Mourners Remember Beloved ‘Mama’

A year after a popular Korean American grocer was killed by robbers, a multiethnic gathering Thursday remembered Chung-Bok Hong as a noteworthy contributor to improving relations between African Americans and Koreans by her quiet deeds that exemplified love.

Hong, 52, called “Mama” by her customers, was struck down on Feb. 3, 1999, in front of her husband and son when two gunmen robbed them in the parking lot of her convenience store at 54th Street and Van Ness Avenue.

Her customers adored her because they said she treated them with respect and kindness, no matter what their social or economic status.

“I had an opportunity to love her for 11 years in our community,” said Kerry Lewis, who spoke as a neighborhood representative at an English-Korean memorial service at St. Brigid Catholic Church in South-Central. “And, I want to tell you what she meant to me. She meant love, she meant understanding, she meant friendship.”

Though Hong has passed on, Lewis said, her generosity and love will live on in the people who were touched by her.

“Love is something that not even death can take away,” the Rev. Leonard Jackson, of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, said during the 90-minute service, attended by more than 100 Koreans, African Americans and Latinos. “Love can overcome hate. Our challenge today is . . . to love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Jackie Brown, who frequented Hong’s store for more than four years, said that for a long time after the merchant’s death, she was so grief-stricken she could not bring herself to go near the place. Brown said she felt as though she had lost a member of her family.

“Mama was a very special lady who was sweet but also feisty when she needed to be,” she said.

Brown, a jazz singer with a rich mezzo-soprano voice, sang a “special song” she had written to honor her at the memorial.

This is not goodbye. I can see you when I look at the sky. When I look at the trees, feel a warm breeze or see a butterfly, you are there, you are everywhere. Mama, they told your story around the world. It touched so many people. You are loved, you are missed, you always will be remembered.

Hong’s husband, Jong-Pyo, said the outpouring of love for his wife and the family expressed by friends like Lewis and Brown has been a tremendous source of strength and comfort to him and his children.

“We are a family,” he said of his African American customers, “so much so that sometimes we would even argue with each other.”

Ellis Cha, president of the Korean American Grocers Assn., said that building relationships among people of different ethnicities isn’t easy because of the barriers of language and culture.

“[Still], we must try to understand each other and work together and overcome our differences,” he said. “We have to work together to make Mama’s dream come true.”

Lewis called on people at the memorial to exert pressure on police to bring Hong’s killers to justice. One of two suspects is still at large.

The memorial, whose theme was “Mama wants a friendly community,” was arranged by a group of Korean American churches in Los Angeles County that emphasizes urban outreach and racial reconciliation.

“Mrs. Hong’s death was a [personal] tragedy, but [to the community] it became a gift from God to bring the two communities closer together,” said Peter Park, director of the Koreatown Senior Center, who presided at the service.