The 1992 L.A. riots that devastated not only parts of the city, but many Americans who thought racial tensions had declined, were a manifestation of cultural fear. Cultural fear is inherent in every culture, and can be defined as a fear which that culture holds towards another. In the case of the riots, it was a black fear that a white dominated judicial system had again discriminated against them, and this fear led to the general uprising in protest. While this protest manifested itself rather violently, other forms of protest exist in all cultures in a more subdued manner. These quieter protests can be seen where tension exists between the cultures. Cultural fear manifests itself where one culture is given reason to fear another, and is often expressed verbally as a way of protesting the cause of the fear.
             The protests do not serve just the function of a protest though. They also serve to act as a unifying form of expression around which the people in the culture can rally. They enumerate the fears of the people and help the culture define its fears. Sobek notes this when she explains several of the reasons that the Mexican immigrants write canciones and corridos. She claims the songs act as symbolic reflections of the struggles of the immigrants, in addition to being a platform via which they can express their concerns and fears. The songs are also motivational in their purpose, since they unify and try to convince the people to overcome the problem. Cultural fear is expressed in this protest, and is part of the motivation for the protest.
             Patricia Turner remarks that during the Atlanta Child Murders many African -Americans felt a preoccupation with the unexplained murders. Her reason for this preoccupation is that the murders touched on a cultural fear within the black community, namely that of racism. The fact that many illustrious personages felt close connections to the events, though separated by in some cases thousands o...