A History of Hawthorne and South LA: Reading Reflections
Robert J. Hansen’s article, titled “California’s Sundown Towns: The Shadow That Lingers,” was eye opening for me. I knew about the lynchings, segregation, redlining, and general harassment White Americans and the government did against people of color, and especially Black Americans. But I didn’t know about sundown towns—cities where Black people were unwelcome and in danger if they stayed past sundown. These sundown towns weren’t just dangerous for Black visitors—the “rules” applied for Black residents, too, which meant they couldn’t live there at all. The miniscule demographic changes of most sundown towns between the early or late 20th century and 2020 don’t surprise me—to echo the same sentiment as the Black resident from 1994, why would Black people feel comfortable living in a city that still holds contempt for them? Laws can change, but hatred remains. However, Hawthorne, Palmdale, San Leandro, and Hemet’s Black demographic changes are exceptions, with all these cities seeing significant increases in their Black population. Knowing this history is important, considering our mentees in Islah Academy live near a historic sundown town.
I wasn’t able to access the Rolling Stone’s article by Greg Tate, titled “L.A. 1992: How Race Riots Have Shaped America,” so I read the Harvard Kennedy School’s article by Andrew Elliott Cha, titled “Race Riot Roots: Looking back on the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and finding routes to healing.” This article helped me understand how race relations were strained in LA just a few decades ago, and how that was misconstrued by the media. While the riots did target Korean American businesses, and while one of the catalysts for the riot was the Korean American woman who shot a 15 year old Black girl, they weren’t just about misunderstandings and contempt between the two minorities. More than this, the race riots were borne from the unheard frustrations of Black people being targeted and murdered by the police, as was the brutal case of Rodney King.
