INGLEWOOD, Calif. (KABC) — For many years, Kyong Ok and Song Ho Seo have humbly gone about their work, weathering the ups and downs of proudly owning and working a enterprise.
“They are survivors like each different immigrant household who desires to outlive on this nation,” stated their son Paul Seo.
The couple met of their hometown of Seoul, South Korea.
They immigrated to Illinois earlier than they settled down in Southern California, the place they raised their two boys and finally began their very own enterprise, S & H Liquor Store in Inglewood.
Just a number of years later, their retailer was one of hundreds of (*31*)-owned companies broken or destroyed within the civil unrest of 1992.
“The retailer burned down, and sadly, at that time, my mother and father did not have sufficient insurance coverage cash,” stated Seo.
Some of probably the most outstanding pictures of the unrest targeted on armed (*31*) and (*31*) American males; snapshots nonetheless seared into individuals’s recollections.
“That occurred, , that is true, however on the similar time, I believe the stories aren’t instructed in regards to the people who it affected; the aftermath of it, proper? In two completely different communities,” Seo stated.
On the thirty first anniversary of 1992, civil rights leaders prompted journalists to assume critically about our protection, then and now; the stories that many years later remain overlooked.
For instance, legal professional mediator Angela Oh uplifted the experiences of small enterprise homeowners who discovered their insurance coverage carriers have been offshore, and have been unable to get better their losses.
“These types of points, being caught up within the grey market, the problems round suicide that adopted, which did not get coated in any media, the problems of youngsters having to surrender their futures as a result of that they had to assist their mother and father rebuild. All these individuals got here by way of my workplace at one level or one other and it was actually dispiriting,” stated Oh.
“That ruined lives for two generations, proper? For the mother and father in addition to the youngsters,” Seo stated. “We have been very lucky in phrases of how we ended up.”
Having the monetary skill to rebuild the enterprise was largely attainable because of family and friends who helped on the time, the household stated.
The Seos are one instance of bridge constructing between Black and (*31*) communities.
“They have been by no means resentful. My father and mom understood why issues occurred in 1992. So they by no means blamed anyone,” stated Seo. “I believe the story that will get overlooked is in regards to the people who have thrived, which have grown, which have tried to unite the neighborhood and the constructed management,” he stated.
Over the years, workers and prospects have grow to be extra like household to the Seos.
“Holidays when my mother and father would work and stuff like that, prospects would usher in meals,” stated Seo.
“Regardless of what they have been by way of, they at all times like stored a heat coronary heart and at all times been real with all people within the neighborhood, and you bought to understand that,” stated longtime buyer Kenneth Baker.
To mark 31 years since 1992, native leaders and organizations advocated for a mural by artists Julia Chon and Annie Hong that now covers one of the partitions of the constructing the Seos personal.
It uplifts the solidarity between the two communities.
It reads, “Roots maintain stronger, entwined collectively” and options longtime worker, Richard Hicks on the left, Kyong Ok and Song Ho Seo.
“He’s been round for a very long time. He’s in all probability been half of the shop for over 20 years. They have been the instance within the epitome of unity. They bought alongside very effectively. Rich took care of my of us, my of us take care of him,” stated Seo.
The Seos categorical a dedication to preserving the historical past of the constructing and supporting its longtime tenants.
“So much of company pursuits are coming in to purchase buildings and mainly turning them into different industrial properties or into house buildings and whatnot,” stated Seo. “And rather a lot of of us have historic ties to this constructing.”
Shaped by his mother and father worth of service, Paul went on to hitch the Army. He’s now a Deputy Attorney General for the California Department of Justice and serves as a councilmember in Rancho Palos Verdes.
“They did not have a voice when it occurred, and so they wished us to ensure we gave again and we gave individuals a voice,” stated Seo.
There are nonetheless hundreds of stories of loss, survival, and neighborhood within the 31 years “Sa-i-gu,” the phrases for the numbers 4-2-9, the date of the unrest.
Seo’s mother and father shrink back from any consideration. So, he proudly shares half of their story.
“Now we’ve got the ability to have the ability to inform the story. Not solely of what occurred then, however in phrases of all of the stuff that occurred now and the fruit of it,” he stated.
“By doing the mural. I need to present the neighborhood that we had one thing crucial, one thing lovely, and one thing that we are able to go be very proud of going ahead.”
