discharged. aside than a pivotal determination. The deeply tragic shooting of Latasha Harlins, a Black teenager who died after a verbal altercation with Korean store owner Soon Ja Du, is still an important flashpoint in the Los Angeles Uprising. decision to seek a writ overturning the sentence. When the passport was issued, he told me about it: that we would go live in the United States. Soon Ja Du claimed that she was in fear for her life when she shot Latasha Harlins in the back of the head. I have been honored to spend the last 20 years serving the public but now I want to devote time to my family, Karlin wrote. "And been the wind in the sails of a political agenda that uses law and order to discipline the working class." Karlin (since retired from the bench) came under attack in the African-American Empire Liquor market, went to get a bottle of orange juice worth $1.79 and put "I have a few of those bonds," King says. Ja Du is part . Du, who reportedly had begged her family to get out of Seeing his bruised wife to his right and Latasha's body with the money to his left, Billy made a call to the police department. These would be relevant factors only in explaining an intentional First, she thought how odd it was, that this man on the TV shared her father's name. because he wouldnt shift Karlin from a criminal department at the Compton Harlins, who was in dark clothing, came into the The judge [in explaining her sentence] said she had serious That day, around 10 oclock, around then, a woman called Radio Korea. Many pointed out that the sentence handed out to Du was less severe than the 30 days in jail a Glendale man received a week later for kicking and stomping a dog. The life was in another word, I felt like we were not treated as human beings. Soon Ja Du, 51, left, leaves court with her husband, Billy Hong Ki Du, in Los Angeles on Nov. 24, 1992. Soon Ja Du was acquitted of the murder, the subsequent aftershock providing Ergven with the first of many collapsed segues where horrific news items . She will have to live with this every day for the rest of her life.. But Du Soonja shooting at the back of the girl leaving [the store] its 100 percent the womans fault.I only knew that Du Soonja was beat up by Harlins and had a black eye. The video exclusively showed that Du shot Harlins when she attempted to leave the store empty-handed. The Los Angeles Police Department ballistics report also stated that the handgun used by Du was altered in such a way that it required much less pressure on the trigger to fire than an ordinary handgun. Burdened by the responsibilities of being White, Adam Wheeler abandoned her "slave" White name and transformed into a melanin-rich Filipino woman named Ja Du. the presiding judge of the court, Ricardo Torres, is likewise targeted just And I was very scared of that unkindness. obligations, acting out of regard for ethics, not politics. But I think LA is a place that people do think of as this progressive paradise. That still holds true today, he says. On March 16, 1991, Soon Ja Du fatally shot a 15-year-old African-American girl, Latasha Harlins, in her convenience store. Harlins was found clutching two dollars, more than the cost of the drink, in her hand. With George Floyd's sister," she pauses and shakes her head. It was at a press conference that Reiner announced his with a postcard denial has, instead, induced an order to show cause. Even so, a reading of the entire discourse at This is something that I wanted to address too. "That narrative kind of deflected the public attention from police violence," says Kyeyoung Park, a professor of Anthropology and Asian American Studies at UCLA. On the privilege that Asian Americans benefit from in the criminal justice system, compared with African Americans. we regard as abominably bad judgment, we applaud his forthright and prompt Later, it was discovered he was shot by another Korean-American by mistake. I thought for sure he would die. consciously to pull the trigger and to exert considerable strength to do so., But that was not true of the gun used to shoot Soon Ja Du was tried and convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Harlins' death but served no jail time. Reiner announced his . It rained a lot and houses were made of bricks. This city of good feeling, of tolerance and progress and loving thy neighbor, was also a city that shunned and starved and killed its own. I need a reflection paper on LATASHA HARLINS, SOON JA DU, AND JOYCE. I felt that black people were reaction to a conflict with white people by attacking Koreans. - Can We All Get Along? Other tensions between the two groups are traced to On the journalist character, who reports on the girl who is killed in the story. up for election as district attorney is seeking a writ overturning the So it scared me, and I did not like the darkness that resembled the prison color. Even strangers were made familiar just by hearing that they were also Korean and lead us to open homes the Korean community was hard to find. Karlin did not alter the sentence. Beach, is now a mediator. hide caption. So for us, my husband came home from the gas station around 3 o'clock, and then I would take the baby and go to work. Bang Hai Ja (1937-2022) was a Korean-born abstract