Goodwill in a Time of Tension

If our community is ever to rise above the racial divisions that plague us, we are going to have to learn from our mistakes. If we cannot do that, the much feared Balkanization of Southern California so glibly predicted by one commentator or another could become a reality.

But for the moment we are nowhere near that point: People of goodwill continue to work hard to keep tensions down and promote understanding throughout this region of a hundred cultures and many languages. And that precisely is the picture now emerging from Lynwood, where last Saturday a shooting incident with special overtones took place.

The shooting occurred three blocks from a grocery after its owner chased down a 14-year-old boy who had fled the store allegedly without paying for a bag of cookies.

The store owner, Michael Kim, says that when the boy reached for what he thought was a weapon, he shot him. The grocer then carried the wounded youth to his car, drove him back to his market and telephoned paramedics. The boy appears to be recovering.

Because the grocer is a Korean American and the victim is a Latino, comparisons were instantly drawn to the 1991 fatal shooting of a 15-year-old African American by a Korean grocer after, the grocer said, she thought the girl was trying to steal orange juice. A physical confrontation occurred in the store, and Latasha Harlins was killed, shot in the back of the head.

That tragic incident blew up into a huge political row--and added to tensions between the African American and Korean communities.

Will this new incident have a comparably corrosive effect? There have been irresponsible reactions; reputed gang members threatened Kim. But also there have been laudable efforts to keep tensions down and to avoid painting this story in racial colors. Kudos should go to Lynwood Councilman Armando Rea and Benjamin Miranda of the Concerned Citizens of Lynwood.

All that it takes for a community to keep control of its destiny and help different ethnic groups get along is hard work, communication and goodwill. But without that, every incident can be blown into a racial or ethnic one. Then the fighting would never end. It doesn’t have to be that way, and some leaders in Lynwood appear to be proving that.