Chapter 970: Chapter 18 Riot_3
An increasing number of people of color are closely watching the court ruling, hoping that the police who beat Rodney King will face legal punishment.
However, several policemen charged with "excessive use of force" were found not guilty after a jury trial.
This stirred a significant upheaval among the Black community in Los Angeles, with crowds taking to the streets in protest, and the situation gradually spiralling out of control.
Gan Guoyang and the Trail Blazers players arrived in Los Angeles, and once settled in their hotel, they could occasionally hear the sirens wailing past.
Gan Guoyang called his father-in-law and mother-in-law, asking about their situation and advising them to be cautious at home, or if necessary, to go to Portland.
Unexpectedly, his father-in-law Wang Zhengming expressed a strong reluctance to go to Portland, "Damn it, these Black people say it’s a protest, but soon they’ll be using this excuse to loot and rob. Damn it, if they dare come to my turf, I’ll lead people to kill them!"
Gan Guoyang wasn’t reassured, so he immediately called Wang Fuxi and asked her to persuade his father-in-law and mother-in-law to leave Los Angeles for Portland and stay away from the conflict.
Watching the news on TV, the situation was worsening. Knowing American big cities, Gan Guoyang was aware that such so-called protests usually end up in mass looting.
It’s not just Los Angeles; now Portland also shows signs of gradually becoming like Los Angeles, with crime rates climbing and ethnic rifts deepening.
The past scenarios where neighbors lived harmoniously, with doors open freely, and urban camping enjoyed, were becoming rarer, now only found in a few upscale communities.
The number of dirty and chaotic slums were increasing, expanding, and drugs, violence, and guns were breeding and spreading in the forgotten corners of the city.
Once some incident acts as a trigger, the latent chaos in the city would erupt, and now massive Los Angeles was engulfed in smoke.
Before the match started, the players on both sides were anxious, and on the way to the Great Western Forum Arena, the Trail Blazers’ bus was attacked by unknown individuals.
They were pelted with stones, the bus windows shattered, and the rearview mirrors were damaged. The police immediately increased security personnel to ensure the players’ safety.
Back in the locker room, everyone speculated about why the Trail Blazers were attacked, and Bobby Berman said, "Because we have the most foreign players, and now those Los Angeles madmen are attacking other ethnicities everywhere. I guess the attackers might have mistaken Ah Gan for a Korean."
In March 1991, a Korean convenience store owner in Los Angeles shot and killed a 15-year-old Black girl who was stealing, stirring hatred towards Koreans among Los Angeles’ Black community.
During this riot, those looting Blacks decided to take revenge, starting to rob and attack Koreans and Korean stores and shops.
In the Trail Blazers’ locker room, no one watched game footage before the match; instead, they turned on the TV to watch live coverage of the riots.
On screen, Los Angeles seemed like a city at war, with smoke billowing everywhere, burnt cars and destroyed stores lining the streets, lacking any sense of a Hollywood dream city.
Gan Guoyang was furious about being mistaken for a Korean, but at times like this, Asians were seen as one group; those Black people didn’t care whether you were Korean, Chinese, or Japanese, they found yellow skin and black hair alike easy targets.
But Koreans, who underwent military service, weren’t easily bullied. Those Black people who tried to invade Korea Town to loot faced powerful retaliation from Korean shop owners, who all had guns, who feared whom?
Koreans trained in the military took up weapons and guarded their properties as the police completely gave up on this area.
As the camera panned over Korea Town, Gan Guoyang spotted a somewhat familiar face among the armed Koreans.
Though it was just a fleeting glimpse, Gan Guoyang was sure the person was his high school classmate Xu Xun.
"Well done, looks like this guy’s got guts."
Gan Guoyang didn’t particularly like Koreans, but facing violent thefts, uniting to defend property with arms was indeed respectable.
That night, the Lakers struggled fiercely; Gan Guoyang gave Los Angeles people no chance to ease up, delivering a 40-point offensive performance at the Great Western Forum, pulling the Lakers down.
With a large score gap of 3:0, they easily eliminated the Magic Johnson-less Lakers in the first round, and smoothly entered the semifinals.
As the Trail Blazers left the forum arena, flames could be seen everywhere in the nighttime Los Angeles, and the Inglewood Region was the epicenter of the riots.
Under the guards’ protection, the players quickly boarded the bus, with thick smoke rising nearby, unaware of which store was burning.
On the way back to the hotel, nearby stores had already been ransacked, with devastation left by the destruction, Los Angeles implemented a curfew citywide, leaving the streets empty.
Once back at the hotel, Gan Guoyang immediately called Wang Fuxi, and upon confirming his in-laws had safely left Los Angeles for Portland, he felt relieved.
If the Trail Blazers lost this match, then their fourth game with the Lakers couldn’t take place in Los Angeles but would move to Las Vegas.
The Clippers and Jazz match faced such a situation.
Because of the turmoil, roads from the hotel to the airport were blocked, leaving the Trail Blazers players to stay at the hotel waiting for updates.
The entire city burned through the night, fires igniting everywhere, sirens blaring everywhere.
Not far from the hotel, on the street, a car was set aflame, burning fiercely.
Gan Guoyang, with his guard Quentin, left the hotel and walked onto the deserted street. Quentin held a gun, nervous and unsure why Ah Gan came out, thinking it too dangerous.
"Sonny, let’s go back, it’s too dangerous!"
"I know, we’ll go back soon; I just wanted to come down and experience it."
Saying that, Gan Guoyang walked to the car that was nearly reduced to its frame and pulled out a cigar from his pocket, lighting it against the flames.
He took two puffs, exhaled smoke into the night sky, and turned around: "Let’s go, back."
