Building Bridges of Understanding in L.A.

Increasingly, as immigrants flock here from all points of the globe, Los Angeles is becoming a multicultural metropolis. One result is tension over race and religion.

When Jai Lee Wong arrived from South Korea at age 15, she had seen black U.S. soldiers in her homeland, but never in such numbers as in her new Los Angeles neighborhood. The American movies and television programs she’d seen had also projected a far different, whiter world.

She learned firsthand the perspective of Korean grocers when she stocked shelves of inner-city markets owned by relatives. Her UC Berkeley classes led her to literature by black writers. She was moved to volunteer as a community organizer in the housing projects of East Oakland. Wong then decided to seek a profession where she could be “a builder of bridges.”

For more than three years now, Wong has been on the staff of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, a government agency set up to reduce intergroup tensions. The 34-year-old also is a consultant to the Black-Korean Alliance, which seeks to smooth one of the most notoriously strained relationships between any two ethnic groups in this country.

Often working with a black partner, Larry Aubry, she spends about half her time on the streets, visiting inner-city markets, hearing out Korean grocers and their non-Korean customers. When anger erupts, from either side, she tries to calm the situation.

In the course of that effort, she has also found herself helping Koreans who face racism from whites and has noted evolving problems between Koreans and Latinos.

Q:

What do relations between Koreans and other groups tell us about relations among all of the ethnic groups in Los Angeles? Why is it important that they get along?

A:

It’s not necessary that they get along in the best sense. But I feel that especially people of color should build coalitions and work together (to overcome) the racism that has been institutionalized in the United States. That is not happening here.

Q:

The Korean co-chair of the alliance has said that “it is true that Korean merchants have used derogatory words, racial epithets toward blacks.” What are the roots of these sentiments?

A:

Many of the Korean merchants were middle-class professionals (in their homeland) and have very little understanding of the U.S., particularly the black American experience.

I think that one of the reasons that Koreans have these attitudes is they don’t see themselves as minorities in the U.S.

If they don’t see that they have anything in common with blacks, they just say, “Oh, it’s all their fault that they are where they are.” (Koreans) don’t understand that when they go to the suburbs, they are going to be facing their own set of problems and issues.

Q:

What kind of problems are they facing?

A:

There was an incident I worked on a couple of years ago at Calabasas High School. Calabasas High School had three Asians and all of a sudden the Korean enrollment jumped 1,000% . . . from 3 to 30. . . . This white boy cornered this Korean girl; he said, “Get out of my way (using a racial epithet).” She purposely walked slow and blocked his way. He cornered her again. . . . She got really upset. He was hanging out with (a friend) who also started getting into this name-calling. . . . So she went off the campus and went to another high school in the neighborhood, talked to her friend, who in turn got a bunch of Korean boys who were all going to go after this guy and set him straight.

(They found the boy’s friend instead.) . . . Then the football team from Calabasas High came and beat the . . . Korean kids because they were messing with Calabasas.

After that, there was a great big group and they came back and tried to retaliate. And by then the police had been notified. All the students are watching, the principal was out there. . . . No one got hurt (but) the whole community was outraged. (People thought) “Racial tension, what is this?”

The Korean girl was expelled. The principal said, “She should have come to me.” And the boy who started the whole thing in the beginning was never punished.

Q:

How did you get involved in this incident?

A:

The girl’s psychologist called me and asked that we get involved. In the meantime, County Supervisor (Mike) Antonovich . . . made a motion that we look into it.

It was not at the request of the girl or her parents. They didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. They just wanted her to graduate so she could go to USC. But obviously she wasn’t going to be graduating because she was expelled.

I told the girl, “You need a legal counsel.” (Her parents) said, “Oh, we know this lawyer.” I said, “Money will not buy justice in this case. You need an organization that advocates or knows civil rights.”

The Asian Pacific American Legal Center agreed to take it. . . . As a result of community pressure, she was transferred to another school, which is very different from being expelled.

We made a recommendation (of) some training with staff and faculty. We thought the problem really started (there), some of the subtle stuff we picked up. . . . We turned it over to county schools’ multicultural unit because we are not in a position to train.

Q:

What about inner-city disputes?

