Your House Will Pay

Content Warning: This Background section discusses real-life racially motivated murder and violence that inform Your House Will Pay.

On March 16, 1991, at Empire Liquor Market and Deli in South Central, Los Angeles, Korean immigrant Soon Ja Du shot and killed Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old African American girl. While minding the store, Du had accused Harlins of trying to steal a bottle of orange juice, leading to a physical altercation. After Harlins punched Du in the face, Du retaliated by shooting her from behind, killing her instantly. It was later discovered that Harlins was holding two dollars in her hand, and the police concluded that there was no attempt at shoplifting. In Your House Will Pay, the circumstances of Ava Matthews’s murder by Jung-Ja Han are nearly identical.

Because Harlins’s death happened only 10 days after the LAPD beating of Rodney King, the incident received little media attention nationally but contributed to brewing local tension between the Black residents of South Los Angeles and the justice system. Du was eventually convicted of voluntary manslaughter, but Superior Court Judge Joyce Karlin overruled the jury, sentencing Du to only 400 hours of community service, probation, and a $500 fine for a crime that might have otherwise resulted in 16 years in prison.