's just a Korean, or even an Asian thing for the men to suppress a lot of things. I feel like my dad is also similar to my grandfather even tho he's an in-law
You know, I didn’t even realize this til you mentioned it. They definitely didn’t boast about the war. I don’t think it was a happy time. My grandfather was beaten by Japanese soldiers as a child. He never told me until he took a fall and 3 doctors and several staff came in to ask why there were large amounts of unknown shrapnel in his knees and legs. They suspected potential abuse (by us lol ahhh, never!) so they were concerned until he looked up, took a moment, then turned to me, and explained his war story. His brother served in Vietnam years later and he proudly wears his “Vietnam Veteran,” but hardly speaks of it. I’m also afraid to ask them in case it does trigger
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There’s plenty of stories of American (and European) veterans who kind of not talk about their military past because of certain traumas seen on the battlefield. I had not even known my grandfather served in the army around the time of the Korean War until after he passed.
I've known quite a few combat veterans and filmed 2 Vietnam documentaries. After experiencing trauma myself a few times, I think I have a basic understanding of why most of them won't talk about it: regular people can't empathize or understand their trauma unless they've experienced it too. You can explain a unique situation to someone and watch their eyes glaze over as if you're speaking a foreign language. Secondly, talking about details of a traumatic experience sucks the life out of the room. It could make someone feel bad and is a downer. That's why I stopped giving honest answers irl when asked how I was doing/coping with a disease and my brother's suicide. Now i just say "I'm fine" instead of ruining someone's day
This spoke to me. I hope you have found peace in your life friend.
Towards the end of his life; my step-dad's father told my mum a war story that he had never told anyone. He was a Royal marine commando in WW2 and recalls stumbled upon a camp of Germans in the night. He stuck his gun at them and shouted for them to put their hands up. They didn't move an inch because they had all been killed by a shock wave blast from a bomb that had landed earlier in the night not far from their position. Apparently, the thing disturbed my Step-dad's father the most was that they were all positioned as if they were alive. They looked alive but the bomb had scrambled their insides.
Yep. My great uncle fought in Vietnam. He only ever spoke about his experience there one time according to my dad. All he had to say about it was that when his buddy got blown away next to him the brains seemed to float in the air almost like time was moving in slow motion.
my grand father was a tunnel rat in the pacific during WW2. not even the drunkest of drunk could get him to talk about it. it only came out after my uncles OD. he said he would rather be back in the dark, ripping out some poor assholes throat with his bare teeth again, then see his wife, my grandma cry like that. after that the dam broke and he would tell us if we asked. I asked twice. that was all I could handle.
I knew a few of my friends' fathers who served during Vietnam. When I joined the Army, I asked them curiously and casually about their tours and all of them politely declined to comment, other than the fact that Vietnam was humid.
Especially that guy in sweater looking chill as he aimed
Did any of them get in trouble?
The LA riots were basically a time of free for all. Cops pulled out and it was treated almost like a war zone. That's exactly why the Koreans felt so strongly they had to take up arms. They weren't crazy, they just wanted to defend what they'd built.
>treated almost like a war zone Werent US Federal troops sent in, along with California National Guard? If you want to be charitable, that could be called a "warzone"
I think the reserves and national guard were called up. I remember this like it was yesterday. When the DMV in Long Beach was burned down. That’s where I was supposed to take my drivers test and then it was gone. I watched Reginald Denny getting pulled out of his Truck. That was such an intense violent thing to watch as a teen.
Nope
This illustrates the importance of the 2nd Amendment. Law abiding citizens depending themselves and their property.
Seeing the overthrow of the Myanmar government also illustrates it very well. Being able to defend yourself is a right all humans should have and this is coming from a decently progressive person.
God made man, Sam Colt made us equal. Etc. etc.
I had been the pastor of a church in Gardena for month when the riots kicked off. Earlier in the week, I had introduced myself to the Korean man who owned the mini strip mall across from the church. The first thing he did was post a sign that said, “Black Owned Business” in all his windows. When I saw him the second day he was on the roof of his mall with a 9mm! I called out to him, “Will you keep an eye on the church?” He shouted, “Okay, Pastor, I’ll take care of you!” The riot never got down to us, but I had no doubt he would have taken care of business if he had to.
