Book Description

Myths and theories of the American melting pot, of assimilation, and of pluralistic society were shattered as racial violence during the 1992 Los Angeles uprising vividly exposed the inadequacy of our prior assumptions. The uprising revealed that radical approaches are needed to address structural issues of economic and political inequality, and issues of race and representation. Los Angeles has emerged as a focal point for social scientists as they develop new ideas about race relations. This volume, based on a special issue of Amerasia Journal, focuses o race and ethnic relations in Los Angeles as they emerged out of the uprising and within the broader national picture. Latino and Asian and African American scholars, journalists, and writers have contributed two dozen essays, commentaries, and literary works. Among the scholarly essays are “Jewish and Korean Merchants in African American Neighborhoods” by Edward Chang, “Communication between African Americans and Korean Americans before and after the Los Angeles Riots” by Ella Stewart, “Asian Americans and Latinos in San Gabriel Valley, California” by Leland T. Saito, “The South Central Los Angeles Eruption: A Latino Perspective” by Armando Navarro, and “Race, Class, Conflict and Empowerment: On Ice Cube’s ‘Black Korea’” by Jeff Chang. Commentaries by Asian and African American writers feature Larry Aubry, Angela E. Oh, Sharon Park, Amy Uyematsu, Erich Nakano, Walter Lew, and Miriam Ching Louie. A selection of literary writings features Mari Sunaida, Ko Won, Wanda Coleman, Mellonee R. Houston, Sae Lee, Nat Jones, Arjuna, Chungmi Kim, and Lynn Manning.