Rooftop Koreans: An example advocating for the importance of citizen ownership of firearms
Rooftop Koreans: An example advocating for the importance of citizen ownership of firearms
For years, there had been tensions between the Los Angeles Korean community and the African American communities, including the killing of Latasha Harlins, an African-American teenager who was controversially fatally shot by a Korean-American convenience store owner who received no jail time.
Rooftop Koreans or Roof Koreans refer to the Korean American business owners and residents who armed themselves and took to the rooftops of local businesses to defend themselves during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
The unrest in urban areas was sparked by the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers in the beating of Rodney King and resulted in rioting, and looting, along with widespread violence and arson throughout the city.
Following the Rodney King verdict, Los Angeles police were unable to provide protection to many affected areas due to the overwhelming scale of the riots, instead controversially opting to set up a defensive perimeter around the Beverly Hills and West Hollywood cities, cutting off Koreatown and abandoning other minority and low-income communities, leaving the Koreatown community to mostly fend for themselves.
In response, many Korean business owners and residents took matters into their own hands. Local Korean radio stations in Los Angeles put out a call to help Korean business owners, leading to volunteers arriving with their own firearms. The intersection of 5th Street and Western Avenue served as a flashpoint, where the California Market (also called Gaju or Kaju) Korean grocery store was a major point of conflict. Other locations that were defended by citizens with firearms included 8th and Oxford, as well as Western and Third Street. The Los Angeles Times stated there were multiple people on the roof of the grocery with "shotguns and automatic weapons" while Ebony Magazine noted the use of "rifles and handguns."
Because South Korea has a two year mandatory military service for males, it was noted that many Korean immigrants had experience with handling firearms.
The rooftop Koreans have been cited by gun rights advocates for the value of citizen ownership of firearms and "being your own first responder".
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