Be A Rooftop Korean

Townhall.com ^ | May 2, 2019 | Kurt Schlichter

[Kaslin]

We should all be ready to do our duty as American citizens and, when duty calls, each of us should embrace our inner Rooftop Korean.

The year was 1992, 27 years ago right about now, and the city was Los Angeles. Several police officers who got into a videotaped brawl with a petty criminal named Rodney King were acquitted of beating him up. The city exploded. It was chaos.

I was a first-year law student, back a year from the Gulf War, and I had just joined the California Army National Guard. My unit was the 3rd Battalion, 160th Infantry, and we got called up early the first night and were on the streets for three long weeks. Making it even more delightful was the fact that the unit was in Inglewood, which was pretty much on fire. They burned most everything around, except our armory – that would have gone badly for them – and the Astro Burger.

My battalion commander grabbed then-First Lieutenant Schlichter, and we went all over the city in his humvee as he led his deployed and dispersed troops. Our soldiers came, in large part, from the areas most effected by the riots, and they were notably unpleasant to the thugs and criminals who quickly discovered our guys had no patience for nonsense. One dummy discovered that the hard way when he tried to run over some Guard soldiers from another battalion; he had a closed casket funeral. 

The city went insane. Order simply ceased to exist. It was Lord of the Flies. I remember a cop totally breaking down because everything was completely out of control.

But I had a M16A1 – a real assault rifle – and I had a bunch of buddies with M16A1s. The regular folks … not so much. The decent people of LA were terrified, and with good reason. See, the dirty little secret of civilization is that it’s designed to maintain order when 99.9% of folks are orderly. But, say, if just 2% of folks stop playing by the rules…uh oh. Say LA’s population was 15 million in 1992…that’s 300,000 bad guys. There were maybe 20,000 cops in all the area agencies then, plus 20,000 National Guard soldiers and airman, plus another 10,000 active soldiers and Marines the feds brought in. Law enforcement is based on the concept that most people will behave and that the crooks will be overwhelmed by sheer numbers of officers. But in the LA riots, law enforcement was massively outnumbered. Imposing order took time.

And until then, our citizens were on their own, at the mercy of the mob. Betting that the cavalry was going to come save you was a losing bet.

LA’s Korean shopkeepers knew that. They operated many small businesses in some of the least fashionable areas of Los Angeles, and they were already widely hated by activists, being scapegoated for problems and pathologies that long pre-dated their immigration to Southern California. So, they became targets for the mobs.

Bad decision by the mobs.

See, most of these Koreans had done their mandatory service in the Republic of Korea’s Army. Those ROK soldiers are the real deal – the Norks are not a theoretical threat and the South Korean army does not spend a lot of time talking about feelings. They were some solid dudes. So, when the local dirtbags showed up for some casual looting, they noticed the rooftops were lined with hardcore guys packing some serious heat, including the kind of scary rifles that the Democrats want to ban.

The Rooftop Koreans.

It did not take long for the bad guys to realize that the Rooftop Koreans were not playing games – they were playing for keeps. The mob went away in search of softer targets.

There’s a lesson there.

Our first responders are awesome, but it takes nothing away from their heroism to point out that the title “first responder” is a misnomer. The citizens on site are the first responders. And they should be ready to respond. We all should. Personally.

Some duties of citizen should never be outsourced. If you are an able-bodied adult, it’s your duty to know how to stop the bleeding and give CPR until the pros who do it for a living arrive. And it’s your duty (and right) to defend yourself, your family, your community and your Constitution. With guns – effective guns, which sometimes means your concealed pistol and sometimes means the guns that those who want you defenseless call “assault weapons.”

Ban them? We should insist non-felon adult, able-bodied citizens own them and become proficient with them because all that law and order you see around you can disappear in a heartbeat. I watched it happen up close and personal, in one of America’s biggest cities. And as the Rooftop Koreans recognized, groups of citizens with (preferably) semi-auto rifles with 30-rounds mag is the only thing that is going to keep a mob in check.

It’s your duty to be prepared to defend our community. Your duty. Yes, being a citizen of a free country is sometimes hard. Too bad. Tighten up and be ready and able to pick up a weapon. Whether it’s a riots and disaster, or whether it’s some scumbag who decides to shoot up your house of worship or a shopping mall, it’s on you.

You have a job to do when chaos comes – no shirking your responsibility and outsourcing it to the local police or the Army. Being a citizen is not a spectator sport.

Now, the left does not see things that way. The mere idea of a good guy with a gun makes them wet themselves. The left hates the notion that we citizens might take personal ownership of, and responsibility for, the security of our own country – that we might act like citizens. See, citizens are unruly. Stubborn. Uppity. We’re hard to control at the best of times. Armed, 300 million of us are impossible to control, unless we consent to it.

Now, the Founders, who enshrined the natural right of free men to keep and bear arms in our Bill of Rights preceded only by the rights of free speech and freedom of religion, knew this. To them, an armed citizenry that is prepared, mentally and logistically, to respond to threats to the people is a feature.

To the liberal elite, it is a bug.

The elite wants serfs, not citizens. It recognizes the threat in our possession of modern weaponry. But it’s not a threat of us causing evil but of us quelling it. An armed people is a free people, and a free people demands its rights and its say in its own governance. Liberals talk about “gun control,” but what the really want is total control.

Of us.

There are two models to which Americans can aspire. One is to be citizens, armed and sovereign. The other is to be serfs, disarmed and obedient to their liberal elite overlords. Choose wisely.

Choose to be a Rooftop Korean.

[rrrod]

Roof top Korean salute!

