ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to understand the nature of intra-ethnic conflict in urban settings. After exploring the common and divergent histories of the black and Korean American communities, it describes the governance of the city. Blacks in particular, who had depended on the relatively good-paying jobs, suffered greatly as the majority of the plant closures were concentrated in the low-income African American and Latino communities. The Watts rebellion is an important event in another sense considered in the context of the current conflict between blacks and Korean Americans. The 100 jobs program hints at the economic challenges that fuel black dissatisfaction with Korean American merchants, but it is merely a token gesture considering the number of unemployed residents in South Central Los Angeles. Rebuild LA committee represents the loss of a significant opportunity to alter the economic context that underlies the black-Korean conflict.
