On this day, riots broke out in Los Angeles from inflamed racial tensions, bringing ruin to scores of Korean American-owned businesses in an event that would become known as "Sa-I-Gu".

Founded in the spring of 1995, the Asian American Alliance (AAA) is a student organization that strives to serve the Asian Pacific American (APA) community at Columbia University. AAA is a collaborative organization that seeks to work with APA and all student of color groups at Columbia to reach out to members of the university and the outside community at large. In this way, we aim to promote understanding, foster dialogue and create a sense of awareness within Columbia University.

Our purpose is to educate, to organize and to mobilize ourselves and others. We seek to cultivate a common understanding and a greater respect for the APA community. The APA community at Columbia University is in a perpetual state of transformation. Inherent in the structure and goals of our organization is the ability to change in conjunction with evolving issues facing the APA community. Nevertheless, AAA will remain true to its fundamental goal of serving our community by dedicating itself and its resources to student activism.

On this day, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, a federal law which granted reparations to Japanese Americans who had been interned by the U.S. government during World War II.

On this day, two white Detroit autoworkers murdered a Chinese American named Vincent Chin in an act motivated by racial hatred and tensions with the Japanese car import industry.