←back to thread

1061 points danso | 4 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source
Show context
darepublic ◴[] No.23352614[source]
As someone of mixed ethnicity who, if I was there could easily be victimized by a senseless mob to whom I owe nothing and have committed no crime against.. yea I am not happy with how the mainstream media promotes and covers this story, downplaying the victims of the chaos and sympathizing with outpourings of anger even if illegal. To clarify, looters should not be shot, law should prevail, and the policeman involved in the original incident should be investigated.. but the mainstream media is to my mind basically behind the looters, and I know if by chance I or someone like me were to be caught in the crossfire and killed, the mainstream media, posturing as champions of justice, would just implicitly shrug. So yea I can't help but feel disaffected by this coverage, no matter how vile the originating incident.
replies(9): >>23352795 #>>23352868 #>>23352998 #>>23353092 #>>23353094 #>>23353096 #>>23353160 #>>23353201 #>>23353449 #
rayiner ◴[] No.23352795[source]
Relevant: https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/28/us/la-riots-korean-americans/...

> The Rodney King verdict and the ensuing riots are often framed as a turning point for law enforcement and the African-American community. But it's also the single most significant modern event for Korean-Americans, says Edward Taehan Chang, professor of ethnic studies and founding director of the Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies at the University of California, Riverside.

> The nearly weeklong, widespread rioting killed more than 50 people, injured more than 1,000 people and caused approximately $1 billion in damage, about half of which was sustained by Korean-owned businesses. Long-simmering cultural clashes between immigrant Korean business owners and predominately African-American customers spilled over with the acquittals.

I'm on the side of the protesters here, don't get me wrong. But the media sweeps under the rug how often the rage from these events gets taken out on Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, etc.-owned small businesses. There is a narrative the media wants to peddle (black versus white), and these complexities don't have any place in the media narratives.

replies(2): >>23353445 #>>23355695 #
UncleMeat ◴[] No.23353445[source]
A fair amount of this is caused by the state and police. Why do you think that the rioters were in koreatown during the rodney king riots?

Police defended the rich neighborhoods and pushed the riot into places where society tolerates more damage.

replies(1): >>23353877 #
1. chance_state ◴[] No.23353877[source]
Did the police burn down and destroy $1B of property?
replies(1): >>23354452 #
2. UncleMeat ◴[] No.23354452[source]
No, of course not. But the reason why minority communities tend to be the victims of property damage during riots is the same as the reason for the riots in the first place.
replies(2): >>23356313 #>>23356444 #
3. chance_state ◴[] No.23356313[source]
For a second there I thought we might blame the people who burned down buildings for burning down buildings.

Thankfully you saved it with "but muh system".

>Why do you think that the rioters were in koreatown during the rodney king riots?

Because there's incredible racist animosity against Asian people in the black community.

Some people (you) are currently pretending this isn't the case, and that it was just a crazy coincidence that blacks targeted Korean businesses during the LA riots, resulting in _half_ the monetary damages of the whole event.

4. rayiner ◴[] No.23356444[source]
> No, of course not. But the reason why minority communities tend to be the victims of property damage during riots is the same as the reason for the riots in the first place.

I disagree, and I think that's a pernicious viewpoint. Americans tend to downplay the real antagonism and differently-aligned incentives that exists between different minority groups, in an effort to paint things as a matter of "whites versus everyone else." But, for example, Asians are treated very favorably by the police. (The incarceration rate for asian Americans is something like 1/6 of the rate for white Americans.) Saying that the problems they face are the same as those faced by other minority groups is erasing their individual experiences.