美国国家公共电台 NPR Racial Unrest Of Early '90s Los Angeles Resurfaces In 'Your House Will Pay'

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Past is prologue¹ is the perfect description of the tempest brewing² at the heart of a new novel. It's called "Your House Will Pay," and it's written by Steph Cha, who's Korean American. The book's based on true events that took place around the 1992 LA race riots. It explores how those tensions still simmer today.

And when we spoke³, I asked her how much those lingering tensions shaped her novel.

STEPH CHA: You know, I started writing this book in 2014 right after Michael Brown's murder. And the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement kind of happened in the beginning stages of my writing this novel. And I remember seeing news coverage⁴ of the rioting in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray. And during that riot, Korean businesses were also targeted. And a lot of the resentments⁵ that were expressed, they could've come right out of early '90s Los Angeles.

And I found that really interesting.

CHANG: Yeah.

CHA: You know, seeing this renewed attention in the media as I was starting to write this novel, I kept thinking, this is not about the past at all. This is about right now.

CHANG: Your story is based on the real-life shooting of Latasha Harlins. She was an African American teenager who was shot dead by a Korean American woman who was running a store in South LA back in 1991. This woman had thought that Latasha was stealing orange juice. And I want to ask you what was it about Latasha Harlins' story that stuck with you or made you want to write a book based on her killing⁶?

CHA: Well, Latasha Harlins' murder and the light sentence that Soon Ja Du got off with - she was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, but the judge, in an extraordinary decision that basically overruled the jury, sentenced her to no jail time. It was an enormous miscarriage⁷ of justice.

And, you know, just being part of the same community with her and knowing that she is a Korean woman who lives in Los Angeles and that there is a high chance that I went to church with somebody who went to church with her, you know?

CHANG: Yeah.

CHA: There is something about being part of a minority group or a tight-knit ethnic⁸ group in America that kind of makes you adopt these group emotions.

CHANG: You felt almost a vicarious guilt⁹ by association.

CHA: Yes. And I think that this is something that is common to people in minority groups - that you feel anger as a group, or you feel grief or shame.

CHANG: The media does not come off very well in your novel. Like, there's this character who seems to be building his entire professional reputation off of the girl who was killed in this story. Can you tell me what you were trying to say?

CHA: First of all, I will say that you mostly see this journalist through the point of view of Shawn, who has lost his sister. So it's his sister that this journalist has built his career.

CHANG: Right, Shawn is the younger brother of the woman who is sort of taking the Latasha Harlins role in this story.

CHA: Yes. You know, the issue with this journalist is not that he had bad intentions; it's that he flattened¹⁰ her, and he took her and turned her into this angelic, perfect victim. And that's something that I've seen a lot of in discussions of, frankly¹¹, dead black children. And it's really disheartening. And yet, I understand why it's done because, somehow, there is more attention paid to these victims when they were going to go to college or they were good children who obeyed their parents and finished high school.

And I had that responsibility in mind as I wrote this book that I wanted to make sure that even though these characters are fictional¹² that I treated them like they were real people.

CHANG: Yeah. On that note, the Korean woman was the one who shot a black girl dead for...

CHA: In the back of the head.

CHANG: In the back of the head. And yet, it felt like you were saying in this book the criminal justice system was set up to protect that Korean woman. Do you believe that Asian people have a certain privilege when it comes to the criminal justice system that black people don't?

CHA: Yes, I do. And this is something that I wanted to address, too. You know, this is a book about two groups of color. And, you know, I'm Asian American, and I feel solidarity¹³ with people of color in this country, but I'm also aware that it's not the same struggle. And I think there's an impulse to consider it the same struggle or part of the same thing, but the reality is that Asian Americans are treated differently from black Americans.

CHANG: Yes.

CHA: It certainly shows up in the criminal justice system. I mean, you know, Asians get hit with this image of quietness and meekness¹⁴ and politeness, whereas black people get hit with you're angry, you're violent. These stereotypes¹⁵ are - you know, even if they're both groups of stereotypes, one set is much more damaging than the other and results in different outcomes in the criminal justice system, also in education.

