Korean and Latino collaboration in Koreatown

by Jong Lee

The Koreatown Population The city of Los Angeles has been characterized by its ethnic diversities and the various community boundaries set between them. The Koreatown, located at the heart of this city is known as one of the largest concentration of Korean immigrants in the United States. Despite of its great expansion and history, Koreatown has been often overlooked by the media. As a result, great many Angelenos are unaware of Los Angeles' Koreatown, where a remarkable mix of Latino and Asian culture is occurring. Korea-town spread to its present borders around a core area bounded by Vermont Avenue on the east, Western Avenue on the west, Beverly Boulevard to the north and Pico Boulevard to the south. (1) It is a community dominated by Korean businesses but where the majority of the residents are Latinos. Latinos population is concentrated in the area called 'Pico-Union'. Slightly less than a half of them are Mexican born, El Salvadorians are the second largest group, followed by Guatemalans and Latinos born in the Caribbean. Approximately 50 percent of Koreatown residents are Latinos and Koreans are the second largest group followed by White and African Americans. (2). According to the U.S Census Bureau, Latinos and Koreans constitute one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. Census data for 1997 showed each community grew about 19 percent from 1990, while Whites and African Americans population dropped. Especially Latinos population is estimated as 44% of the entire county population, and over 25% of them live in L.A County. Andrew Marakates, the head of research for L.A County Department of Regional Planning predicts that local increase in the Latinos and Asian population will continue for 15 to 20 years even the immigration drops sharply. (3) Koreatown suffered many tragic incidents due to the cultural ignorance and economic difference between these two major communities, but they lived together in Koreatown fulfilling their reciprocal necessities for the part twenty years. Poverty in Koreatown The Koreatown is commonly the initial destination for Latinos and Korean newcomers and serves as a transitional neighborhood where immigrants make their first adjustment to life in the United States. Therefore, most Koreans and Latinos in Koreatown are English illiterate. A recent research by U.S Department of Education showed that approximately 80 percent of Koreans are foreign born, and over 80 percent of their household speak limited or no English, whereas more than 50 percent of Latinos in Koreatown are functionally illiterate. The English illiteracy causes over 25 percent of the entire Koreatown population live in poverty; 35 percent of the Koreans earned less than $15,000 per year, whereas Latinos earned less than $5,009. Also, in 1996, the County Department of Health Services reported that "The Pico-Union area has a birthrate of 19.7 percent, with 42,6 percent of children living below the poverty level". Even though the Latino children are in means of deficiency and their median adult income is no more than one fourth of that for Non-Latinos Whites, over 97percent receive any public assistance. (5) Moreover, the legal Koreans and Latinos in Los Angels are in the risk of losing their welfare benefits with the new strategy made by White-favored politicians. Opportunistic politicians are appealing to majority White voters by blaming for the nation's social and economic problems on immigrants, most of whom are Asian and Latino. If the current house and Senate version of the welfare reform bill goes through, legal immigrants would be cut off from most government services. This is the reason why many Latinos and Koreans in Koreatown, strives to rebuild their lives by working inhumanly hard, and paying income tax into the social security system. (6) Eui-Young Yu, a professor of Sociology at Cal State LA, thinks that Korean and other Asian American communities are relatively better off than other communities of color, given Asians' strong belief in self-help and relatively lesser reliance on agency services. But, Yu aggregates, " being relatively better off in a world where most people around you are continuing to sink into poverty will eventually wear you out also". Immigrants' Organizations for a Progressive City of Los Angeles Even though, the English illiterate immigrants are unable to attain their rights and equality in the city of Los Angeles, their children take their parents' place by establishing legal institutions for their community. Their role is to assert the immigrant's own opinions and position in the public policy arena for the benefit of all Asian, Latinos and African American immigrants in the city. They don't just mutely accept actual social hierarchy system, but work toward a society based on social justice and equality, as states in the U.S Constitution. Both Latinos and Korean community service centers were built after the riot in 1992. The two main Latino organizations are called CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrants Rights of Los Angeles) and CARECEN (Central American Resource Center). CHIRLA was formed as a committee with the purpose of protecting many daily Latinos laborers on the street of Los Angeles. The organizer Mario Lopez came to organize this committee in order to solve the competitions between daily workers and their problems with the sheriffs and to set uniform standards for wages and working condition. CHIRLA has contributed greatly in having an assembly with the sheriffs and designate the 'official hiring curbs' on the street so it would prevent the traffic problems as the workers gathered around their vehicles. (7) Located