Chinese → English transcript

This was during the 1992 Los Angeles riots in the United States

Koreans on the rooftops took up guns and fought violence with violence

Historic footage of Americans fleeing in panic

Bloodthirsty Koreans gave the Americans a vivid, unforgettable lesson

What on earth was going on here

Back to where it all began, March 1991

An African American man, Rodney King, was drunk driving and also harassing a female officer

He was then surrounded and beaten by the police

Under fifty-six baton strikes, his face and body suffered multiple fractures and other injuries

This footage ended up being exposed

With the media’s coverage

The entire United States was in an uproar

There was strong condemnation of police abuse of force

It ignited Black–white racial tensions

As luck would have it—or bad luck, rather

Two weeks later

A Black girl, Latasha, went to a Korean supermarket to start a zero-dollar shopping spree

And got into a physical altercation with the Korean ajumma Du Soon-ja

Just as Latasha was strutting proudly out of the store

The enraged Du Soon-ja pulled out a handgun

And fired a shot at the back of her head

The Black girl died on the spot

In the subsequent trial that dragged on for a full year

Du Soon-ja was only sentenced to five years of probation

And the officers who beat Rodney King were also ruled not to have used excessive force

As soon as the news got out, it immediately stirred public discontent

The Black community in Los Angeles was especially furious

That very afternoon, more than three hundred people were protesting at the courthouse entrance

The situation was extremely tense

Soon after

Sporadic incidents of smashing, looting, and arson began to appear in downtown Los Angeles

Because racial tensions in the United States were acute at the time

White people looked down on Black people

Black people looked down on those with yellow skin

The two cases drove the Black community into a rage

Large numbers of Black people began carrying out even more frenzied acts of violence

Some criminals also seized the chance to set fires and loot

Burning vehicles

And launching indiscriminate attacks on white people

By that night

Tens of thousands of Black people had already gathered in the streets

The Los Angeles local police were powerless to control the situation

The entire city descended into chaos

Very soon, Black crowds turned their sights on Koreatown

They raised their weapons high and charged toward Koreatown

The shop owned by Du Soon-ja, who had killed the Black girl

Became the primary target for looting and arson

Other Korean-owned businesses were also robbed and vandalized one after another

All along the streets there were helpless Koreans crying out in despair

At first

The Koreans still planned to seek help from the police

But they later discovered that the police ignored what was happening to them

So they quickly united

Any man who could fight

Young or old, was organized into dozens of combat teams

And they urgently bought large quantities of guns and ammunition from the black market

As well as a radio channel dedicated to Koreans

To make it easier to communicate and deploy their people

Since Korean men had all served in the military

They handled firearms with ease

When they saw the Black crowds coming again

The Koreans opened fire without a word

The Koreans held the high ground

Gunfire erupted from the rooftops of thousands of buildings

For most of the Black looters

it was undoubtedly fatal.

They hurriedly scattered and fled.

Just like that

in this confrontation

the Koreans killed more than forty Africans.

They only paid the price of one man dead.

From that point on

Americans completely changed their view of Koreans.

Even white people no longer dared to bully them at will.

They also earned a resounding title—

“The Koreans on the Roof.”