30 years after Rodney King case, reconciliation continues for South LA’s Black, Korean communities

• The 1992 Los Angeles uprising exposed mounting tensions between Black and Korean communities as the city burned.
• In the past three decades, these communities have increasingly worked together toward reconciliation.
• Those solidarity efforts continue Friday as the city honors the 30th commemoration of the uprising.

LOS ANGELES – John Lee was in his dorm room at California State University, Northridge that late April night in 1992 when he turned on the television and saw Koreatown ablaze.

Lee knew the neighborhood well, having spent many weekends there at his Korean mother’s shoe stores. It was now unrecognizable.