\u201cGook\u201d director and star Justin Chon knows from personal experience what the 1992 Los Angeles Riots were like.
The Southern California native\u2019s family owned a business in Compton, Calif., that was looted on the last day of the April 29-May 4 upheaval, which was sparked by the acquittal of the police officers videotaped beating Rodney King.
\u201cI felt a need to tell the Korean perspective of what the riots were like because a lot of the Korean experience gets swept under the rug,\u201d Chon told TheWrap at the Sundance Film Festival, where his film premiered to great reviews.
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\u201cGook,\u201d which draws heavily from Chon\u2019s experiences, examines the racial tension between the African American majority of South Central Los Angeles and Korean business owners and neighbors as the city descends into chaos.
Those tensions were the subject of much artistic output of the era, particularly by hip-hop artists, notably in Ice Cube\u2019s 1991 song \u201cBlack Korea.\u201d
But the Korean-American perspective on those events has rarely been presented in mainstream media, something Chon aimed to correct on the eve of the riots\u2019 25th anniversary.
Watch the full video above.
Read original story \u2018Gook\u2019 Director Justin Chon on the 1992 L. A. Riots (Video) At TheWrap<\/p>\n

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