What She Didn’t Know About The 1992 LA Uprising As A Child Cashier, But Understands Now As A Professor

Topline:

Carol Kwang Park’s family and the L.A. Uprising: Park’s family owned a gas station in Compton in the 1990s and lived through the Uprising. Park developed a deeper understanding of the Uprising as she learned more racial, social, cultural, and historical context through her work in graduate school. At the same time, Park was writing a memoir and began interviewing her mother, bringing more light onto details about their family history that Park had never known before.

Carol Park and her mother, Son Lye Park, in 1981.

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Photo courtesy Carol Park

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Son Lye Park, Park’s mother, purchased a Compton gas station with her husband, also a Korean immigrant, who previously worked as a mechanic at the station. The Parks were part of a larger wave of Koreans who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s following the Korean War. In Los Angeles, Koreans began establishing businesses, churches and homes in neighborhoods where they could afford to buy property. Some researchers estimate almost 80% of all retail stores in an area known as South Central Los Angeles — later renamed South Los Angeles by city officials — were Korean-owned by the mid-to-late 1980s. That included about 200 gas stations in the area.

By learning this, Park finally had the context about her family’s journey leading up to the Uprising that she never had as a child. Park learned she’s not alone in her experience. On "Inheriting," for the first time, Park and her brother, Albert, open up and reflect on working at the gas station throughout their childhood, particularly around the time of the Uprising. They also process their mom’s story and come to understand how it represents an important part of both their family’s and Korean American history.

Carol Park and her mom, Son Lye Park, sit and talk inside the family's gas station garage in 2012.

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Courtesy of Carol Park

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The history behind The Korean War & 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act: The Korean War began in June 1950 when the Soviet-backed North Korean army attacked the South. After three years of fighting, on July 27, 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement ended organized combat, and created the Demilitarized Zone along the 38th parallel, formally demarcating the divide between the North and the South that exists today.

Carol Park’s mom, Son Lye Park, grew up on a farm in the post-war landscape of South Korea. The years after the Korean War were full of political and economic turmoil for Koreans, and Son Lye Park’s family struggled to feed her and her siblings.

A photo of Son Lye Park from 1990.

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Photo courtesy Carol Park

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Son Lye Park immigrated from South Korea to the U.S. in 1974, following the passage of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. That landmark law changed U.S. immigration policy, removing a quota system that favored immigrants from Europe. The law also enacted a new system that emphasized family reunification and skilled immigrants. After 1965, nearly half of immigrants were from Latin America and one-quarter were from Asia. Before that, immigration to the U.S. was made up overwhelmingly by Europeans.

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