Asian American Studies 197A
Winter Quarter 2002

Political Tour of Communities

Political Tour of Koreatown
By Jessica Kim

Images of Koreatown permeate some of my earliest childhood memories. Although my family lived in Claremont, an hour drive from this downtown ethnic enclave, my Korean American father would often drive us to Koreatown to explore, shop, eat, and enjoy an afternoon in the midst of a Korean American community. I think I was five when I distinctly remember browsing through a Korean bookstore, unhappy that I couldn’t read the titles in the children’s section. My father happily translated for me. Despite these fond memories, I now realize that my experiences in Los Angeles’ Koreatown were very detached from the political and social realities of the people who live and work there. My experiences, like those of so many other suburban Korean American children, ignored the very serious issues that confront this community. While we enjoyed Koreatown as a cultural experience, we ignored Koreatown as a political experience.

Unfortunately, we continue to ignore the economic, social and political issues that confront every urban ethnic community, even as students in an academic Asian American studies program. Most scholars agree that Asian American studies emerged from a working-class, grassroots political movement committed to challenging oppressive social, economic, and political institutions. Many now argue, however, that the discipline has shifted and narrowed to a discussion of cultural identity and a focus on "elitist" middle-class topics. In this respect, Asian American studies programs abandoned their radical and working-class foundations, creating a significant rift between scholarly and academic discussions and community or grassroots debates. The fact that very few of my fellow classmates, with an obvious interest Asian American issues, actually live or work in Asian American or immigrant community reflects the divide between their academic lives and grassroots/community political involvement and participation. Our assignment to venture into an API community reflects our significant distance and detachment from that community. After all, if we were already involved in immigrant or ethnic communities, there would be no need for this assignment. Within this context, our "tours" of various ethnic communities became political actions designed to narrow the divide between "academia" and "the community." Our tours gain significance precisely because of their political nature.

Because of a personal interest in the Korean American community, I explored Los Angeles’ Koreatown with several of my classmates. Although I often go to eat and shop in Koreatown and despite the fact that I have worked in Koreatown for over a year and participated in a political tour of this area before, I was interested in discussing historical realities as well as contemporary events and campaigns with my current classmates.

As discussed in Asian American history courses, ethnic enclaves developed in response to white racism and discriminatory restrictive covenant laws. As they developed, however, they also began to provide useful community services, wield political power, and offer a relatively safe space for the continuation of cultural customs. The Los Angeles Koreatown developed most significantly after 1965, during the "second wave" of Korean immigration. There are now thousands of Korean neighborhoods and Korean operated businesses and organizations in Los Angeles’ downtown Koreatown. We visited a variety of locations in Koreatown, including the Koreatown Plaza, KIWA, KYCC, OMC (Oriental Mission Church) a local restaurant, and a Korean supermarket. Our political tour and discussion covered a variety of important themes in Koreatown, including demography, labor and economics, community organizations, political movements, and interethnic relationships.
While on our tour, we observed and discussed the demographics of Koreatown, noticing that many of the Koreans living in the area are recent, working-class immigrants. The businesses and companies in Koreatown, however, also cater to a large population of suburban immigrants that travel "downtown" to shop and conduct their business, returning to suburban dwellings. We speculated that these Korean Americans have more economic and social capital, enabling them to make the transition from an urban to suburban community. This trend seemed most evident in the Koreatown Plaza, an indoor mall housing upscale clothing, cosmetic, and other retail stores as well as expensive restaurants. We guessed that most of the working-class Korean Americans and Latino immigrants living in Koreatown are unable to shop at the expensive shops, which are probably frequented by commuting suburban Korean Americans.

KIWA (Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates) offered a stark contrast to the exclusive Plaza, and the two locations juxtaposed the different socioeconomic conditions faced by Korean immigrants. Representing both Latino and Korean American workers, KIWA exposes the significant class differences within the Korean American community and Koreatown. KIWA also revealed some of the interethnic relationships within Koreatown. Korean American entrepreneurs exploit both their Korean and Latino workers, forcing their employees to work below the minimum wage, without benefits, in substandard conditions. KIWA’s constituents also reflect the ethnic diversity of Koreatown and interethnic community relationships. Most of the neighborhoods in and around Koreatown are 70 percent Latino, particularly El Salvadorian. Due to this large Latino population, many Korean American businesses employ both Latinos and Koreans as waiters, busboys, dishwashers, etc. In this respect, Korean Americans and Latino laborers suffer under the same forms of economic exploitation.

