Being a WASP and a male, I will be honest, I have not experienced too much discrimination. I guess being picked last in P.E. or asking a girl to prom, her saying no, only to see her show up with some D-bag… are forms of discrimination but I am not emotionally traumatized by those prejudices. But I am excited to proclaim that I have experienced prejudice and discrimination since I’ve been here. The most obvious happened this weekend. I was on my way to Seoul on the subway and as usually seats near the whiteys were among that last occupied. (Which I guess is a form of prejudice. But that is understandable.) In the area I live, a non-yellow person is a rarity. So I am used to people, mostly the elderly and young, staring or pointing out the way guk as I walk by. This past weekend I was sitting on the subway and seat opened beside me. A mom standing with her child insinuated to her little boy of about eight to sit down beside me. (I am horrible with guessing people’s age. Especially of Asians. For all I know the kid could have been in university. To clarify, he could speak and stand on his own.) Anyway the boy, staring at me, adamantly shook his head no. To encourage the lad, the mother sat down to my left then tried to pull her son into her lap. He grounded his feet into the floor refusing to budge. I realize that I might be scary to a kid who has never seen a white person before so I wasn’t offended. I actually thought it was funny. And I wish I had offered the kid my seat. I try to be an ‘ambassador’ to Korea while I am here. But my legs were too tired and sore from hiking up that blasted mountain and my stop was far away.
I was convicted though. In the grand scheme of things, I am at the top of the social ladder. I am a white, middle-class, Christian male. How whiter could I be? So I tried to imagine how I would feel to really be discriminated against. I think it would suck. I also thought of how sucky it is that many people are intentionally discriminative. The kid on the subway was only scared of me because of ignorance. I mean his lack of exposure to non-Koreans spurred an unreasonable and natural fear of the unknown and unfamiliar. I will admit that I have prejudices of my own but I try to ignore them or overcome them.
For example, when I was in High School there was this Asian exchange student from Hong Kong that befriended my clique of friends. One time he came over to my house and blew air in my cat’s face. I got so pissed. All my cat wanted to do was love on him and he blew in his face… Also, I was jealous of this guy because my friends hung out with him and I wanted them not too. And this same guy is the ‘D-bag’ I referred to earlier that went to the prom with a friend of mine that I initially invited. Because of my limited and sadly unpleasant interaction with this one guy, I had a prejudice against all Asian guys. Now I have educated myself to dislike only those from Hong Kong. I am conquering my prejudices! “Victory!”
On a related topic, I have learned so much being here. In Texas (and many other southern states) there is an… ‘issue’ with immigration. It is not my intent to talk politics but I have some experiences I want to share.
In the States I thought, yes, there are a butt-load of illegals living in/working in/contributing to/draining/etc. the U.S. but what can we do? Something should be done and I don’t think any problems will be solved by the construction of a wall. It is also irrational to ‘send them all back home.’ I know the United States faces an uphill battle with the whole immigration situation. With my limited knowledge and uneducated opinion, I just think we need to make it easier for foreigners to come to the States LEGALLY and keep them accountable to the same laws all persons living in the United States are held accountable to. The End.
Since I am from Texas I can only speak about the illegals I am most familiar with and that is people from Mexico. I have nothing against Mexicans but I have gained a new perspective since I’ve been here.
In Korea, I am not entitled to many of the benefits Korea citizen have. But you know what, I AM NOT KOREAN. I understand that I am a foreigner, an alien. I went through the relatively strenuous and expensive process to come to Korea legally. (I realize that the process to legally work in the States is much more complex and extensive). But I came to Korea legally and I understand that I am a guest of this awesome, welcoming country. It would be ludicrous and extremely offensive if I took to streets of Seoul waving an American flag demanding rights that are exclusive to Korean citizens. It would be even more pretentious to illegally sneak into a country, use it, then demand rewards for dishonesty?!
As a guest of Korea, I am working under an E2 visa. That visa has many restrictions and stipulation. And no time do I feel like my rights are being violated because of the restrictions. I am grateful for the ‘rights’ given to me by the Korean government. I understand that in Korea, I am a foreigner. I am not entitled to anything except that which the Republic of Korea has given me and I agreed to those rights when I chose to use the vise given to me.
The End.
In .love.
Jp
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