A playground in the Vermont Vista neighborhood of South Los Angeles will be renamed after Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old Black girl who was fatally shot during a dispute in 1991.
The playground at Algin Sutton Recreation Center, where the teenager spent much of her time, will officially be named the Latasha Harlins Playground next month.
During an unveiling of a mockup of the new sign Tuesday, marking the 30th anniversary of the killing, activists and family members called Latasha’s death an injustice.
She was shot and killed by a liquor store owner who alleged she was stealing a bottle of orange juice. Soon Ja Du, the Korean-born store owner, did not receive jail time in connection with the incident.
The shooting, along with the caught-on-camera beating of Rodney King by four white Los Angeles police officers just days before, struck a chord in the Black community, contributing to protests and civil unrest.
Decades later, the community is still fighting.
“Before there was George Floyd, before there was Breonna Taylor, there was Latasha Harlins,” community activist Najee Ali said during the unveiling. “Her murder still is painful 30 years later. It was one of the most darkest days in the history of Black Los Angeles. But today is not a day a sadness, nor a day of mourning, today’s a celebration, it’s a day we remember Latasha. Say her name.”
The unveiling comes just one day after a Netflix documentary short about the teenager’s life and death called “A Love Song to Latasha” was nominated for an Academy Award.
And a mural at the playground featuring a poem written by Latasha was unveiled earlier this year, the Los Angeles Times reported.
