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Cassandra Rincon
Rosales
ENG 100
5 May 2014
Voices Heard
During our lifetime, we all witness a crime that causes injustice and is a result of
discrimination. Most of the time we see a crime committed, we dont always get to see the
full story behind it. It is heartbreaking to know that there are still people out there in the
world who judge and discriminate against people of a different race. The novel Southland
by Nina Revoyr; shows us the life of a young woman named Jackie Ishida and her journey
of discovering who she is. We also learn about the history of her family and the events that
change their lives. In the novel Southland, Nina Revoyr gives a voice to the Asian and
African American population in Los Angeles during the time of injustice, discrimination
and the Rodney King riot.
The novel Southland introduces us to a story about a woman named Jackie Ishida; she is
on a mission to figure out what exactly happened the day the workers in her grandfathers
store were murdered. She also discovers that her grandfather was having in an affair with
the young African American boy named Curtis mother. Frank was very fond of the young
boy and took care of him as if he was his son. Jackie discovers that the money left behind
from her grandpa after he passed was left for Curtis. As Jackie was uncovering the
whereabouts of Curtis, she finds he had passed away. She also finds that he was one of the
victims murdered at the store, but the question was who killed them and where are they?
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Within the book there are scenes that show examples of racism and discrimination. There
is chapter 13, where Frank, Jackies grandpa, finds Curtis badly beaten and left behind the
store. He asks Curtis who had beaten him, but Curtis did not want to say. He then helps
Curtis back into the store and takes care of him. When Frank finds a time to report the
crime, he meets a very rude cop named Lawson, who talks to Frank as if he was nobody.
Lawson also treats the situation as if it is not his problem, he did not care what had
happened to young Curtis. Lawson rudely says to Frank, What do you care, grocery man?
Hes just a little N***** punk.(155) Frank tries to tell the cop that he should do his job and
that it is a serious situation. The cop just replies to him the same, well, dont. I dont tell
you how to rearrange your f****** vegetables.(155)
Many people might have been in a similar situation as Frank, he was being
discriminated by the police because of the color of their skin. Frank just wants to report a
crime that happened to a boy, it should not matter what color of skin he is, he deserves the
right to get justice. I feel that Revoyr gives Frank and Curtis a voice in this scene because
some people might not want to hear what they have to say. She lets them tell their story of
how they were treated and she gives us a picture of what it would have been like in those
days when minorities couldnt get the help they needed.
In another part of the book it talks about the murders of the young workers in Franks
store. David, Gerald, Curtis, and Tony are the name of the boys who were killed in the
freezer of Franks store. Just like many stories of no justice, these murders were looked over
with no effort, nobody knew who did it and nobody cared. These young men were robbed of
their life and none of the police cared to help find out who did it. Jackie and James try to
figure out who did it, because the person they thought who did it didnt add up to the story.
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They come to find that the murderer was Robert Thomas, an African American man who
was brainwashed to think he was better than his own race. He made the boys go into the
freezer and there they passed away from the cold.
When the book mentions the riot, it gives thought to the many of events that went on
during that time in real life. Rodney King was a young African American man who was
badly beaten, just like Curtis in the book, and was given no justice from the law. In the
book, Reading Rodney King/Reading Urban Uprising by Robert Gooding-Williams, it talks
about how,
The not-guilty verdict rendered in the police-brutality trial was also only the
most recent in a series of cases in which the decisions emanating from the
criminal justice system were widely perceived in the black community to be
grossly unjust.(121).
Just like in Southland, police brutality was over looked and the murders of the young
boys were never solved until Jackie reopened the case with James. Years of poverty, culture
clashes and police brutally had finally hit its boiling point in Southland and in 1992 South
Central. Nina Revoyr paints us a picture of what a family during these times might have
went through. She lends the people a voice through her fictional characters and lets us see
what we might not have before. During this time many different cultures were going
through some difficult times, people were getting hurt, some killed and many businesses
were ruined. The people needed to be heard, the only way they can get their point across
was to riot.
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Southland by Nina Revoyr lends a voice to the people who needed to be heard during
that time of racism and injustice. Although this novel might be fictional, it also includes
many events that were historical. It gives us a view of what it was like to live during the
years were the color of your skin determined how you should be treated. Not only was
African Americans being treated with such horrible manner, many Asian Americans and
Mexican Americans were treated the same. Jackie and her Grandpa Frank lived eventful
lives and they showed us how different events in your life can shape you to be the person
you are today. Nina Revoyr captured the sadness and drama that overcame the people who
were judged and mistreated in the history of Los Angeles.