A:

There was an incident in the Crenshaw area in a small coffee shop and this kind of gives you an idea of how little things can escalate.

There was this black woman who walked in. (She) bought some french fries and she wanted an extra bag because it was greasy, and then she wanted some extra napkins. (The Korean proprietor) refused to give it to her. So she threw down the french fries and started yelling at him. “Why aren’t you giving it to me? Why are you so rude?” So the owner pushed her, so she says.

The next day, there’s a picket line. (Signs read) “We Will Not Tolerate Rudeness.” “The Owner, So and So, Should Apologize.” The pickets went on for two or three Saturdays. Sales went from more than $1,000 to under $100.

The owner was the one who called (us). I recommended that he try to set up a meeting with the girl and her family and find out what they wanted and that he should apologize for whatever happened.

In the beginning, he was very adamant that she accused him of doing things that he never did. . . . He had a very different feel for what really went down. (He said) “How could anybody say that I’m rude? You can talk to my other black customers and they will tell you that I am not rude.”

And then I said, “Well, then, how come people are respecting the boycott?”

He said, “It’s because they feel pressure from their fellow blacks.”

Of course, he ended up apologizing. That died down rather quickly.

Q:

A common criticism is that Koreans don’t hire blacks.

A:

For most Korean merchants, it is true that they cannot afford to hire outsiders other than family.

Q:

What about those who can afford to hire outsiders?

A:

The latest complaint is that Korean store owners that can afford to hire people other than family are choosing to hire Latinos over blacks. And I’ve seen that.

Q:

Why do they choose Latinos over blacks?

A:

Practically, they have to hire Latinos because the language thing is tremendous. For a store to make it, they have to have someone to speak the language.

Q:

But they don’t speak English, either.

A:

They speak a little, enough to get by. Whereas with Spanish, most Korean merchants don’t even speak enough to get by on a basic level.

Q:

Are you getting reports of strains between Koreans and Latinos?

A:

Yes. It’s very informal. And actually, that’s what we need to look into from our office next year.

Q:

Do they echo blacks’ complaints?

A:

It’s not so much that they are rude. More often, it’s resentment that they’re taking over the neighborhood. It’s more like, “ Chinitos , chinos (Spanish for “Chinese”) are coming in.”

Q:

Do they say it in an unfriendly way?

A:

Yes, unfriendly. You know, though, there’s a different experience.

With the blacks, there’s a common thing: “You guys are foreigners. If you’re going to live in America, you better learn to speak English.” And . . . “I’m born here, my grandfather’s born here, how come we don’t have job opportunities?”

(Latinos are) coming into the store. (They see that) the price is high. The Latinos don’t have the opportunity to own the stores.

But it’s not (a question of) “We’re Americans and you’re foreigners.”

There is also not the same level, I think, of expectations of the customer-merchant relationship. Things like that are very small. In America, you walk in the store, you expect them to be courteous and one way (to show politeness) is smiling. Koreans, if you have no reason to smile, then you just don’t smile. There’s a Korean saying: “If you smile a lot, you’re silly.”

Q:

You helped Korean and black business groups start a joint venture. Why?

A:

The common complaint has been lack of economic opportunities for blacks. So we’ve had a lot of discussions about what ways we could create an economic opportunity for Korean and black businesses to come together. (Their project) is going to be low-income housing in South-Central.

The scale (of proposals) went from a small drugstore to somebody suggesting a Hyundai dealership or even an assembly line. . . . That’s beyond the scope of this group, but you know some people are thinking about all the possibilities. Create jobs, you know.

Q:

Where is the tension level heading?

A:

I would suspect that the tension will get worse with recession coming. . . . As the holidays near, things are going to get bad. . . . It just really heightens the contradiction of economic disparity. Holidays are times when you want certain things.

Q:

Are the business owners doing anything to try to ease tension during the holidays?

A:

Two years ago, the larger Korean corporations and some . . . smaller businesses created goodies and we made these big holiday baskets and distributed them through the Westminster Neighborhood Assn. (in Watts). We haven’t done that (again) because there was a lot of feedback saying that “that’s a Band-Aid solution to the problems, that’s a handout and we don’t want that kind of stuff.”