at the heart of Pico-Union area, CARECEN focuses on building a sustainable economic and social development for both Central American and Latino community. The staffs and volunteers of CARECEN provides programs in legal services, domestic violence prevention, pre-employment training for youth and English-language education for Latino covering form Southern California to Nevada. For Koreans, the main community center is called KYCC (Korean Youth & Community Center). Founded in 1975, KYCC serves for the Korean population in the greater Los Angeles area as well as the multiethnic Koreatown community. Their strategies are directed toward helping recently immigrated, economically disadvantaged youth and their families, and to promote community socio- economic empowerment. Intercultural Coalition; a road for a better life in the community After the riot in 1992, KYCC organized neighborhood-based focus group between Latinos and Koreans in order to build a multiracial council in Koreatown. Their attempt to make the coalition was to hire a community organizer who was active in the movement against the military dictatorship in El Salvador to conduct block-by-block canvassing in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, this project failed because KYCC lacked an infrastructure within the Latino community. After this failure, KYCC begun to address ways to build coalition by revising their organization mission statement to incorporate all Koreatown residents - many of who are Latinos - as their constituency. As a result to this efforts, on June 6, 1998, the KYCC and CARECEN joined with Youth Empowerment Project to establish the Multi-ethnic Youth Leadership Collaborative (MYLC). The MYLC consists in encouraging a strong interracial relationship, giving the opportunities to explore the cultures of their own and others, and also assisting in making decision on social affairs in their community. As a first step, on June 19, 1998, MYLC decided to project a media campaign to promote racial harmony, and a community history Internet project. Leda Ramos, the director of CARECEN Education Department, says, "It is just the beginning, but I believe this coalition will improve the Koreans an Latinos relationship not only in Koreatown but the entire city of Los Angels, and it will also enforce our position in American society. The economic Structure of Koreatown Even though many Korean newcomers live in poverty in Koreatown, the average of Korean Americans in Southern California has one of the highest household incomes among all ethnic groups. According to the Federal Census, the percentage of Korean small business owners is 27.9 percent for men and 18.9 percent for women which is almost 12 percent higher than the percentage for Americans (10.8 % for men and 5.8% of women). (9) There are 22,464 Korean- owned businesses in L.A County with an average household income of $ 41,000 a year. They have a growing influence on the Los Angeles economy making gross receipts of $4,33 billion. There are 488,000 jobs within three-mile radius from center of Koreatown. There are approximately 300 restaurants and cafes, which compose almost two third of the Korean business in Koreatown. (10) Every weekend, Koreatown becomes the center of entertainment for most Asians in Southern California, and Las Vegas. Because it its high profit and reliability, the food business in Koreatown keeps increasing while the number of customer diminishes due to the economic crisis in Asia. Except some restaurants and clubs of high reputation, many businesses have suffered a great economic decline, and have begun looking for cheap labor in order to survive form the competitions with other restaurants. The Latino labor in Koreatown have become the main supplier of their needs: a great number of Latinos in Koreatown are mostly newcomers, some of them illegal, illiterate of the law and they are easy target for some exploitative Korean business owners. Latinos Labor in Koreatown From 1990, the Latino labor in the city of Los Angels has suffered a tremendous decline in their wages. With the massively growing number of Latino immigrants, the starting wages had fallen by 13 percent compared to 1970, and in 1990, a catastrophic 30 percent decline in manufacturing employment where Latino immigrants make up the majority of the workers. (11) In Koreatown, many Korean restaurants and grocery markets are the increasing employers of those Latino laborers in Los Angeles. The California Market located on Western and 5th St, for example, has over 60 percent of Latino employees working as stockroom clerk and bagmen. " The Latinos labor is indispensable for our business -says the manager Nam- because they are usually willing to work hard for minimum wage and tend to be less likely to complain than U.S. born or Korean employees". With respect to the communication between Korean owner and the Latino employees -because both of them are non- English speakers- the manager Nam added that he feels more comfortable speaking Spanish than English because it is easier to pronounce, and also it is more tolerable to miscommunicate sometimes than to hire Koreans or any other races paying higher wages. Garcia F. Esperanza, who has been working as a stockman at the California Market for over a year and half, receives the minimum wage -$ 5.75 per hour- and he works full time with paid overtimes. Even though he has over a year of experience working at the same market, he has never had a raise. However, Garcia ads smiling, " At least, I get paid on time including the overtime and medical insurance. I have seen some other places that they don't even pay the minimum. Also the manager treats me as same as Korean co-workers which makes