Black History Month: Latasha Harlins

One thought that really bugged me as I was researching songs for Black History Month was that Kanye West has always been a narcissist.

The thought came because as I was looking up songs about Emmett Till 

I ended up using "Bakai" by John Coltrane. There were at least two other options, one that I felt missed the point, and one by an artist I can hardly stand (guess away). One search results that was not up for consideration was "Through the Wire" by West. After an accident -- that was bad -- he makes a reference to how his girl would feel with him looking like Till. (He also brings up Biggie Smalls in this song.)

It was just remarkably shallow and self-absorbed, and not even the worst time he made the comparison, but I saw it as being a pattern of West only ever really being about West.

I was struck by the contrast between him and Tupac Shakur and how deeply Shakur was affected by the death of Latasha Harlins.

I was a freshman in college at the time of her death, and I do not remember hearing anything about it in Eugene. We heard about the riots of course, but that seemed to be solely related to all four officers being acquitted in the Rodney King beating.

Her name started coming up as a footnote as I started reading more, and I wanted to learn more.

My main source of information was The Contested Murder of Latasha Harlins: Justice, Gender, and the Origins of the L.A. Riots by Brenda E. Stevenson.

That books spends time on Latasha herself, her killer, Soon Ja Du, and the judge who sentenced Du to ten years but then suspended the sentence, Joyce Karlin. 

It also gives more background; from the book another case that contributed to the outrage was an animal cruelty case where there was a harsh sentence, seemingly illustrating that dogs were valued more than Black children.

The book was good, but I wanted more, so I have also viewed two short films:

The Dope Years: The Story of Latasha Harlins (2019), directed by Allison Waite

A Love Song for Latasha (2019), directed by Sophia Nahli Allison

I also read Troublemaker by John Cho, with the riots seen through the eyes of a Korean-American teenager.

And I listened to nine songs that at least referenced her, but seven of them were by Tupac.

(See "In music" section: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Latasha_Harlins)

There's really a whole journey in there. I ended up using "Keep Ya Head Up", but a case could have been made for "Thugz Mansion", where he seems to have made some peace with something that had deeply hurt him.

Now, there is a lot I could say about justice, but I think to do that best I will need to bring in a second (and earlier) contested murder. I do want to say something about grief, and I suppose about trauma.

I don't know if there was initially some connection between the two short films, but what I can say is that Love Song seems to focus more on family, and Dope Years on friends, especially one who met Latasha when Latasha probably saved her life. (Some boys were pushing her under in the pool, and Latasha pulled her out. I don't think they were trying to kill her, but things can go wrong really fast, which may be harder to forget when reading about Latasha's death.)

Latasha and her friend were planning on being lawyers, but also opening up businesses so that there were things to do and places to go. She believes those dreams would have come true for sure if Latasha was still alive.

You don't know; kids will go through many stages of what to be when they grow up, and that is still true in early teens. However, the other thing that stays with me is that they mention Du had drawn a gun on someone before. Latasha was warned about it, but she brushed it off. She said that the storekeeper was always like that, so you just need to go in and get out fast. That is probably why she had the money in her hand when she approached the register.

So, part of that idea of owning businesses was to create places where you didn't need to rush and be accused and have that danger, and part of living with that danger is a lack of other options.

It literally never occurred to me, in all of my growing up and adult years, that someone working at a store might shoot me. That is one aspect of my privilege.

But also, I can't help but think about what it is like when you have to live with that danger and contempt, Then, despite all the precautions, Latasha died anyway. The one who looked out for you and for her young siblings and the one who had the big dream and made you believe in them died anyway.

Maybe that kills the dreams more effectively than anything else.

Related links:

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/kanye-west-lil-wayne-emmett-till-lyrics.html/ 

https://andscape.com/features/tupac-shakur-latasha-harlins-songs/