He grew up not knowing much about the Harlins case, but the archetype of the racist Korean shopkeeper had become a staple of films and TV shows depicting Black life in cities, most famously in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.”įor example, Danny didn’t know that in Du’s letter to Judge Joyce Karlin expressing remorse, she offered condolences to Latasha’s mother, unaware that the mother was dead. When he was 27, he jogged the nearly 1,000 miles between Los Angeles and Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., to hand-deliver his application and illustrate his desire to work there. On his right arm are a Dodgers hat, ball and glove - for his dad, who always seemed happiest at Dodgers games - and a portrait of his grandfather. A large tattoo of the Gustav Klimt painting “Life and Death” covers his left forearm. He went to art school, studied graphic design and found a job doing that. He attended UC San Diego and studied sociology, but without much focus. He speaks quietly and is prone to long silences, short sentences and clothing with protest slogans such as “Black Lives Matter” and “No justice, no peace.” His face reveals emotion easily, and he listens intently, as if words must be chewed before understood.
A few weeks after Latasha died, Lee Arthur Mitchell, a Black man and popular boxing coach, was shot and killed by Tae Sam Park, a Korean American shopkeeper.ĭanny was born in 1984, a time when the violence between Korean shopkeepers and their customers was making national headlines. But when shopkeepers began to arm themselves, an untold number of their customers became innocent victims too. Robberies were a constant problem, and it was especially dangerous for those rumored to be cooperating with the police, like Soon Ja Du’s family.Īt least 19 Korean shopkeepers were killed in Southern California in the decade before 1992, largely by Black assailants. In South Los Angeles, the Korean entrepreneurs met Black communities battling crack and gangs, impoverished by redlining and abandoned by larger retailers for fear of street violence.
0 kommentar(er)