me feel more comfortable." The case of California Market is considerably acceptable in point of hiring the legal California residents and paying the minimum wage required by California Labor law. However, some other Korean restaurants in Koretown take advantage of the illegal Latinos in California who meet with extreme financial difficulties. Because of being illiterate an illegal, they are often treated in such inhuman ways like working over 70 hours a week without paid overtime, or receiving many degrading comments from their employers. "But Koreans are meaningful for us, says Garcia, we rather work for Koreans instead of Americans who requires a lot more of complicated working rules". KIWA: Korean Immigrants Workers Advocates Besides the MYLC, there is major organization delegated by Koreans along the strong coalition with Latinos population in Koreatown. Korean Immigrants Workers Advocates (KIWA) is a union directed by Roy Hong, with the main program of the Koreatown Restaurant Workers Justice Campaign. It is the only Asian American group devoted to both Koreans and Latinos restaurant workers in Koreatown aimed to claim better wages and working conditions as the existing California Labor Law requires. The KIWA has $ 250,000 of annual budget, mostly donated by private founds and communities to find the economic and social justice, and provide with workers advocate programs form local to international range. One of the recent restaurant workers' rights settlements done by KIWA was on April 9th, 1998. Since October 1997, KIWA with the support of labor and community and student activists had conducted a consumer boycott of the restaurant Cho Sun Galbi. The restaurant had hired Latinos and Korean illegal immigrants and forced into signing an illegal employment agreement. The workers had initially refused to sign the agreement and they were eventually fired. For six month, the workers and KIWA staffs carried pickets to convince the customers to eat elsewhere. Cho Sun Galbi, as one of the most profitable restaurants in Koreatown was the major advertiser in the local Korean language media. Making use of this fact, the restaurant blocked the entire mass media from this boycott and tried to fight back filling a lawsuit against KIWA. Failing the appeal, the restaurant owner came to the negotiation table with KIWA. After six weeks of negotiation, the restaurant owner finally agreed to rehire the workers and to implement the labor standards proposed by law. Statement by a Worker Torez On Monday November 2nd 1998, at 8pm, a meeting was held at the office of KIWA located on 8th and Hobart Boulevard. The main participants of the meeting were Latinos with the assistance of Spanish translator and Eduardo Espinoza, one of the organizers. The meeting consisted of sharing the experiences of receiving any discrimination and mistreatment from Korean restaurant owners between the members of the committee. Olfanel Torez, a restaurant worker and the member of the KIWA told his story about his job. He was working for a restaurant for less than $3 and hour, 12 hours a day and six days per week. He said that one day, a Korean waiter suddenly sprayed a cleaning liquid into his eyes because of this mistake of spilling a bowl of noodle. His play made Torez upset, and they ended up arguing and grabbing each other. After the incident, Torez was fired while the Korean waiter kept his job. Torez came to KIWA and fought for all his back wages, overtime and medical expenses. He was still working for another restaurant in Koreatown, and his friends and cousins do too. Torez confessed that he had thought that Korean restaurant owners only treated Latinos workers badly, but he had learned that Korean workers thought the same way about Latino workers. He also aggregated that Korean owners don't provide medical benefits to their employees so the workers have to pay their own expenses. With the new job, Torez was receiving the minimum wage and overtime but his friends were making $800 to $1000 per month working 12 hours a day and 6 days a week. As final comment, he emphasized the necessity of the workers to cooperate each other in order to change the way Korean owners treat all Latino and Korean workers. Korean Restaurant Owners Association of California Built after the riot, in 1993, the aim of the Korean Restaurant Owners Association of California was to promote a clean and attractive restaurant environment in order to expand the reputation of Korean cuisine in Los Angeles. Turned away form their initial strategy, the KROAC has been socially humiliated from the moment when their conflict with KIWA was exposed to the public. For last two years, KROAC has negotiated with KIWA for a settlement of labor law in their working environment. Many Korean restaurant owners in Koreatown have violated the actual labor law in California by hiring illegal Latino and Korean workers and paying miserable wages. In many of those Korean restaurants, the worker's compensation insurance or health benefits are rarities. Injuries are common place, and so are slippery floors, poor ventilation, and employers who verbally abuse and batter their employees. (12) KIWA representing those victimized workers has boycotted those accused restaurants despite of much protest from the whole Korean community. Should this complication continue some members' fear that the Koreatown economy, already in bad shape, will suffer an irreparable harm shortly. KIWA has received many vigorous critiques from KROAC. The members of KROAC consider KIWA approach as radical disrespectful, and political that they have become an evil in Koreatown to destroy their parents' business. Dong ho Chon, the president of KROAC resented the aggressive