Eastern inner cities. (Encyclopedia of American Social History, Page 887) The American Dream is alive and well with Korean Americans, as proven by the Korean American grocery stores in New York. Their success is attributed to the same factors that make any group succeed; hard work, strong family ties, and aprofound emphasis on education. Some of these factors are uniquely Korean ways.Korean communities form gaes, or communal savings pools, to provide interest freeloans to new businessmen. Many Korean children boost their academic skills by attending a prep school after their regular school day, and on weekends.(Articles & Papers - Land Opportunity-"Why Koreans Succeed" by Heather Macdonald, City Journal, Spring 1995) For the Korean 1.5 generation, attainment of bilingualism and biculturalismhas not been easy, but they have been willing to pursue success in this society.The Korean family exerts a powerful influence by intelligence, emotional development, and background of prior Korean generations.(American Sociological Review 45 (1980:571-582) For all their ingenuity, the Korean Americans have experienced their times ofsetbacks. Their small businesses have almost always been located near downtown areas of large inner cities, on the edges of black and Hispanic neighborhoods. They often have been the flashpoints of friction between the owners and the people they serve. In 1991, the Reverend Al Sharpton led a boycott of Korean grocers in Brooklyn, New York.{American Social History, Page 887) During the Los Angeles riots that occurred after the Rodney King verdictin 1992, Korean merchants were targeted. Over eighteen hundred Korean Americanbusinesses worth millions of dollars were burned to the ground and vandalized. That was the largest urban riot in the history of the United States. Marlin Fitzwater, spokes-man for President George Bush, blamed President Johnson's "Great Society", peopleof color saw...