painter, stained-glass artist and calligrapher, who since 1961 has been based in Paris.Light has been a central theme in her work, representing joy, peace and love in her aim to unite East and West. From that, we paid the rent, the electricity bill, and and I had not realized it then, but life was like a war Others came for studies, but for us, it was for survival, and we had not brought much money with us.we worked at places like Swap meet, cleaning jobs at night. Reiner failed to put Karlins sentencing Karlin, who is seeking re-election to the Superior Court in the June 2 primary, made the comments during an interview in her chambers. Thats when it went through my head to do something, though I didnt know what. This tragic killing would also light the spark for the racial violence that was witnessed in LA in 1992, which resulted in more than 50 deaths and humongous property damage. Los Angeles, this was supposed to be it. Soon Ja Du was born on Saturday, December 27, 1941 (age 79 years; as of 2020), in North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. Consequently, people in the community felt that there were different standards of justice for different races. Reiner Mounts Assault on Judge Joyce Karlin Over Sentencing of A Nov. 20 Los Angeles Times editorial remarks: The decision by a local judge to sentence a The woman [who shot Harlins] was named Du Soonja. Considering that Joyce gave a stricter sentence to a man from Glendale for kicking a dog, Dus punishment seemed like a farce to many. Rodney King, the Los Angeles motorist whose beating by police was captured on videotape, in Beverly Hills, speaks during a press conference, where he calls for the end of violence in the city in May 1992. Acting Presiding Justice Herbert Ashby and his And the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement kind of happened in the beginning stages of my writing this novel. Really. SOON JAH DUE Can ya confirm or deny that this is a Play on words. into making politically expeditious decisions, rather than exercising Reiner called Dus sentence a stunning Court. How? hide caption. And I also remember after Mike Brown was killed, The New York Times ran a piece saying he was "no angel." On November 15, 1991, the jury found Du guilty and delivered the verdict stating that Du fired the gun voluntarily. MetNews endorsed Karlin on Dec. 23, before any that consideration, she would have come to the same sentencing conclusion. One customer, a 15-year-old girl named Latasha Harlins, selected a bottle of orange juice in the back of the store. accidentally, Karlin said, and a woman of Mrs. Dus size would have to decide The jury found the defendant guilty of For many in Los Angeles, the two videotapes became emblems of racial injustice and inequality. In fact, the African-American community felt that the verdict was quite racist, and that Dus background played a huge role in Judge Joyces decision. It came out of the gang truce between Crips and Bloods, a truce made a day before the riots. A Korean-born merchant,. Park notes that it wasn't a Korean judge who gave a lenient sentence in the killing of Latasha Williams. And 15-year-old Harlins was shot and killed by Soon Ja Du at Empire Liquor in South Central Los Angeles on March 16, 1991. But here, any candidacy would be grounded on opposition to And it was banks, not Korean grocers, who denied loans to Black businesses so that most businesses in Black communities were owned by outsiders. On November 15, 1991, Soon Ja Du was convicted for voluntary manslaughter and was potentially facing up to 16 years behind bars for the incident. throwing kerosene on this thing. Five months after the sentencing, dozens of Korean-owned businesses were looted and set on fire in the 1992 riots. The interaction was caught on CCTV and broadcast widely, just 13 days after the Rodney King beating. If judges have to look over their shoulders as they decide a case; if they have to test the political winds in order to arrive at a politically correct verdict--then the judicial system and the freedoms it guarantees will be destroyed, Karlin wrote. Her Korean-American son was killed during the LA uprising. But she didnt belong [on the bench] anyway.. questions about whether the defendant intended to kill the girl. Then she thought, he can't survive this. Karlin, a former federal prosecutor appointed to the bench by Gov. robbery. connection with the fatal shooting the previous March 16. Many Korean-Americans run mom-and-pop markets in black mandated that Karlin vacate the sentence. Looking back, it was a hard life. nonetheless constitutes a tentative determination that she erredthus lending On March 16, 1991, a 15-year-old girl named Latasha Harlins was shot and killed at Empire Liquor in South Central, Los Angeles. challenged the sentence via a writ proceeding. hide caption. We earned about $300-400 combined. A Feb. 12 MetNews She learned early that she could never escape the events set in motion that night her father was beaten and long ago she stopped trying. Normally, Dus husband or son was behind the counter, but this was not the case that day. And the title is a reference to the killing of Latasha Harlins by Soon Ja Du. In 1974, Joyce graduated fromLoyola University Chicago School of Law. The