action taken by KIWA against them and suggested ' to counsel their parents - they always called themselves 'parents' relating to the representatives of KIWA- in order to understand the California Labor Law and apply to their business. However, many Korean restaurant owners show their strong discontent toward the action taken by KIWA. One of them is the owner of the restaurant Ssa Rit Gol, Kyung Ai Hah. Hah claims that KIWA 'exaggerated claims' which did nothing more than exacerbating the difference between her and her former employees. She also aggregated that KIWA came to disturb her business causing a $500 worth of business that day. (13) However, the position of KIWA is unbending to her complains. The public speaker of KIWA points out the fact that Hah owns a new model of Mercedes, but still pretends that her business is going down to her employees. She even claims that almost half of Hah's car value should have been paid for overtime to her workers. Far from the resolution, the clash between these two organizations will be poignant chapter in the American passage of one of the largest, best educated and most successful Asian immigration group in California. Labor Public Hearing by KIWA For November 14, the KROAC was proposed by KIWA to have an official public hearing about the labor conflict in Koreatown with the participation of local, state and federal officials. However, the hearing ended up being just between the authorities and KIWA with the silent protest organized by KROAC outside the meeting. On November 12, the members of KROAC and its supporters officially announced their nonattendance and opposition against the hearing proposed by KIWA. They expressed their resentment toward KIWA through the Korean language media and said, " the KIWA in only intimating and creating unnecessary hassles to employers in Koreatown", and accused the group of trying to portray all Koreatown restaurants owners as a "criminals". KROAC criticized the biased position of KIWA and their exaggeration of some particular incidents in some restaurants, and decided to picket outside the conference on November 14. (14) Paul Lee, the member of KIWA responded to KROAC's position and said "our activities turn away a lot of potential customers and also send a strong message to the rest of the industry that they need to pay minimum wage and overtime and treat their employees with respect". (15)

On Saturday, November 14, during the meeting with 200 authorities and Koreatown restaurant workers who spoke about their wages and working conditions, the members of KROAC picketed outside the meeting. On the other side, inside the Mid-Wilshire union hall, one of the participants, Francisco Arana said that he was hired to wash dishes and clean but often had to help with other duties because his employers was shorthanded. He added, " they never paid me on the day that they supposed to". Many officials were horrified of the worker's description, but on of them, Chuck Striegel, Los Angeles deputy district director of the federal wage and hour division, said that he sees much more improvement than when they started the investigation last year. (16) The Federal and State Labor Investigation The labor public hearing set by KIWA brought the attention of the state authority to enforce their investigation on labor violation in the businesses in Southern California. As a result, in a sweep of 44 randomly picked restaurants from March to November, the State Labor Department uncovered rampant violation of the labor law. Between those 44 restaurants in the city of Los Angeles, 30 restaurants were disclosed where Koreans owned 26 of them. Between those 26 Korean restaurants, 18 restaurants didn't carry the worker's compensation insurance, 9 restaurants hired their employees illegally and 2-3 restaurants violated the both. The authority determined to impose a total of $ 44,000 upon those 18 restaurants without the worker's insurance and a total of $ 55,000 upon the other 9 restaurants. (17) This investigation revealed that 97 percent of the probed restaurants in Koreatown violated the labor law of California, and each of them was forced to pay an average of $ 3,259 of fine. The State Labor Commissioner, Jose Millan who had participated to the labor public hearing on November 14, said he had made it clear to Koreatown restaurant owner that they have to " clean up soon", or face the consequences of state action. His collaborator Joe Razo aggregated that they had just finished 44 restaurants out of 129 located in Koreatown and Mid-Wilshire and they would continue with the other 84 restaurants soon. (18) Along with the State Labor Department, the Federal officers announced their participation on the investigation on November 28. The nationwide involvement of mass media about Koreatown labor conflicts, and the worker's complaints prompted this unusual collaboration of the INF and the Labor Department. The director of the INF Doris Mysner and the Labor Department supervisor Bernard Anderson clarified that they would cooperate each other to inspect those businesses that purposely hire the illegal laborers and exploit them by abusing their status. They also guaranteed to make confidential on the residency status of the workers who cooperate by reporting their exploitative employers to the department. (19) Both state and federal labor department expect to diminish the violation of the state labor law in the businesses and to reinforce the laborer's rights. The Rapid Growing Korean Community: the target of resentment As mentioned previously, the Korean and Latino population in the city of Los Angeles are becoming the most potential groups while others are dropping considerably. Specially, many Koreans