Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, a book written by Anna Deavere Smith, is based on the 1992 Los Angeles riots. This book is a collaboration of the experiences of the members of the Los Angeles community during the LA Riots. Smith interviewed a few hundred local LA residences for her book during the time of the riots. She succeeded in keeping a wide perspective by interviewing people from all ethnic backgrounds, including Whites, Blacks, Latinos, and Koreans. She also interviewed police officers and gang members. Combined with historical research, Twilight provides a meaningful and accurate exploration of the lurking causes of the Los Angeles riots.
The event that sparked the Los Angeles riots was the police beating of Rodney King. Rodney King was driving recklessly while …show more content…
Bates mentioned in her article that Koreans migrated to L.A in the 1960’s because they believed this city would give them the best opportunities economically. Bates further states that “purchasing a business was expensive, so the new immigrants bought where they could afford property, often in poor, working-class neighborhoods in and near South L.A” (NPR, Karen Grigsby Bates). A key part of Bates’ argument was that they “came here without any knowledge of a history of racial confrontation or race relations in America”. Korean Americans built Koreatown from the ground up in the 1960s. Korean American business owners take a lot of pride in what they have created (Koreatown) over the last few decades. It was recorded that over a hundred businesses owned by Korean immigrants were “torched” in the riots (Bates). Naturally, the racial tension between these two ethnic groups grew over the years, and it took an incident like Rodney King to spark racial conflict into something physically violent and