Our visit to the Assi supermarket also highlighted many of the common economic conditions faced by Latino and Korean immigrant workers. While exploring the large and bustling market, we observed workers of both ethnicities laboring under similar conditions. We also observed, however, that Korean workers were more likely to have jobs as cashiers while Latino workers stocked shelves and unloaded delivery trucks. We also learned from KIWA organizers that Assi management deliberately accentuates ethnic differences by offering Korean American workers better hours, increased wages, and easier work. Despite racially differentiated work tasks and pay, all the Assi workers are currently involved in a KIWA-initiated campaign to form a union. The collaboration of Korean and Latino workers in the organizing drive symbolizes KIWA’s efforts to unite the interests of both groups of workers. The success of their campaign so far demonstrates the ability of workers to transcend ethnic differences in a common struggle for economic justice.

Our visit to KYCC (Korean Youth and Community Center) provided a further glimpse of interethnic networks and conflicts within Koreatown. Due to shifting demographics, KYCC has begun to provide services for both Korean American and Latino Youth. Recognizing that both groups co-exist in one geographic community and face similar socio-economic conditions, KYCC responded by expanding its services and programs to include Latino youth and community members.

In addition, we also visited the Oriental Mission Church, one of the largest and oldest Korean American churches in the area. According to my classmates, many Korean immigrants attend OMC when they first arrive in the U.S. This led to a discussion of Koreatown as an entry point for many Korean immigrants. When first arriving, many Korean immigrants live in Koreatown to familiarize themselves with the U.S. They look for jobs, organizations, and churches within the Korean American community to make the immigration experience a little easier. My classmates observed that while many Korean immigrants first settle in Koreatown and attend churches in the area, many eventually move again, often to suburban homes where they re-establish businesses, organizations, networks, and churches. We also discussed the importance of Christian churches to Korean Americans. Due to a concentration of American missionaries in Korea, many Korean immigrants are Christians and the church plays a very important role in the immigrant community. OMC is often the first church Korean immigrants attend when they arrive in the U.S.

Our exploration of Koreatown helped familiarize us with important contemporary issues in an ethnically diverse, urban community. Our physical tour led us to an exploration of more abstract concepts, including race relations, class differences, labor exploitation, religion, etc. By entering the community, visiting community organizations, and businesses, we began to understand some of the important and dynamic political, social, and economic issues in Koreatown. We also discovered a myriad of ways to become permanently involved in community organizations and movements. We visited organizations like KIWA and KYCC that serve community members and help develop political and social movements.

Political tours serve a very important purpose: they reintegrated UCLA students into urban ethnic communities. Instead of visiting this ethnic community as cultural voyeurs, we explored the economic, social, and political issues that impact the people who live and work in this community. We also observed first hand the dynamic grassroots and community movements initiated by residents and workers to gain more power in their neighborhoods and workplaces. The assignment forced us to leave our privileged academic experiences in the predominately upper-middleclass Westside. We began to explore the communities where many of the most marginalized Asian Americans live and work. By visiting some of the community and grassroots political organizations and discussing some of the most important political, social, and economic issues in each community, we also explored the ways in which we can permanently become involved in these movements and campaigns. We visited organizations and movements that need students’ time, energy, and support. For example, we learned about volunteer opportunities at KIWA and KYCC. We met Assi workers who encouraged us to participate in their actions and contribute our time and energy to their campaign. In our tour, we learned about how we can become more than visitors—we learned about concrete, hands-on ways to become involved.

Our political tour also exposed us to both the concrete and structural problems in urban ethnic communities. We recognized tangible and physical needs, including low-income housing, adequate educational facilities, safe and fair work environments, a living wage, etc. We also began to identify the ways in which these problems reflect social and structural inequality. I hope to share these discoveries with other students, particularly in the graduate program where there seems to be little interest in poor or working-class issues. By leading more political tours or introducing other students to the grassroots activities in API and other communities of color, I hope that they will be able to help solve real and pressing social needs as well as identify the institutions that perpetuate them. Hopefully, further trips to ethnic communities, including Koreatown will be more than cultural experiences or entertaining day-trips. Instead, we will listen to the needs of people who live and work in these communities and follow their lead as they struggle for economic and social justice.