Yesterday in class we mentioned the fact that the White outsider population considered the Asian American population to be the "model community". When we discussed why this was, some came to the conclusion that it was because whites believed that Asian Americans kept to themselves. They provided for their own kind and didn't ask for government aid. Essentially they lived in their own bubble community. I believe that once that bubble began to expand and impose on other races, conflicts began to erupt.

In the late 1980s the boundaries of Chinatown expanded. The exploding Asian culture in New York City not only allowed for a variety of different Asian cuisines, but I feel caused a bigger threat and intrusion on the business and areas of the white and black Americans. What exacerbated the situation was the crash of the October stock market in 1987 and the increase influx of Asian immigrants. The author states that after the crash, "Asian Americans started to notice a distinct New York edge toward people who looked Asian". In situations where people are losing their jobs and savings and a recession is looming, people feel the need to blame their successful counterparts. As the Japanese economy boomed, the New York City Asians population that was willing to work for any price were growing. This I believed caused a sense of intrusion to the white Americans thus resulting in sparks flying and riots starting. 

African Americans and Afro Caribbean neighborhoods where directly affected by the rapid African influx because most of the Korean small businesses were in those neighborhoods. This and the cultural differences explains the stark hatred of the Korean Americans by the African Americans.