Trotter Review Volume 7 Issue 2 A Special Issue on the Political and Social Article 5 Relations Between Communities of Color
9-23-1993 "No Justice, No Peace!": The olitP ics of Black- Korean Conflict Claire Jean Kim Yale University
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Recommended Citation Kim, Claire Jean (1993) ""No Justice, No Peace!": The oP litics of Black-Korean Conflict," Trotter Review: Vol. 7: Iss. 2, Article 5. Available at: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/trotter_review/vol7/iss2/5
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American
store an merchants’
retail familiar. this men
before including Korean-American in stores conflict mainstream decay
Mainstream widely biased. performing black-Korean depoliticizing challenge performed the to “cultural” far-reaching owned retail against led the, U.S. actions. Korean-American reference expressed consequences. structured Therefore, of negatively, Peace!”:
In
many
exchange
Familiarity,
Unlike
either
movie past depiction
kills
retail
the
cities,
of
in
boycotts owned
the
during “No
stores—have recognized
has
the
11
as
major
America.
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decade
opening and
African
men,
That
that
highly Society,
differences cultural
attribute
to
rely
an image
manifest
boycotts
racial
rather
ensured a
as context,
media
media
by of
including
Black-Korean
robs
the
their instances public
and emergent
of American
by it
it a the
make hostilities
As
and
upon
is
their however,
conflict,
Claire have
problem
might and
Conflict publicized hierarchy
Caribbeans. black-Korean
described from
than
picketing Justice,
the
scene
to coverage,
distinct merchants a a clashes
had the and
Los
political
picketing
that
suspiciousness
merchants
service society, been
a black-Korean disruption
Korean-American and
protecting the
say. been
couple.
or
participants,
New protagonists,
routine simply
chosen scarcely The
pose. verbal
symbol
Angeles
of
cities
black-Korean
to
of
that Jean
to political
By
picketing fundamentally
has the
or
they
organized. endemic this
collapse
campaigns,
destruction above,
the
York by be dimensions:
which
we
ideological
Thus,
have that cnminal
For concludes
campaigns
over
seeking altercations
beer
to media not
“solved.”
explaining
phenomenon—black-led of
to
conflict
understood.2
recently
tend the must
and
Kim
uprising
audiences
spotlight
have and
catalyze racial
become
Politics
the has even
bred toward grievances
run
the
in
two
all status
campaigns
and
conflict
to black
sustained
American
Los activity,
be to has conflict past
been
conflicts
occurred of
media to
such
perceive when No
political
though appears young
strife
understanding.
against
ameliorate
their Yet, released
their
understood
a Korean-owned
couple.
to
the
commonplace quo them
Angeles. of black-Korean decade.’ consistently
function social
of
convenience
emphatically
customers,
conflict
Rather
killings,
one
most
has
sources
all 1992. and
to
is politically
the
from
and
collective African-
political
between
the
society.
triggers
in
Korean- all
starkly against at protests
colors.
change.
innate
tended of
black film. urban
major
forms
Well The
once
most
strife aims these
than
over
into the any the
to
of
of
in
12
conflicts to
encourage
the Flatbush. black-Korean
decade
outburst York shopkeeper’s customer,
embroiling sustained the
levels, had campaign
Haitian expanding consistently Brooklyn. customer political
speeches, only
also (e.g.. empowerment and ostensibly
Americans the
political both boycott
activism advocates
nonblack poor and New control Buy nationalism entrepreneurship black City
regular activist-leaders, blacks—for series Howard incidents
The
understand
The
The most
The police,
been
former
exhorted
decried
patronize
demanded
Where
redlining.
black York
historical
and
during
City.
including empowerment
Red
of
of
activists
Red
between
among
Red
widely
and
goals
cooperation
movements
protest a The
community
their altercation the
agenda within
ad
included black-Korean
rallies,
active
merchants
the
the
of
section Racial Beach,
during
Haitian Apple was,
a customers
As
of
Apple racist
You
hoc
a
pursued
Apple
Red
instance, conflict
Precipitated
articulated
the
racially
showdown
alleged
blacks Red
related recurrence.
courts, black
have broader black-owned
what
black and
publicized
redress
economic
which
the
campaign
the
blacks
this community
the more
tradition
Can’t
within
in marches,
Apple
leading
for
late
the
practices
Boycott.
of
Politics
both
Boycott’s
newly Apple
Boycott
self-determination.
