Latasha Harlins was caring, responsible, passionate and goal-oriented. She had dreams of becoming a lawyer and building businesses to help her community. She also had a big heart. So big that the day that she met her best friend, Ty, was the same day she saved her from drowning at the hands of a group of kids trying to take advantage of her.
Harlins was a 15-year-old girl who had her whole life ahead of her. And it took the world nearly 30 years after her death to see that.
For far too long, her story has been limited solely to her tragic death at the hands of a Korean American liquor store owner who wrongly accused her of stealing a bottle of orange juice that cost a mere $1.79 and shot her in the back of the head. For nearly 30 years, her story has been told through the lens of trauma as the catalyst for the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Harlins’ story is more than her pain, but for decades, the only public information available…