You know, in all these different arenas¹⁶, Asian Americans are able to code white and black Americans just are not. You know, and sometimes - and Asian Americans have this in-between status, you know, where sometimes we code as people of color. It kind of depends on who's telling the story and what the story is.

CHANG: Could you read a passage for me that really struck me? It's on Page 297.

CHA: OK. (Reading) Los Angeles - this was supposed to be at the end of the frontier, land of sunshine, promised land, last stop for the immigrant, the refugee, the fugitive¹⁷, the pioneer. It was Shawn's home, where his mother and sister had lived and died. But he had left, and so had most of the people he knew, chased out, priced out, native children living in exile. And he saw the fear and rancor¹⁸ here in the ones who'd stayed. The city of good feeling, of tolerance¹⁹ and progress and loving thy neighbor was also a city that shunned²⁰ and starved and killed its own. No wonder was it that it huffed and heaved, ready to blow, because the city was human, and humans could only take so much.

CHANG: I mean, it's easy to get the feeling reading your book that you think LA could erupt at any given moment because of these problems, these racial tensions that are still brewing that - because they haven't resolved. Do you feel that way - that this city is still on the brink²¹?

CHA: I feel that way about the entire country. Let's get that straight. But I think LA is a place that people do think of as this progressive paradise. But it is a place that has a lot of problems and a lot of divisions, and ones that are age-old that are not being dealt with.

And I think it's kind of a microcosm for the rest of the country. You know, it's a very diverse place where people are constantly clashing. And so I can see it happening in LA. I mean, but I can also see it happening in any major city.

CHANG: Steph Cha's new book is called "Your House Will Pay." Thank you very much for speaking with us today.

CHA: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF KEVIN SHIELDS' "GOODBYE")

1 prologue   

n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕

参考例句：

• A poor wedding is a prologue to misery.不幸的婚姻是痛苦的开始。
• The prologue to the novel is written in the form of a newspaper account.这本小说的序言是以报纸报道的形式写的。

2 brewing   

n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• It was obvious that a big storm was brewing up. 很显然，一场暴风雨正在酝酿中。
• She set about brewing some herb tea. 她动手泡一些药茶。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

5 resentments   

（因受虐待而）愤恨，不满，怨恨( resentment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He could never transcend his resentments and his complexes. 他从来不能把他的怨恨和感情上的症结置之度外。
• These local resentments burst into open revolt. 地方性反感变成公开暴动。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 miscarriage   

n.失败，未达到预期的结果；流产

参考例句：

• The miscarriage of our plans was a great blow.计划的失败给我们以巨大的打击。
• Women who smoke are more to have a miscarriage.女性吸烟者更容易流产。

8 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

9 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

10 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

11 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

12 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

13 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

14 meekness   

n.温顺，柔和

参考例句：

• Amy sewed with outward meekness and inward rebellion till dusk. 阿密阳奉阴违地一直缝到黄昏。 来自辞典例句
• 'I am pretty well, I thank you,' answered Mr. Lorry, with meekness; 'how are you?' “很好，谢谢，”罗瑞先生回答，态度温驯，“你好么？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

15 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 arenas   

表演场地( arena的名词复数 )； 竞技场； 活动或斗争的场所或场面； 圆形运动场

参考例句：

• Demolition derbies are large-scale automobile rodeos that take place in big arenas. 撞车比赛指的是在很大的竞技场上举行的大型汽车驾驶技术表演。
• Are there areas of privacy in the most public of arenas? 在绝大部分公开的场合中存在需要保护隐私的领域吗？

17 fugitive   

adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者

参考例句：

• The police were able to deduce where the fugitive was hiding.警方成功地推断出那逃亡者躲藏的地方。
• The fugitive is believed to be headed for the border.逃犯被认为在向国境线逃窜。

18 rancor   

n.深仇，积怨

参考例句：

• I have no rancor against him.我对他无怨无仇。
• Their rancor dated from a political dogfight between them.他们的积怨来自于他们之间在政治上的狗咬狗。

19 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

20 shunned   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was shunned by her family when she remarried. 她再婚后家里人都躲着她。
• He was a shy man who shunned all publicity. 他是个怕羞的人，总是避开一切引人注目的活动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。