Queens. immigrant
was
and
city
movement black
protest
shaped
movement structural
area
to
of
of to
in
clergy, Brooklyn.
among
which
I
both
constrains
motivated fundamentally,
the assault and
political
activists
for l980s.5
920s
and
Work”
racial
the
conflict
Boycott
recent
mistreating mobilize veteran
Korean-American
the
only
politics
residents
elected
that
and between
and
killings the
the
and community.
placards,
Boycott have
nationalism black Korean
throughout
which
in
businesses.
immediate
by mobilizations was
and
and
l960s,
the
several linkage
justice
a leaders, perceptions
lasted
alleged controversial
campaigns
and
upon New
pursued boycott
history.3
that
departure
contemporary campaign Relying
population
is
New
Black and began
happening
urged a
I also black
political
community.4 mayor. immediate
serving white
930s
in
since
best
occurred
of
and
Americans.
emerged Korean-American
blacks
Yusef
for
tenets and and of
and York
pursuit
a
political
high-profile, of
York. Michael
part
a
assault
Nationalists
blacks American as
entrepreneurship)
Haitian characterized
developed
to
these Since
1990
From thirteen Thus,
protest
It
violence
and David
a a
empowerment. the and
upon
exploiting
fliers,
point.
in have
a
officials resonated the
around
culminated
targeted communities.
of
Pan-African
the
City
of
spontaneous across
and Hawkins of instances
centered
was
Chicago
in
in
of
l960s
merchant picketing
victim,
an long-term
community
the the
to
what
activists economic
Griffith
New
we Dinkins. loose
race
forms
in factors
Through
they
accused 1990
months, political rapidly
woman
Korean
ongoing
one
start
society specific
against
“Don’t
into
l800s.
which
need
at
New
black
retail
who
their
York
with and
was
and
as
not but
and
but
all of
of
in
in up
of
a
a
in in
a Bensonhurst. Brooklyn. Although somewhat reminiscent “color-blind” or “race-neutral.” universalistic policies of the Black Power movement of the l960s. this emergent rather than through affirmative action programs. Seeking movement is firmly anchored in such present-day political to arrest progress toward racial equality and to preserve realities as the increasingly evident constraints upon black the political, economic, and racial status quo. proponents electoral power and the new opportunities presented by a of this perspective assiduously criminalize and growing black immigration population from such areas as delegitimate racial protest. occluding its political content Haiti. The movement’s distinctive combination of the and reducing it to a law-and-order problem. Thus, they tactics of civil disobedience and the rhetoric of Black charge those who organize such race-based protests as the Nationalism points to its concurrent strategies of pursuing Red Apple Boycott with promoting racial polarization and racial empowerment both through and outside of the unnecessarily “racializing” politics. political system. One of its slogans. “No Justice. No One of the most striking features of this emergent Peace!” captures this perspective. Led by several perspective is its command of bipartisan support. prominent organizers. the Red Apple Boycott was a Although it took root under Reaganism. this perspective building block for this black empowerment movement. has reached its apogee with the Clinton administration, whose nonresponse to the Los Angeles uprising. The Role of the Mainstream Media mishandling of the Guinier nomination and the Haitian Mainstream media coverage of the Red Apple Boycott refugee situation, along with its vote-currying vows to end criminalized the conflict, thereby obscuring its political welfare “as we know it” and succor “the middle class” dimensions. While a few journalists attributed the boycott make the possibility of vitiating institutionalized racism to such innocuous causes as “cultural” differences or the over the next several years look improbable, indeed. After language barrier, the vast majority depicted it as all, we cannot alleviate a problem whose very existence scapegoating—the irrational venting of frustrations upon we deny. an innocent group. Portraying Korean-American merchants as a “model minority” (hard-working, family- Notes oriented. etc.) that was being scapegoated by elements of The list of cities includes but is not limited to: New York City. Los Angeles. Philadelphia. Chicago, Baltimore. Washington. D.C.. and Atlanta. the “underclass” (morally deviant, behaviorally ‘For a helpful discussion of the media’s approach to racial issues, see Simon pathological. etc.), the media effectively denied the Cottle. “‘Race.’ Racialization. and the Media: A Review and Update of rationality. purpose. and political agency of the Red Apple Research.” Sage Race Relations Abstracts 17. No. 2 (May 1992): 3—57. ‘I refer to the protest by this name because the Family Red Apple store was Boycott’s participants. its primary target. It is sometimes referred to as the Church Avenue Boycott or the Fiatbush Boycott, as well. This description and analysis of the protest is based upon personal interviews with boycott leaders and participants, such primary The mainstream media had chosen to spotlight sources as boycott fliers and government documents, along with material from black-Korean conflict as an emergent symbol of the black press in New York City, especially the New YorkAmsterdam News and The City Sun. racial strife and urban decay in America. See Allan H. Spear. Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto, 1890—1920 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967): Cheryl Lynn Greenberg, “Or Does It Explode?” Black Harlem in the Great Depression (New By depicting the Red Apple Boycott as unfair. York: Oxford Untversity Press. 1991). These conflicts usually involved black customers and Jewish merchants. illegitimate, and even criminal, the media successfully ‘For a seminal discussion of this type of activism, see James Jennings. The deflected its challenge to the status quo. Insofar as the Politics of Black Enipowerment: The Transformation of Black Activism in Urban media-led, ideological countermobilization against the America (Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 1992). ‘For a discussion of how institutions such as the media shape protest boycott eventually compelled a reluctant Mayor Dinkins outcomes, see Michael Lipsky and David J. Olson. €‘ommtssion Politics: The to take action against the protesters. it decisively shaped Processing of Racial Crisis in America (New Brunswick: Transaction Books. the boycott’s outcome. Even as the media helped to quell 1977,. ‘For an analysis of the particular structural constraints facing black mayors. this community mobilization campaign. it also see Adolph Reed. Jr.. “The Black Urban Regime: Structural Origins and demarcated the limits of black mayoral power in Constraints.” Comparative Urban and Community Research I (1988): 138—188. perspective: Thomas Byrne advancing racial empowerment. Although it had ignored ‘The following works provide examples of this Edsall and Mary D. Edsall, Chain Reaciion: The Impact of Race, Rights, and the inaction of the former mayor. Ed Koch. during Taxes on American Politics (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1991): Theda previous boycotts, the media clamored for Mayor Dinkins Skocpol. “Targeting Within Universalism: Politically Viable Policies to Combat Christopher Jencks and to take decisive action during the Red Apple Boycott. Poverty in the United States,” The Urban Underclass, Paul E. Peterson, eds. (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings institution, 1991>:Jim Simply because he was black, Mayor Dinkins was thought Sleeper. The Closest of Strangers: Liberalism and the Politics of Race in New to be guilty of racial favoritism until he took concrete York(New York: W, W. Norton & Co., 1990): William Julius Wilson, The Truly Public Policy (Chicago: steps (e.g., crossing the picket line, deploying the police Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and University of Chicago Press, 1987>: William Julius Wilson. The Declining against the protesters) to prove himself innocent. Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions, 2nd edition The response of the media and political7 officialdom to (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980). For a critique of the perspective Jr., and Juitan Bond. Equality: Why Red Apple Boycott reflected a perspective on race that among the liberal left, see Adolph Reed, the We Can’t Wait,” The Nation, 9 December 1991. 733—737. has come to dominate policy-making, journalistic, and academic circles over the last decade. Claiming both Claire Jean Kim is a doctoral candidate in the Department of conservative and liberal adherents,8 this perspective holds Political Science at Yale University. She is writing her that racism is no longer a serious problem. and that we dissertation on black-Korean conflict, the black empowerment should address remaining social inequalities through movement, and racial politics in New York City.
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