have succeeded in the American society by achieving a high economic stability in a relatively short period of time because a large number of them are from the middle classes of their homeland. (20) The wages of Koreans relative to U.C born citizens is very progressive. For example, Koreans who entered to the United States between 1965 and 1969 and who were 25 to 34 years old in 1970 had relative wage of 73 percent. In 1980, this group increased to 120 percent, and by 1990 their relative wages were 141 percent. This suggests that there is strong accommodation among Koreans and their wages caught up with and surpassed the wages of native within about ten years. (21) This progress came from their constant struggle to achieve so-called American dream, but unfortunately, Koreans in American society often become the target of Whites' resentment and fear of Asian yellow peril take over. The White population, the majority group in Los Angeles, often uses social forces to create and maintain residential segregation and racial poverty in order to ensure racial advantages. Variation in residential isolation of various racial and ethnic groups is related to efforts by Whites to restrict minority communities to less desirable neighborhoods. (22) For example, the ex-high rise commercial spine of Mid-Wilshire area experienced a great economic decline from 1970's when a large number of White population (mostly office workers and professionals) relocated to the booming West Side. This abandoned town was soon filled by thousands of Latinos and Korean small businesses. (23) Not only Whites, but also the black and brown resentment toward Korean cause an unforgettable lesson in year 1992. The Korean community in Los Angels, along with other Asian immigrants is perceived as an honorary white people unconcerned about social justice issues. African Americans, who are often the majority in Los Angeles neighborhood level, react like any other residential majority to a rapid influx of new immigrants. The sudden Latino or Asian in- migration into residential neighborhood occupied by blacks generates a backlash. The main example of this reaction is the Rodney King riot in May 1992. Some data suggest that many of those rioting in Koreatown were from South Central L.A ( Webster 1992, app.8-15 to 8-17). For example, arrest records show, that only 37 percent of those arrested in the police bureau that includes Koreatown actually lived there and that 35 percent actually lived in the south and central police bureaus. Thus it appears that rioter from South Central L.A had moved up Vermont and Normandie Avenues into Koreatown and were arrested there, whereas most of those arrested in the south and central bureaus resides there. (24) Moreover, most of the liquor stores owned by Koreans in Pico-Union area were looted and burned by their Latinos neighborhood during the riot, but other businesses like travel agencies and beauty shops were no touched. These examples show that economic desperation and class resentment, not the race drove black and brown rioting in Koreatown that is synonym to whites fear but expressed in different ways. (25) Growing Relationship Despite Tensions Despite tension and mutual misunderstanding, the relationship between Koreans and Latinos is growing constructive. Many Korean churches in Koreatown have showed their strong love for community and their neighborhood for many years, and the week of Thanksgiving in Koreatown becomes the warmest place in Los Angeles. Following the tradition, many Korean organizations and churches celebrate the Thanksgiving day by gathering foods and daily necessities and distributing them to the unfortuned families in Koreatown. Koreatown Rotary Club and Shion Church gave out turkey and clothing to the low-income Latinos families in Koreatown. Also, for nine consecutive years, Na Sung church has contributed their Latino sister church Amor Viviente over thousand dollars every year and has helped preparing the Thanksgiving food for their members. This year, over 400 people -Christians or not- gathered at the church Amor Vivient and shared the love. (26) Beside those Korean organizations, some other restaurant owners also show their concern to the community. One of them is Ijean Park, the owner of the hamburger shop 'Bobs Burger'. Located at the heart of Pico-Union, Park celebrates the Thanksgiving Day by serving the free lunch to 400 residents near his restaurants. This event didn't only reinforce Park's relationship with his neighbors, but also it brought him a 20 percent increase in his business. One of the "Bobs Burger" regular customers Manuel Gomez told that his family had the free lunch offered by Park for past two Thanksgiving days and added, "I always come to this restaurant because of Mr. Park who is always nice to us". At first, Park started offering the free lunch just following the tradition started by former owner, but now he enjoys sharing his love for the neighborhood. He hopes that his devotion would serve as a small initiative for the collaboration of two different cultures in Koreatown. (27) Those Koreans willing to cooperate with Latino community shares a common background. They have lived in California for long time and suffered the same hardships until they reached the actual economic status. (28) They understand their Latino neighborhood because they have experienced the same segregation and misery from the dominant group when they first came to this city. Understanding each other is the main key for the union of the tow major communities in Koreatown and soon, there won't be any conflict between them. Latinos' Growing Interest on Acupuncture and Tae Kwon Do Both Latinos and Korean communities find common goals in