In an essay for Zócalo Public Square, Wendy Cheng, associate professor of American studies, discussed Monterey Park’s history and its mourning in the aftermath of a January mass shooting. “This city, less than 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles, has developed a distinctly regional racial consciousness: a worldview that is, for the most part, aware and respectful of cultural differences and not centered around aspiring to achieve dominant White American, middle-class norms,” Cheng writes, noting that Monterey Park is “a home for ‘immigrants and lost ones,’ where those who have been historically excluded or vilified elsewhere might come to dance with others who are not exactly like them.”