Not Through a Racial Lens : Outrage at unacceptable violence in South-Central L.A.

In welcome contrast to ongoing tensions that have plagued relations between their two communities, Korean-American and African-American leaders have denounced the shooting of a 9-year-old Korean girl during a weekend robbery at her parents’ mini-mart. These leaders have also urged an end to the gunfire that is common in South-Central Los Angeles.

The child was shot in the chest and leg on Saturday at a combination gas station and convenience store near the intersection of Broadway and Century Boulevard. She was taken in critical condition to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center and was released this week.

The shooting prompted County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas as well as the Shell Oil Co. to offer independent rewards totaling $20,000 for information leading to the conviction of the robber. Those rewards are a small but significant indication of the growing outrage at the unacceptable level of violence in the area.

The tragedy also prompted Korean-American merchants to indicate their outrage instead of downplaying the violence and crime they often face, as they have frequently done for fear of heightening racial tensions.

Although the robber was black, Jerry Yu, executive director of the Korean American Coalition, explained that the assault was not seen “as a black-Korean issue.” That refusal to view the shooting through a strictly racial lens sends a healing message.

The shooting of the Korean girl is deplorable. The shooting of African-American children and Latino children is equally deplorable, whatever the ethnicity of the gunmen.

The shooting of any child deserves the same outrage, the same denunciations, the same commitment to end the carnage from all leaders.