Channeling Anger Into Organizing : Sentence of probation shocks community but leads to wise appraisals

The anger in the black community is understandable. Straight probation for a violent crime is rare. Yet five years’ probation--and no jail time--was the sentence handed down to Soon Ja Du by a Superior Court judge. The Korean-born grocer was tried and convicted of killing black teenager Latasha Harlins. People in the black community, where cynicism about the criminal justice system is not rare, could be forgiven for resurrecting the charge of a dual standard of justice: one for blacks and one for almost everybody else.

Under these circumstances, then, it was heartening to hear community voices like the Rev. Edgar E. Boyd’s. The pastor of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Los Angeles exhorted an angry audience to channel their fury into positive political and community organizing. That’s a farsighted philosophy that deserves respect and support.

It is also one that perhaps tacitly reflects a sensitivity to the problems faced by small-store merchants who do business in the poorer sections of Southern California. The 15-year-old Harlins was shot by the Korean merchant after an argument and a scuffle. Soon Ja Du, 51, had accused her of trying to shoplift a $1.79 bottle of juice. That amount was trivial but the context was not: Crime is a serious problem for the merchant community in many poor neighborhoods. Tensions are high, suspicions go deep and the possibilities of escalation are ever present.

Wiser, cooler heads on both sides, taking the longer-range view, know that resentment not targeted productively will only eat away at the community, in a self-destructive fashion. That’s why some black leaders are seeking to preserve the recently achieved agreement among Korean merchants to employ more residents in the local stores. No earth-shattering breakthrough, to be sure; but a tangible, if minor, sign of real-world progress. After all, every little job helps, every step forward is a rebuke to the darkness.

During the four-hour community meeting at the Bethel AME Church Saturday, African-American leaders eloquently made the case that the way to go forward is through community organizing, electoral politics and economic development. Fight for jobs and opportunities, don’t get angry and self-destruct. Go to the polls, vote for people who want to help. Organize against the racists and the status quo. Heal the wounds; be stronger. Don’t fight against yourself.