Yes, I was there. My office was (is) in Koreatown, and my future in-laws lived close to the now-infamous Florence and Normandy. I would like to add a little historical background, and a ray of hope coming out of the ashes.

The LAPD has a long history of suppressing people of color. An excellent overview of this history can be found in Edward J. Escobar, Race, Police, and the Making of a Political Identity: Mexican-Americans and the Los Angeles Police Department 1900-1945 (UC Press 1999).

Florence and Normandy, where Reginald Denny was beaten, has its own racial history. Florence was once the dividing line between Black and White neighborhoods. Restrictive covenants kept Blacks (as well as Asians, Mexicans and Jews) from living south of Florence. In the 40's and 50's, Florence was where civil rights groups picketed businesses which would not hire Blacks (perfectly legal at the time). When my wife's family moved in south of Florence in 1959, it was still mostly White. But within a few years, nearly all the White folks had moved out.

As for the ray of hope - One of the organizations which was formed at the time, literally in the ashes of the protest/uprising/riot, was KIWA - Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance. I am proud to have worked with KIWA over the decades in their efforts at multi-racial organizing. KIWA integrates worker organizing and leadership development with policy change. In doing so we are building power in our communities to challenge these conditions and the policies that tolerate and perpetuate them. If you want to do something yourself, check them out at:

www.kiwa.org