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The Black-Korean conflict was an enduring storyline during the violence that erupted in 1992 after four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King. It was a palatable narrative of racial conflict in which white racism was not directly implicated.
It was New Year’s Day 2021, and Latasha Harlins would have been celebrating her 45th birthday.
The immense painting on the front of Algin Sutton Recreation Center in a neighborhood that many locals still call South-Central L.A. is the first public memorial to Latasha since she was fatally shot by a Korean-born merchant who’d accused her of stealing a bottle of orange juice.
“For a long time, I couldn’t look at her picture,” said Ruth Harlins, 79, as she looked up at the vast image of her late granddaughter. She’d taken Latasha’s photos down in her home because they were too painful to look at.