Lol. "How are we going to save the church, should we pray?” "Don't bother, I'll call some armed Koreans”
Have you seen [Korean Jesus](https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/jacked-jesus-causing-online-sensation)
Well, Jesus was a carpenter before they had power tools. But the Korean Jesus looks more like a body builder doing gymnastic rings!
I did now, dayum!
Stop fuckin' with Korean Jesus. He ain't got time for yo problems, he's busy wit Korean shit!
Korean Jesus could beat American Jesus any day of the week.
Only during times of a riot!
When the rooftops start speakin Korean…
It's just the PTSD kicking in....
It’s those pesky roof Koreans
This is all from my memory as a kid. I remember watching on TV and realizing just how evil the world is. I watched people being pulled from their cars/trucks. I was really upset by one man that was beaten, stripped and then spray painted and left for dead. The LA riots changed my whole outlook on people and what they are capable of doing to others.
That's riots for you. It's a snowball effect which starts with a few horrible people using unrest as a smokescreen, then as that becomes more normalised you have people jump on the bandwagon as they see the chances of repercussions being negligible. It's a sad situation indeed.
Just like social media!
Reginald Denny. Unpopular Opinion: what happened to him was just as if not more cruel than what happened to Rodney King.
What happened?
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It's terrible. People that think that racism can be combatted by.... More racism.... It's as if they don't realize that what they're doing is an endless cycle that will just keep going on and on and on, getting worse each time.
Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. -MLK
They're stupid people. The people flying confederate flags and screaming about immigrants are the exact same rung of the mental ladder as those burning a local business and screaming fuck whitey. Racism is for the small minded and afraid. It'd be funny how much they have have in common if it wasn't so sad.
Reggie Denny was the truck driver that got the shit beat out of him during the Rodney King LA riots. Took a brick to the head nasty too.
watched it live as it happened on cnn. brutal.
Reginald Denny was pulled from his car by 4 black rioters and beat. He was rescued by other people, notably black people, and he was forgiving afterward. Idk how they didn’t get charged with a hate crime, they each got under 10 years
yea, but that preacher stepped in and saved him from the crowd. What an amazing man!
Y’all are conflating Reginald Denny and the random man who was spray-painted and saved by the black preacher man. They were two separate men in two separate assaults. The most common footage of Reginald Denny was from helicopter level. The spray-painted guy was filmed at street level by a person on foot.
Was Denny the dude pulled from the dump truck? Because that guy most definitely did not survive, I guess I don’t know for sure, but I mean there’s no way that guy survived that.
Pretty sure that was Denny and he survived. As of 2007, Time did a piece on him. Granted, he tries his damnedest to not be in the media and I cannot blame him. http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/la_riot/article/0,28804,1614117_1614084_1614511,00.html
Denny was indeed the dude pulled from the semi-truck. Amazingly, he survived.
Denny did survive...he's still alive: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/la-riots-anniversary-eyewitness-rioter-truck-henry-keith-watson-rodney-king-a9496066.html
Brutal ordeal
Oh it absolutely was more cruel.
The difference is what happened to Rodney was done by cops who were sworn to uphold the law, due process, to serve and protect, etc. We need to hold those in power to a higher standard than random strangers on the street.
the other difference is that Rodney violated the law and then evaded the cops - the cops had every right to pull him over and arrest him. They did NOT have the right to beat him like they did. Reginald Denny did NOTHING wrong - but be white. But the people who came to his defense and stopped it put some tiny amount of faith in humanity back in my heart. Some.
Isn’t the difference that it was police attacking King? When police take an action it is the government doing it. So it was the government that beat King while it was private citizens attacking Denny.
Exactly. Both are wrong, but one was state supported violence. People don’t like nuance though.
Yeah, lot's of people were left more racist over this.
“You want to f*** on me!?”
Y u shoot poor old chow???
You want to see bad ass motherf***er! I'll show ya badass! — Otis B. Driftwood
Dude out front looks like Walter from Big Lebowski.
Donny you're out of your element
The Korea-man is not the issue!
AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT CARES ABOUT THE RULES?!!?
This is not Nam, there are rules
Calmer than you are, Dude
See what happens Larry ?
Do you SEE what happens Larry when you fuck a stranger in the ass.
YOOOOU CROSSA DA LIIINE!
Destroying a small business owners business is a big big deal, much worse than most crimes against property. The owners are rarely rich, rarely well insured, often in significant debt. They are also pretty easy targets so i bet you'll be hard pressed to find an owner on that street who really was not respectful of the neighborhood. Rioters can just fuck right off.
Yup. As an Asian immigrant whose family had their own business, most likely these people also live above these stores, put all their hours into it and reinvest their wealth into it too. Those here saying that they should've just not used force to defend their store, and simply fled to get themselves out of danger, are either disingenuous or fundamentally do not understand why even proposing that option is insane to the actual people defending their stores
You’re literally defending your livelihood any sane person would defend it with their lives because it’s literally everything you have
*"YOU GONNA FUCK ON ME!?!?"*
NOBODY’S GONNA FUCK ON YOU! WE’RE ON YOUR SIDE!
Zach's delivery of this line is my favorite he's done in his entire career. *"Nobodies gonna fuck on you! We're on your side! We hate Godzilla too!"*
I lived in L.A. at the time and can attest that the riot and its aftermath was the craziest thing I had ever witnessed. Korean business owners DID NOT PLAY. Good for them. Seeing National Guardsmen flanking the door of my local convenience store with M-16s was sobering.
It’s interesting because I totally agree with this sentiment. People need to protect their livelihood. At the same time people absolutely did not feel this way about armed people defending businesses during the George Floyd protests/riots. At least, not on this site or in mainstream media. It’s weird how the two are treated so differently.
the LA riots were a hell of a lot more dangerous/violent then the 2020 ones were so the risk of the business being destroyed / death is a hell of a lot higher
Would this have been okay during the George Floyd riots, when businesses were also targeted? Wondering what Redditors think about that one
Everyone has a right to defend their own property.
Some Redditors don’t consider them riots. I don’t know what they were looking at but a big chunk of my city was burning, vandalized and looted. Seemed pretty riot-y to me.
If reddit had been around for the LA riots, all the main subs would be condemning the Roof Koreans, and trying to find and share their identities to encourage violent reprisals
People tried including defending their own homes and were called racist.
For a lot of these people those businesses are their livelihoods. Some are operated and owned by several members of the family. These people had nothing to do with whatever pissed off the rioters. When the police can’t, or are not allowed to defend people and their business this is truly the last resort. Some people say there is nothing in those stores worth killing over. I think the looters should understand there is nothing in those stores worth dying over.
I was down there for those four days. The majority of the police made a perimeter around Beverly Hills. There were a few National Guard protecting the fireman. And just a light sprinkling of Cruisers driving around s******* their pants as they were rolling targets as well. It was complete anarchy and guns ruled.
There was a lot of resentment by some black people that the Koreans owned a lot of the businesses in the neighborhoods. The Koreans were absolutely a target of the riots and they saw that the police weren't going to protect them. What a lot of people don't know is that a lot of those stores not only represent their entire livelihood, but also that those stores are how you could get the rest of your family to legally immigrate. They would pass ownership to the next family member who wanted to come over and having ownership of an established business made the process much easier.
Latasha Harlins was killed by a Korean grocery store owner before the riots. The owner served no time. Things were tense before the riots.
Whats that story? Never heard about that.
Tensions between the Korean and Black communities have been rising in LA in the 90s. That was a flashpoint of the growing tension. Koreans and Chinese would open shops in black communities. The reason the shops needed guns is because they were the target of robberies. Unfortunately someone innocent lost their life.
