Diana Yi, then 12 years old, remembers the black ashes that blanketed her backyard. People were carting away television sets and bundles of diapers as they ran through neighborhood streets. She watched on television as the stores where her family shopped burned.

In 1992, Yi lived in Koreatown with her parents and witnessed the chaos of the Los Angeles civil unrest firsthand.

"I remember being very scared and confused," said Yi, now 21. "I don't remember them (my parents) trying to explain it to me. I don't think they understood it completely."

It was not until Yi started taking classes at UCLA that she learned more about the civil unrest that erupted on April 29, 1992. This quarter, Yi and 29 others are enrolled in a class titled "Ten Years After the 1992 Civil Unrest: Understanding Racial Justice, Leadership/Social Activism, and Community Building Through Service Learning." The class is being funded by the Center for Experiential Education and Service Learning.

"It's helped to explain the root causes behind the uprisings because it wasn't just one single factor," Yi said. "It was a lot about economic frustration in the community."

Teaching the class is BongHwan Kim, a Korean-American activist who was co-chair of the Korean-Black Alliance and is currently executive director of the MultiCultural Collaborative.

"Most of the students remember what they saw on TV, like most people in Los Angeles," Kim said. He helps students "re-frame their understanding" beyond what they perceived through mass media coverage, "which focused on interpersonal, intercultural or intergroup tension and conflict." Instead, students look at the uprising through the lens of political, economic and structural racism. The discussions they have take on a broader dimension because they also volunteer at such community organizations as Center for Pacific Asian Families and Leadership Development in Interethnic Relations. Working with community groups, they can see leadership and problem-solving skills in action, Kim said.

On issues that touch on race, there's sometimes disagreement.

Dawn Hammond, 28, an undergraduate majoring in African-American studies and women's studies, said she has been "shocked at some of the comments made in class." As an African-American woman, she said she took the class to explore different perspectives about why the civil unrest occurred.

In talking about the 1991 case of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins, who was fatally shot by a Korean-American store owner after she suspected Harlins of shoplifting, UCLA student Eleanor Choi said her parents know the storeowner, Soon Ja Du, personally. Du did not serve any jail time, but Choi said the shopowner suffered the ultimate punishment for an immigrant.

"She dropped everything and had to go back to Korea," said Choi, adding that Du also was harassed a lot. "Returning back to your homeland with nothing is the ultimate shame for an immigrant."

But Hammond said she disagreed, saying that no one should make excuses for Du. "I think the community has been victimized and continues to be victims," she added.

To be able to have that kind of open dialogue and express differing opinions is an important part of the class, said Kim. To broaden students' viewpoints, he selects a wide range of speakers and reading assignments and encourages discussion to open students' minds.