[yldstrk]

Thank you Kaslin.

[relictele]

The Koreans opened and operated businesses where nobody else would - including the people who lived in those very neighborhoods.

The locals relied heavily on the Korean stores because the locals had chased off larger grocery stores by robbing and stealing from them and menacing other customers. The grocery stores were quite used to reading a P&L statement. The locals - slow learners - began doing the same things to the Koreans. The Koreans put up with (most of it).

When it all kicked off, so-called black anger against whites was somehow directed at....Koreans? The people who made it possible to buy beer, cigarettes, lottery tickets and junk food without having to travel some distance away?

While Rodney King remains a bizarre hero to the left and the race hustlers from that scenario, I prefer to think of Damian 'Football' Williams - cowardly, mindless brick-throwing thug. It probably won't surprise you that so-called urban media try desperately to portray criminality and mindless random violence as a noble cause...they even have the brass neck to call it 'rebellion.'

What the left won't admit is that they LOVED 1992. The media LOVED stoking a race war even if they had to rely on a drugged-up loser as their hero. They loved the 2nd largest city, supposedly a relaxed, laid-back place, going up in flames thanks to their agitation. It was a demonstration of their power. They loved hanging a Sword of Damocles over every city mayor, council, police chief and politician. Do what we say or this could be your city. Incredibly - and shamefully - copycat riots ensued in places like Cincinnati where entirely justified shootings of other punks took place.

They don't even try to hide it now. 'Oooh, this could lead to rioting' or 'If the police take a hard line won't it cause riots?' The riots are the constant in the media/leftist equation. As Col Schlichter notes, the variable in the equation can, should and must be an armed populace.

[MayflowerMadam]

When I saw the title, I knew exactly that this would be about the Rodney King riots. The documentaries showing the Koreans lining the rooftops during the upheaval were memorable. Pretty amazing.

[drpix]

That's the iconic Roof Korean photo and here it is along with a photo of its alternative.

LA RIOTS - Koreans With Guns VS Koreans Without Guns

[21twelve]

I had to look up about “football” Williams.

He only served 4 years for killing Denny with the brick! However, he is now currently serving 30 to life for the murder of someone else. I hope the judge that sentenced him way back when has a lot of sleepless nights.

[unread]

"Some duties of citizen should never be outsourced. If you are an able-bodied adult, it’s your duty to know how to stop the bleeding and give CPR until the pros who do it for a living arrive." And it’s your duty (and right) to defend yourself, your family, your community and your Constitution." With guns – effective guns, which sometimes means your concealed pistol and sometimes means the guns that those who want you defenseless call “assault weapons."

I believe this to be the absolute truth and also applies 100% to our southern border... Those commie sons in DC are trying their best to bring us down.!! If we can't find enough young, hard American patriots to step up to the plate then our country is toast.... :(

[originalbuckeye]

Reginald Denny survived. I saw him at the Santa Clarita Mall a couple of years after the riots. His head was dented and he had quipped on TV, that his daughter called him ‘Reginald Denty’. I don’t know if he is still living.

[Pollard]

With 10,000 a day pouring across, we sure could use a bunch of Southern Border Koreans

[Elsie]

But I had a M16A1 – a real assault rifle – and I had a bunch of buddies with M16A1s. The regular folks … not so much.

I guess I'm a Regular Folk; as I only have a scary LOOKING; AR-15 5.56 size; assault rifle wannabe.

So why do Dems and Libs wanna take MINE away?

[21twelve]

The website I saw said he had almost a 100 fractures in his skull - I assumed he had died. While some of this seems like it can’t be that long ago - I guess it has been quite awhile.

[NFHale]

Great article by the Colonel.

Reminds me of the late great Mike Vanderbeogh, from Sipsey Street Irregulars... “When Democracy fails, I still get a vote... from the Rooftops.” M14 in picture.

God bless ya, Mike. You are missed.

III% Forever

[Savage Beast]

"our citizens were on their own, at the mercy of the mob. Betting that the cavalry was going to come save you was a losing bet."

The Left is constantly pushing "gun control!"--code for disarming the public so that government agents can control them. Only a fool would entrust his family's safety to those thugs, and millions of Americans are not fools.

[BubbaJunebug]

He’s got a Daewoo K1. Nice rifle. 8 posted on 5/2/2019, 5:21:02 AM by Trailerpark Badass (There should be a whole lot more going no than throwing bleach, said one woman.) Plus is doubles as a great Daewoo fishing rod and reel😎

[Lurker]

“The citizens on site are the first responders.“

I do a bit of volunteering with the local authorities and I’ve actually made this point to them. Most of them seem a bit shocked when I do it. But they all acknowledge the truth of it.

L

[paulcissa]

Reminds me of the late great Mike Vanderbeogh, from Sipsey Street Irregulars...

I miss him also, a great American with a no-holds-barred style of in-your-face patriotism. His stories of past and present heroes is an informative look into the future.

I especially enjoyed the story of the "100-Heads Insurance Company". Bought his T-Shirt and wear it proudly. I love sharing the story to the aghast looks on the faces of the listeners.

RIP MV.

[NFHale]

“...100-Heads Insurance Company...”

Cheyenne 0317.

We’ll honor that pledge.

[super7man]

As per the NRA, the 2nd Amendment is our First Freedom.

[farming pharmer]

BKMK

[relictele]

For the sake of accuracy: Denny survived, incredibly.

Also incredibly, Williams’ mother was one of the first - and most notable - examples of a mother of a mindless thug caught committing violence on video saying ‘he was always a good boy...he didn’t do nothing.’