two eye-witnesses of the event contradicted Dus claims and stated that Du never asked Harlins intentions to pay for the orange juice, instead she called her a bitch. After viewing the videotape of the store security camera, the police concluded that Harlins intended to pay for the beverage as she held money in her hand. Soon Ja Du, said that he was not bothered by Reiners decision to appeal. "His smile was electric to me," she says. Korean lady. . and certainly no basis for a challenge where the judge strove to fulfill her seeking the writ. On March 16, 1991, Soon Ja Du fatally shot a 15-year-old African-American girl, Latasha Harlins, in her convenience store. Because had that incident not occurred, my son might not have died. But was that reaction understandable? "She was just a regular teenage girl," Harlins says. Justine Kenin and Jolie Myers produced and edited this interview for broadcast. And so I can see it happening in LA I mean, but I can also see it happening in any major city. Days after Lees death, thousands of people assembled in Koreatown to march for peace. My husbands income alone was not enough for us to get by I think he was paid $2 an hour. This was such a stunning miscarriage of Through her sentencing, Karlin labeled Soon Ja Du's lifestyle as appropriate, while chastising and criminalizing Harlins for behaving differently, for being different. Since childhood, Eddie had a sense of justice and was full of energy. This, too, assumes a It is the most professional School Board we have ever seen. She got the position, and in 2002, she even served as the mayor of the city. But the uprising came also in response to the murder of Latasha Harlins, a Black teen, by a Korean immigrant and shop owner, Soon Ja Du, who received a mere slap on the wrist. Getting by was the priority, to establish a living. Nov. 15, 1991: Shopkeeper Soon Ja Du is convicted of voluntary manslaughter for the killing of Latasha Harlins. Karlin defended her sentence of Du as within legal guidelines, a decision made after careful deliberation on the evidence. at a time when Karlin is facing a possible recall based on the sentence, and Reiner took a Stuyvesant area. The Korean grocer was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter but given probationno time behind bars. Or if not, help at least. Last year, on the 30th anniversary of Lastaha Harlins' death, the family unveiled a memorial mural at that park, part of its mission to keep her memory alive. at Westchester High School, came within two weeks after the Rodney King beating out in favor of the candidacy of Judge Joyce Karlin, and against the lynch-mob Before, Joyce worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles and even presided over the Darnell Garcia case. Many black leaders reacted with outrage last November when Du, 51, received probation for the March 16, 1991, shooting. Those of us of the first generation, including myself and others, have no particular strength. threatened judicial independence than any judge-bashers on the outside, for I write about these topics; I write about difficult things. "That's when I realized it was bigger than what I can imagine," she says. his assault on a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner, Daniel Calabro (since start time. But never in my dream, had I ever imagined that my son would go there. A video captured Los Angeles police brutally beating a black man, Rodney King in 1992. When then-Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joyce And I thought How could they be so reckless? Do they know who they really must be fighting against, yet burn down guiltless shops and target Koreans? So though I had to dissuade my son from going out, internally, I understood. Kelley says it is important to understand what happened in 1992 as an uprising. Instead, she sentenced her to five years probation and no jail time, reasoning that Du had acted out of fear from earlier robberies at the store and did not present a threat to the community. manslaughter. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. regard to the qualifications of that yet-to-emerge soul. And I think a lot about what the writer's responsibility is. Latasha, 15, was fatally shot in a liquor store. So in the earlier days of our immigration, we worked three jobs. acting under the misimpression that this was simply an accidental shooting. Also, she had used an illegally modified handgun that required less pressure to fire than the usual ones. reduced the charge to involuntary manslaughter. Money comes and goes. it had been rigged by another employee to fire quickly in the event of a Latashas grandmother had asked her to buy some orange juice, and so she obliged. We even worked night shifts. Five, in an order by Acting Presiding Justice Herbert Ashby, issued an My son was shot by someone who had fired from the roof, and it turned out that the people on the roof werent blacks, but Koreans. Many uninsured businesses never re-opened, uprooting the lives of Korean-American families who had labored for years to build their livelihoods from scratch. Latasha was killed by convenience store owner Soon Ja Du in March 1991. black teen-ager was questionable, no doubt about it. 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