Koreatown having Koreans as the keepers of commerce and the Latinos as the majority of their customers. Specially, the Korean acupuncture hospitals and the Korean martial art Tae Kwon Do have become the new boom between a large number of Latinos in Koreatown. The acupuncture has been a traditional medical method practiced by Korean for over hundred years and its virtue has been recognized in nationwide. During the past five years, the number of Latinos patient in Korean acupuncture hospitals has been doubled which drove many Korean doctors to turn their strategies toward Latino population. Some of the hospitals advertise their business on the major Spanish weekly and monthly magazines, and some others even hire Spanish speaking receptionist in order to attract more Latino patients. According to the acupuncture doctors, many Latinos come to their hospital to inquire about inveterate illnesses such as sprain, arthritis, and neuralgia acquired by hard muscle work in their life. For example, in Da Nam acupuncture hospital located on Vermont and First Street, 70 percent of the patients are Latinos and their number keeps increasing. (29) Along with the acupuncture popularity, the Korean martial art Tae Kwon Do has become the favorite sports for many Latino children in Koreatown. Like any other martial art, many Latino parents have recognized the virtue of Tae Kwon Do. They know that Tae Kwon Do is based on discipline, persistence and power that help to build a strong mind and mentality of the children. Because of its effectiveness, the Hobart Elementary School located at the heart of Koreatown has adopted the Tae Kwon Do as a special activity in school designed to develop those students lack of concentration in classes. This special activity is composed mostly by Latino children, and " It helps them to improve their ability to concentrate on their tasks and accommodate their life in school", according to their instructor Lesley Popkins. The Tae Kwon Do class in Hobart Elementary School is sponsored by Korean Rotary Club (one of the major Korean organizations) but still suffers the financial difficulty, and the school director Esther Kim is looking for more social support in Koreatown. (30) Both acupuncture and Tae Kwon Do have very short history in American society but their reputation has expanded in a lot shorter period. Their amazing result on the Latino population made this acknowledgement possible and it will also support a fast growing relationship between these two communities in Koreatown. Constructing a Powerful Koreatown Koreatown in the city of Los Angeles is a complete mixture of Korean and Latino cultures has experienced great tensions but a close relationship for past fifteen years. However, both Korean and Latinos people share the common characteristic in that they both don't speak English fluently, so there is no inferiority complex. Both Latino and Korean immigrants rely heavily on their children to translate English. Some other Koreans think that the two different race have the similar physical characteristics including skin hue and dark colored hair that women in both group traditionally wear long. Jeannette Diaz-Veizades, a professor at Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco responds to those Korean's consideration, " There is more sense of perceived similarity that might come from living together. The other thing is there is a different expectation of immigrant groups than African Americans who have been living here a long time". (31) However, these two communities still lack of a strong interaction, and sometimes, it often causes mutual misunderstanding. Some mistreatment between the two races can be very cruel sometimes. Even though both communities know the nationality, they often refer to each other in a degrading way such as 'chino' (Spanish for Chinese) and 'mac jjack' (Korean for piece of Mexican) or mex, just like many other races call them in the same way. (32) For Koreans the dominating Korean language sign in Koreatown is empowering and they frown on anything that threatens their business, like the popular Latino street vendors who they say are dirty. Latinos, on the other hand, often love the truck that sells colorful fruits and vegetables that remind them of home. Approximately 80 percent of them said Korean-owned liquor stores were a problem in the community and should be shut down or moved out of the neighborhood. (32) Many sociologists see these disagreements as natural, something to be discussed openly. Jerry Kang, the law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, says, "it is inevitable to have conflict along those axes which include generation, economic and culture. The community is large enough with enough different sorts of people with different agendas to tolerate those differences". Some others say that these two communities have to learn to respect the presence and space set each other, and in order to accomplish, it is very important to communicate with open minds. (33) Both Korean Latino communities are the minority groups once they leave the Koreatown. The Koreatown, their residence, is usually ignored by the opportunistic and profit centered media, and it becomes isolated from the major leading social class in the city of Los Angeles. Many Koreatown residents often forget that they share the same position in this country and develop many conflicts each other that, at the end, will destroy their own home. There is a strong need for the collaboration of these two communities, and in such way, the Koreatown will convert into the largest, best educated and most successful Asian and Latinos shared town in the entire United States. 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