Posted on 06/12/2007 10:14:52 AM PDT by Ptarmigan
In the aftermath of the bloodbath that 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho unleashed on a peaceful Virginia Tech campus only a few months before, American citizens were left to endure an unendurable tragedy and to deal with an ineffable grief that had enveloped all of America. But, mostly, they were left with a multitude of questions that needed answering: Did Virginia Tech do enough to protect its students after its authorities grew aware that a gunman was wreaking havoc on its campus? What was it, really, that finally drove a student to coldly and methodically extinguish 32 promising lives in what the New York Times called the "deadliest school rampage in the nation's history?"(1) How does any professor distinguish between a creative student who merely writes about violent acts and a student who uses his writing to communicate the presence of a psychologically unsound psyche? And, most importantly, how are we to prevent another Virginia Tech from occurring? All of these questions and more, I think, have been adequately discussed by the numerous news articles that have been published in the wake of what occurred at Virginia Tech.
There several questions, however, that have not yet been answered by the U.S. media; and these are questions that manifested themselves in the huddled forms of around 500 Korean Virginia Tech students who gathered in groups directly after the VA Tech shooting for fear that all of the anger, the sorrow, and the grief caused by Seung-Hui Cho would be directed at them in acts of violent retaliation. For many Koreans (and, often times, other Asians) currently living in the United States of America, some important questions that have not been addressed in the news are ones that they should not have to ask or think about, especially as citizens or residents of a nation that prides itself on its tolerance and freedom: How are Koreans to cope with the racial discrimination that might be directed at them after the Virginia Tech shootings? That is, how are they to brace themselves for the anger of some few Americans who might think of them as being equivalent to Seung-Hui Cho just because they, too, happen to be Korean? And, finally, why aren't there more non-Korean U.S. citizens speaking out against the injustices that are occurring?
The answer to the last question is exactly why this article is being written, so I will start with that first: Not many U.S. citizens are aware of what is going on.
"Might be?" The author should try living in the real world.
I'm white. I lived in Asia (including Korea) for 15 years.
Wanna compare notes on racism?
White folk fault PING
Most Americans can’t tell Korean from Chinese from Japanese. This article doesn’t make sense. I haven’t seen any backlash towards Koreans.
No surprise,
One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch.
Keep smiling,
Philip.
Oh, there is a lot of racism in South Korea. It never ceases to amaze me. If you are not “pure”, you’re looked down upon as a second class citizen. I am sure this was not the case thousands of years ago when Korea was the three Kingdoms, Gorguyeo, Paeckhe, and Silla. I would be all that surprised if there were White people in the Korean peninsula. I know China had White people and it is documented in literature, most likely Tocharians and Persians. Same goes with Japan in the form of Ainus.
But it MIGHT!...no, it MIGHT, really!...um...
Shoot, I can’t even tell much of a difference either. There are other Asians who mistake me for Chinese or Japanese.
Funny this artcile didn’t show up after the rioting on Rodney King’s behalf.
75% of all the buildings torched belonged to Koreans.
Racism is a different beast to patriotism IMHO
Koreans have patriotism in spades.
Good for them.
I would not be all that surprised if there were White people in the Korean peninsula.
“Same goes with Japan in the form of Ainus.”
Oh, man...nah, not gonna go there...
I hate those race hustlers who keep this racism alive. It’s them who are the reason they allow it to happen. We got our Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
I live in North New Jersey, I think this area has the 3rd largest Korean community and 4th largest Japanese community in North America, and since the VT tragedy I’ve never seen any discrimination, nor heard stories of discrimination from any Asians I know in the area.
Any aloof opinionist who would condescendingly troll for racist backlash after this incident is the same type of person who would call to ban an inanimate object after such an incident. Not only do they think their readers are inherent ignorant racists, they also just know that they are smarter than their readers, and therefor should be in charge of their public safety. I’ve written a variation of this response to the garbage written in the American media so many times, it’s a bore to even bring it up again.
This was a good post though, should make a good discussion.
She doesn't seem to point out any injustices that are occurring but seems to imply there might be some.
I believe she "might be" a looney left-wing moonbat liberal.
Every Korean I’ve met would have been absolutely horrified by what Cho did.
It will, especially this being posted by a Korean who is a first generation American and proud of it.
It was flat out, unadulterated, plain old down on the ranch RACISIM.
Period.
You can’t whitewash it.
If you want to give excuses for it, go ahead. But it is what it is, no matter how hard you try to deny it.
Ask Heinz Ward of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was all gung ho to go visit his mom’s homeland.
He wasn’t so enthusiastic when he came back. Even made some snide comments about it. Just one very small example.
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