Dear Nury, let me tell you about this side of K-Town
For little Angelenos and Angelenas everywhere.
Because it bears repeating: Los Angeles was founded 241 years ago by red, Black, and brown hands, among others, or by a cast of characters who some might call “short, dark people.” You can head over to 8th street and Irolo in Koreatown for a blast from this past as a new wave of fervent colors do their part to feed, lift, and maintain the concrete jungle’s lifespan for another day, and soon enough, for 242 years.
Perpendicular to 8th and Irolo, or at a right angle at Wilshire Blvd and Catalina St., “Ktown” also holds the former grounds of the Ambassador Hotel, where Senator Robert F. Kennedy–the Democratic candidate for president in 1968–was shot and killed, taking with him some thirteen years of a dream for the Civil Rights era.
The RFK Community Schools there now enroll over 4,000 students aged five to eighteen within a nine block radius, who hail from homes where they speak not only English and Spanish–the principal languages of the current Los Angeles–but also Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Tagalog, Indonesian, Korean, Urdu, and Zapotec, among others! In 2021, RFK high schools graduated at least 89% of this dynamic student body.
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