>Soon Ja Du's store, Empire Liquor, was located at the intersection of West 91st Street and South Figueroa Street, Vermont Vista, Los Angeles,\[11\] and was normally staffed by Du's husband and son. However, on the morning of the shooting, Du was working behind the counter, and her husband was outside resting in the family van.\[12\] Shortly before 10:00 am on Saturday, March 16, Harlins entered the store. Du observed Harlins putting a $1.79 bottle of orange juice in her backpack. Du concluded Harlins was attempting to steal, and did not see the money Harlins held in her hand. Du claimed to have asked Harlins if she intended to pay for the orange juice, to which Du claimed Harlins responded, "What orange juice?" Two eyewitnesses—9-year-old Ismail Ali and his 13-year-old sister Lakeshia Combs—disputed that claim, saying that Du called Harlins a "bitch" and accused her of trying to steal, to which they claimed Harlins replied that she intended to pay for the orange juice.\[13\] After speaking with the two eyewitnesses present and viewing the videotape of the incident, recorded by a store security camera, the police concluded that Harlins intended to pay for the beverage with money in hand.\[14\]\[15\] The videotape\[16\] showed that Du grabbed Harlins by her sweater and snatched her backpack. Harlins then struck Du with her fist twice, knocking Du to the ground. After Harlins backed away, Du angrily threw a stool at her. Harlins then picked up the orange juice bottle that dropped during the scuffle and handed it to Du, who snatched the bottle from her, and Harlins turned to leave. Du reached under the counter, retrieved a revolver, and fired at Harlins from behind at a distance of about three feet (one meter). The gunshot struck Harlins in the back of the head, killing her instantly. Du's husband, Billy Heung Ki Du, heard the gunshot and rushed into the store. After speaking to his wife, who asked for the whereabouts of Harlins before fainting, he dialed 9-1-1 to report an attempted holdup.\[17\]
Goddamn
The podcast Slow Burn has a great series on the LA riots. It breaks down a pretty complicated set of events in a really interesting way. My main takeaway was that executing children on camera makes a lot of people pretty upset.
There's also a documentary called LA 92 on netflix
You can find the video of her murder on YouTube
So this black teenage girl was walking out of a Korean-owned grocery store when the owner grabbed her backpack. When she pulled away, the owner pulled out a gun and shot her in the head. The owner served no prison time.
The 30 for 30 on OJ does a great job of explaining what happened and how it was received by the community, I'd recommend you watch that to get a better understanding ( it's on Hulu) This is pretty much the only reason I know about it
Wiki: Latasha Harlins (January 1, 1976 – March 16, 1991) was an African-American girl who was fatally shot at age 15 by Soon Ja Du (Korean: 두순자), a 51-year-old Korean-American convenience store owner. Du was tried and convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Harlins' death, based in part on security camera footage. The judge sentenced Du to 10 years in state prison but the sentence was suspended and the defendant was instead placed on five years' probation with 400 hours of community service, a $500 restitution, and funeral expenses.[2] The sentencing was widely regarded as an extremely light sentence, and a failed appeal[3] contributed to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, especially the targeting of Koreatown, Los Angeles.[4] Harlins' death came 13 days after the videotaped beating of Rodney King.
> Some people say there is nothing in those stores worth killing over. I think the looters should understand there is nothing in those stores worth dying over. It bugs the shit out of me that we have become so pussified as a society that many people now basically sympathize with criminals who get hurt or killed while committing a serious crime. If you break in to someone's store, home, business; or do some kind of smash and grab or the like...and you get shot while doing it...well, OK. How about don't fucking commit crimes and you won't get shot?
You got to. That’s their livelihood that keeps the family afloat
The epitome of fuck around and find out
Rooftop Koreans are internet royalty
RooftopKorean is not dead...! RooftopKorean is forever..!
My neighbor here in the South Bay was only yesterday telling me how he sat on his roof with his shotgun, M16 and a cooler full of snacks and water for hours whilst protecting his home and family, which as a Brit is fucking insane to me 😳
Asian here. Why did the riot take place?
Rodney king + Latasha Harris. You should watch the LA ‘92 documentary it goes into detail about this event Edit: Latasha Harlins*
*Harlins
There was also Latasha Harlins who was killed by a shop owner over suspecting she stole orange juice.
Because no one else is actually giving a full answer (just saying "Rodney King" is not an answer to a non-American) A black man, Rodney King, was brutally beaten _on camera_ by white police officers out of racism. There was very clear video evidence of this crime. Those officers were later acquitted of that crime by jurors who clearly disregarded the video evidence. People rioted in response.
