[KS] Press Release, Sa-I-Gu commemorative event, April 27

[Sa-I-Gu Group]

KOREAN AMERICAN WOMEN ARTISTS AND WRITERS ASSOCIATION
745 Buchanan Street,  San Francisco,  CA 94115
Phone: (415) 252-5828    Fax: (415) 252-5829

IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE
DATE:		APRIL 18TH, 2002
RE:		10 Years after Sa-I-Gu
                                 Commemorative event on April 27, 2002


Contact:	KSA: Omar Han, (510) 427-4313, E-mail: Repatlarge2001 at yahoo.com
KAWAWA (415) 252-5828, E-mail address: kawawa at kawawa.org

On April 29, 1992 a tragedy more commonly known as the L.A. Riots 
struck our nation, forever scarring the African and Korean American 
Community.  This event commonly known in the Korean American 
Community as Sa-I-gu (pronounced sa-ee-goo), literally meaning "4-29" 
is a date that will remind us of lost lives, the fire, looting, and 
chaos that lay rampant in the South Central Los Angeles vicinity. 
After the decision in the Rodney King beating Trial was given and the 
four Los Angeles police officers involved in it were acquitted, all 
hell broke loose within the African American Community and Koreatown 
in Los Angeles.

The media wrongly connected socioeconomic issues into the bigger 
picture of racial injustice.  The African American Community and 
Korean American Community were controlled like pawn pieces in a chess 
game by the overpowering media. This created Korean shop owners as 
targets to unleash a fury that had been building up since the Rodney 
King beating videotapes were first aired on national television. 
Neither African Americans nor Korean Americans were to blame.  We can 
only trace this catastrophe back to the initial mishap of airing the 
Rodney King beating tapes on national television by the media and 
failed government economic and social policies. 

In 1993, KAWAWA's (Korean American Women Artist and Writers 
Association) Intercultural Program was instituted with the help of 
African American leaders. Min Paek from KAWAWA and Lefty Gordon from 
Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, following the aftermath of the 
April 29, 1992, Los Angeles riot, initiated a program dedicated to 
educating children from diverse backgrounds to learn new and 
different skills, while raising awareness and appreciation for one's 
own heritage and culture.  This program was able to successfully 
educate youth and their families on the importance of peacefully 
working and living with members of a diverse community and has 
received praise from the Mayor's office for its dedication and 
foresight in the promotion and recognition of racial harmony in the 
city.

Korean American Women Artists and Writers Association (KAWAWA), Ella 
Hill Hutch Community Center, The Bethel AME church, Korean American 
Grocers Association (KAGRO), Korean Community Agenda Council (KCAC), 
KACC (Korean American Community Center), and KSA (Korean Student 
Association), Committee for Korean Youth (CKY) will be holding a 
commemorative event dedicated to this American social upheaval that 
has deeply affected our community.

	We are living in a time where tolerance and peacekeeping 
efforts are more critical than ever.  Please come and join us on 
Saturday April 27, 2002 from 10:00 A.M. until 3:00 P.M. at 745 
Buchanan St. San Francisco, for a day of remembrance, healing, and 
empowerment.  A barbecue lunch and refreshment will be served.  The 
Program will include keynote speech, panel discussion, Korean and 
African drum and music performance, a prayer of healing/blessings led 
by Rev. Edgar Boyd from the Bethel AME church.  For more information 
please contact Omar Han, KSA at (510) 427-4313 or call KAWAWA at 
(415) 252-5828.
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