Your House Will Pay

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Introduction-Chapter 6

Part 2, Introduction-Chapter 11

Part 2, Chapters 12-16

Part 3, Introduction-Chapter 21

Part 3, Chapter 22-Part 4

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Background

Historical Context: Latasha Harlins

Content Warning: This Background section discusses real-life racially motivated murder and violence that inform Your House Will Pay.

On March 16, 1991, at Empire Liquor Market and Deli in South Central, Los Angeles, Korean immigrant Soon Ja Du shot and killed Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old African American girl. While minding the store, Du had accused Harlins of trying to steal a bottle of orange juice, leading to a physical altercation. After Harlins punched Du in the face, Du retaliated by shooting her from behind, killing her instantly. It was later discovered that Harlins was holding two dollars in her hand, and the police concluded that there was no attempt at shoplifting. In Your House Will Pay, the circumstances of Ava Matthews’s murder by Jung-Ja Han are nearly identical.

Because Harlins’s death happened only 10 days after the LAPD beating of Rodney King, the incident received little media attention nationally but contributed to brewing local tension between the Black residents of South Los Angeles and the justice system. Du was eventually convicted of voluntary manslaughter, but Superior Court Judge Joyce Karlin overruled the jury, sentencing Du to only 400 hours of community service, probation, and a $500 fine for a crime that might have otherwise resulted in 16 years in prison. The decision illustrated the unfair treatment of Black people at all levels of the justice system, and the name Latasha Harlins became a rallying cry during the 1992 Los Angeles uprising.

The murder of Latasha Harlins was also the climax of a building conflict between Black residents and the Korean immigrants who owned businesses in Black neighborhoods. Many Korean immigrants opened small businesses in Los Angeles, and by 1990, there were over 2,800 Korean-owned liquor stores in Los Angeles. Many of these stores were in Black neighborhoods, where the owners rarely lived. Owners also rarely hired employees from the neighborhood. This perceived exploitation, along with mutual racist sentiments, led to repeated incidents of violence. The Harlins murder added to the animosity, and resulted in the targeting of Korean-owned businesses during riots and decades of distrust between the two communities.

Historical Context: Saigu

The 1992 Los Angeles uprising lasted for six days from April 29 to May 4, following the acquittal of the four white police officers charged with the beating of Rodney King. The events were responsible for 53 deaths, 2,300 injured, 10,000 arrests, and more than a thousand burned buildings. Some people have referred to the events as an insurrection or rebellion. Most people know it as the race or justice riots. However, many Koreans refer to the day the violence erupted as Saigu. Despite Korean Americans only making up 1.6% of the Los Angeles population, Korean-owned businesses made up over 45% of the damages.

In addition to property damage, Saigu caused the Korean community in Los Angeles and beyond severe psychological trauma. When the police did not show up to protect Korean-owned businesses, many in the community felt abandoned by the legal system. When these same Korean Americans took up arms to protect themselves and their livelihoods, the media painted them as greedy foreigners. News broadcasts repeatedly showed Korean men and women pointing guns at Black and Latinx passersby, leading to a rise in anti-Asian sentiments in the city. In response, the Korean community in Los Angeles rallied in defense of each other. In Your House Will Pay, the Korean characters who lived through Saigu, like Paul Park and Uncle Joseph, tell Grace how community helped them recover from the trauma.

During the chaos of 1992, four young Korean American men were shot (by another group of Korean men, mistakenly), leading to the death of 18-year-old Edward Lee. A photo of Lee in the Los Angeles Times became emblematic for the Korean American community. It was a reminder of their abandonment at a time of need by the rest of the city. The repeated circulation of the image also began to shift Korean conceptions of themselves in the United States from immigrants into members of a racial category.

Sociohistorical Context: Black Lives Matter Movement

Outrage over the unjust killings of Black men and women in the United States found a new expression through social media in 2013, with the hashtag #blacklivesmatter. The grassroots awareness campaign was first started by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi after George Zimmerman was acquitted for the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin in Florida. The phrase then became a widely adopted slogan during protests after two highly visible police shootings of unarmed Black men in 2014: Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City. The movement has provided a common framework for remembering the names of victims and voicing outrage over the lack of government reform ever since.

The Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM) also exemplified internet activism of the era in both positive and negative ways. Social media platforms like Twitter empowered the movement to reach a national stage, inspired and supported a new wave of political candidates across the United States, and raised money for many causes fighting anti-Blackness in America. At the same time, social media discourse over the phrase “black lives matter” has invited equally fervent counter-protests (i.e., “blue lives matter”) as well as empty forms of activism—where performative modes of outrage often substitute real effort to affect change. Cha wrote Your House Will Pay during the early years of BLM, and the novel includes many of these elements.

Your House Will Pay is set in the aftermath of a new, fictional police shooting of an unarmed Black man. The community and media response to the shooting of Alfonso Curiel mirrors responses to the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others.