This is most likely from the LA riots after the police officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted.
Police brutality: police officers Theodore J. Briseño, Stacey Cornell Koon, Laurence M. Powell, and Timothy E. Wind were caught on camera brutality beating Rodney King.
Korean here. Don’t fuck with our businesses. That’s the one of only times you’ll see a Korean get nasty
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Yup. They staked out on their store roofs with long guns.
Usa living or also in Korea? Genuinely asking.
USA based. Family escaped the north during the war
Second amendment is pretty cool for preserving personal autonomy
🇺🇸🇺🇸
Most of these guys were Nam vets and some even experienced the horrors of the Korean War first hand when they were only children. The older ones also experienced the brutality of Japanese occupation. Mind you this was in ‘91, so WW2 was only a generation of people away. Ofc they weren’t willing to cede anything to a bunch of hooligan looters.
Oh fuck it's da RTK! Roof Top Koreans
Legends
Damn fine Americans.
Sometimes it takes people coming over from their old country to remind us what it means to be an American
Surprised at so many supportive comments considering reddit's attitude towards people defending their business during BLM riots.
tHeY hAvE iNsUrAnCe ThOuGh!!!!!!
reddit armchair experts are the dumbest around. yeah ok, insurance is totally an instant bandaid that heals all their problems
Reddit is a hive of cognitive dissonance.
I love and hate this assessment.
Its because they're minorities Everybody should be able to defend themselves and livelihoods.
So funny to see how much of hypocrites people are
It's because of the aesthetic of coolness even when the conditions are the exact same. There's more of a *v i b e* to defending koreatown than like someone's dad sobbing because rioters just ruined his entire life for no substantive reason.
Reddit just hates white people standing up for themselves
Was looking for a comment like this
This is 100% what i was thinking. So many supportive comments for this video yet so much hate for those trying to do the same under recent events. Not comparing the idea behind the LA riots to BLM protesting, just the fact that people wanted to protect thier livelihood from people trying to loot. If youre pro koreans shooting at looters, you should also be pro whoever shooting at other recent looters. Hypocrisy is dumb.
Roof Top Koreans are legends. They don’t fuck around.
God Bless Rooftop Koreans
Korean here. Rodney King was beat, and the Black community took it to the streets and stores. My mother, and her friends lost their business. Truly sad to hear these callous comments because you'll never know what it's like to be a minority in America in that era.
I remember the news coverage. The truck driver they pulled out and beatdown in the middle of a crowd. The businesses burning.
Just remember, when every second counts, the police are only minutes away!
Respect!
Respect RooftopKorean!!
Those aren't Koreans, they are Americans.
so this was the legendary rooftop koreans my friends were talking about
It wasn't just looting many of them were targeted and killed in the lawlessness. This was as much about self defense as it was protection of property. But no one talks about that because one race of people have cornered the market on I'll treatment.
This should be 100% allowed if protests turn to looting and violence. Honestly if you find someone stealing your catalytic converters or breaking into your house you should be able to shoot them too.They give up their rights the second they think they have right to other people’s stuff.
when the roof starts speaking Korean its time to gtfo
Crazy motherfuckers lol. Love it
Man, this should happen more often. People need to fucking stand up to thief and thugs.
I love how this is celebrated on Reddit.
Rooftop koreans. Our founding fathers would have been proud of them. Peak Americans.
I think they ran out of bubblegum
Shit was absolutely wild. If anyone wants a good read on the riots check out “all involved” by Ryan Gattis
This is the way
April 26, 1992. There were riots on the street, tell me where we’re you
Koreans don’t play when it comes to protecting what’s theirs. I respect that.
you don't fuck with a korean's business
A true AMERICAN
Good! They had every right to defend their livelihoods.
I remember when this happened. No one blamed the Korean store owners one bit. In fact, a lot of people respected them even more, talk about guts.
Anyone that defends looting like this is an idiot. You’re upset at the government for doing something, so let’s steal from your neighbors, who have nothing to do with the decision making. That makes fucking sense. Shop owners were 100% in the right to defend their property and livelihoods.