L.A. Riots Not to Happen Again, Korean Community Leader Says

Regardless of the verdict of the second Rodney King case, a repeat of last year's Los Angeles riots will not occur, a key speaker for L.A. 's Korean community told an audience of about 50 yesterday at the Law School.

Angela E. Oh, president of the Korean Bar Association of Southern California and a featured guest on ABC's "Nightline," said riots will not break out even if the jury acquits the accused officers of the L.A. Police Department.

"The whole city right now is gripped by the fear that the moral imperative of justice will not be met," Oh said.

But L.A. 's changing leadership, including a new police chief, district attorney and candidates in upcoming mayoral and city council elections, will help limit any possible backlash so "isolated incidents of violence," Oh said.

"Willy Williams, the new police chief, is a 180-degree turn from Darryl Gates who saw the community as the enemy," Oh said.

Oh said L.A. 's new leaders are reaching out to the people to tell them that they must not destroy the community because "this is their community."

But Oh said she did not refer only to Blacks and Koreans in the community, because the riots were not a political, Black Korean issue.

"The image that you get in the East Coast, that the looting was all done by Blacks, is inaccurate," she said.

Oh said Korea Town was looted by mostly poor whites and Latinos, and South Central was looted by mostly poor Blacks and Latinos.

"These were people picking up bricks, breaking windows, and looting stores," she said. "The working poor were on the streets."

The vivid memory and the fear of last year's riots, Oh said, would further help prevent history from repeating itself.

Austin W. So '96, the political chair of the Korean Students Association, said Oh 's activism has helped the Korean American community.

"She's the only one speaking out for the community," he said. "She's the pioneer of growing political activism of second generation Asian Americans.

Yesterday's forum was sponsored by the Law School's Korean Association and the East Asian Legal Studies Program.