Protests Intensify Over Death of Black American Man... Even Korean Diaspora Affected

Office Depot store in Saint Paul, Minnesota, damaged by looting during protests. Photo by AP News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] Racial discrimination protests sparked by the death of a Black man during a forceful arrest by a white police officer in the United States have spread across the country, and it is reported that Korean-American communities have also suffered damages.

Mr. Ahn Dae-sik, who runs a general store in Minneapolis, Minnesota, told CBC Radio's "Kim Hyun-jung's News Show" on the 1st, "Looting incidents occurred on the night of the 26th last month, U.S. time," adding, "When I arrived at the store around 9 p.m., several neighboring stores had already been broken into and looted."

Ahn said, "Our store's entrance door was not broken, so we were guarding it, but around 1 a.m., three or four people came and were breaking the glass door with a hammer," explaining, "I shouted at them to stop, and they just passed by. Then they went to the next store, broke the door with a fire extinguisher, and stole items. They went inside the store, grabbed things, and came out."

Ahn claimed that even customers who usually knew him by face participated in the looting. He said, "A customer who knows me came, and I asked, 'How can you do this?' He replied, 'Because of the current situation.' Then he asked me to open my car door. When I opened it, he gave me the items he took from our store, saying, 'It's yours, so take it. Sorry.'"

As the protests intensified, police response reportedly became difficult. Ahn raised his voice, saying, "Even when we called 911, the calls were hardly answered," adding, "Fire trucks barely came to extinguish the fire, but it flared up again."

He added, "When we complained to the police that our property was being damaged and that they were not protecting us, they said they had no way to respond."

Meanwhile, on the 25th of last month in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a white police officer pressed his knee on the neck of a Black man, resulting in excessive force that caused the man's death.

At the time, the Black man reportedly pleaded in pain, "I can't breathe. Please don't kill me." Bystanders at the scene tried to intervene, but the police did not remove their knee even after the man lost consciousness. The man was taken by ambulance and died that night. It is understood that all four police officers involved in the incident have been dismissed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.