In one of my middle school classes, we are currently working our way through a conversation book. We read a short (2-3 page, fairly large print) article on a topic and then discuss. We've only had the book a short time, but so far we've discussed habits, world population, the future and most recently, racism. The article we read essentially defined racism and then talked a good bit about why racism is bad. After reading the article, I began to ask my students some questions.
I started off with this one: What is racism? I was looking for an answer along the lines of what was presented in the article, which was that racism is when someone thinks his/her race is superior to other races. Well, the answer I got was a little different. My students were unanimous: Racism is when white and black people don't get along. But only white and black people. What about Asians? Can Asian people ever be racist? No. Racism is something that happens when white and black people don't get along. Period. Um, okay.
What about Hispanic people - can they be racist or experience racism? I was told that Hispanic people don't count; they're not important.
Is racism good or bad? Bad. Why? Because black people are sad and poor.
Are Korean people ever racist? No! Never!
Is there racism in Korea? Not now. There was racism back during the early part of the 20th century when the Japanese invaded Korea. The Japanese thought that they were superior to the Koreans, and beat them and made them work for the Japanese. Also, all Japanese are monkeys. All Japanese are monkeys? Isn't that racist? No. [As an aside, the sheer hatred my kids display towards the Japanese is unnerving. The other day we were learning adjectives for nationality in one of my classes of sixth graders. There was a picture of a Japanese woman. I caught one of my students drawing very graphic images of blood coming from various parts of her body. But only the Japanese woman - the people of other nationalities on the page were untouched. I asked him why and was told, "I don't like Japan"]
So, there are many white people in Korea. Why are there so few black people? (I know that this is because one must submit a photo with one's job application... this is so non-white/Asian people can be weeded out. Even Asians have a hard time getting jobs here.) Well, according to my kids, black people are too poor, that's why they're not here. I decided not to get into the photo thing.
Are you racist? No.
Do you think that Koreans are better than people from other countries? Yes.
One can't blame the kids for having these opinions; it's their parents and teachers who are propagating such views who are at fault.
14 comments:
Yikes. Don't you feel like your hands are tied?
That was a very funny post. Sad and alarming, but funny. "Also, all Japanese are monkeys." Priceless!
Her hands are tied. If she tries to correct the perception, she will be railroaded out of the country. Or at least the city.
Well,
I do not think that you will be railroaded out of the country or city, but you could cost samson and gwen a number of current and perspective clients. In any case, I would probably feel compelled to correct them. I had a number of these conversations in Communist China and nothing ever happened to me. Of course, my students were all in college and open to new ideas or at least to an open forum. The only real way to combat racism is to face it head on. At least you are in a country where it is openly blatant instead of unspoken and unseen as in the U.S. The kids did have a similar arguement to some scholars that I have read saying that people of color can not be racist as raceism is part of a larger system that solely benifits whites. The do say that blacks, hispanics, and asians can all be bigots though. Its all intresting. The more I travel though the more that I realize that every country has serios racial issues which threatens to tear apart the social fabrics of a variety of states. We can see the effects of this in any number of African countries especially in Central African, but also in the middle east as Iraq collapses into Civil War. Iraq and the middle east offer unique examples of raceism in terms of pan Arabism and the way in which it has been constructed through a sense of anti-semitism and anti-Americanism. Both deservingly so, but it has now created a powder keg environment with U.S. involvement in Iraq whcih I am affraid is going to end with Israel dropping nuclear bombs on Iran and the rest of the world turning a blind eye as it was only used on a brown aggressor. Pan Arabism is unique though not as monolithic as it has been in the past. Raceism and extreme nationalism worry me a great deal because the two are combining in virulent ways that the world has not seen in over sixty years to create a number of flash points that could ultimately lead to a horrific global war. This especially concerns me in Asian nations that have very closed societies. If China is the next great super power, how open will they be to white, black, and brown immigrants who wish to settle in the country for better jobs and economic opportunities. The East, and I am including Russia into this categroy, houses some of the most closed societies in the world, and this concerns me slightly. I am intrested if economic might in terms of the free market will be followed by openess and reform. Do the two go hand in hand? Does the global market necessitate a free and open society? While I admit that this is through the lense of an American with all the baggage of white flight, black and hispanic poverty, and immigration reform, I must admit that the United States is a farely open society though it does have its conservative swings. Europe is farely open as well- as long as you take a job and blend into the popular culture. Will Asia be the same way? It is something to think about.
That reminds me of a conversation that I had with one of the Korean teachers in 2001.
Korean teacher: Japanese are ugly.
Me: Really? Why?
Korean teacher: They're bad.
Me: Oh, OK. So, can you tell the difference between a Korean person and a Japanese person by looking at them?
Korean teacher: Yes, Japanese look like Korean, but ugly. They have small eyes and big, pointy teeth. Their faces are very mean and stupid.
Me: OK. (I couldn't help but to picture the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood.)
Melissa
The American Anthropological Association has a new project addressing the issue of race from both its physical and social dimensions. It's at http://www.understandingrace.org/home.html. I don't know if it's something you can use with students or not, but middle-school kids might take interest in things like the Sports Quiz. Some of the information there was pretty surprising.
-Brooke S.
Once I had an intelligent college professor try to tell me that it isn't racism unless it's directed from the majority against the minority. Therefore, nobody except white people could be racist.
I don't really think there's much that I personally can do. I did point out that the statement about the monkeys was racist, although I don't know if what I was saying got through. Gwen and I both try to keep the students from making anti-Japanese comments, which is something. I do think, however, that if either of us started defending the Japanese we would start to lose kids.
Oy. I didn't realize things were still that bad over there--Jane, I'd forgotten why I went through that really strong anti-Korean phase as a kid where I thought Koreans were all bigoted and had a superiority complex, and now I remember why. This is exactlly the kind of rhetoric they fed us in Korean school and also exactly why I hated going there. The thing is, by this point I'd kind of thought that that kind of thinking was really outdated stuff that immigrants of my parents' generation had carried over with them and that people actually in Korea had moved beyond that. It makes me so sad to see that's not the case.
Interesting points about racism being directed by the majority against the minority--I've heard that argument too, and I think there's some merit to it. When that argument was presented to me racism was defined as injustice towards minority groups based on race that is built in to the structure of the society, and bigotry was defined as having prejudices based on race; not necessarily how most people define those two terms but based on those definitions I think the argument works. However, I don't think it means only white people can be racists--that might be true in the US where whites are the dominant group, but in Korea Koreans are the dominant group and I think it's fair to say Koreans are more than capable of being racist towards laborers who come from poorer countries in increasing numbers to do menial work in Korea. That's what worries me more than anything else--Korea used to be extremely ethnically homogeneous so it didn't much matter whether they understood racisim (in a day-to-day sense anyway), but now that Korea is actually a rich country more and more people from poorer southeast Asian countries are coming to work there and although westerners might consider Koreans and southeast Asians to be of the same race I don't think Koreans do. I'm guessing nobody talks much about that now, but I'm concerned that it might become a major issue soon.
This makes me appreciate my new Korean friends even more! Last week I met this Korean family sort of by coincidence (kind of a long story, ask me if you're curious) and they turned out to be the absolute coolest, most leftist Koreans I've ever met. The husband and wife met while they were infiltrating factories to recruit workers to join unions, they got blacklisted as college students for protesting against the governmnent, and they were talking about how Americans are dependent on illegal immigrants to do cheap labor for them to maintain their fancy lifestyle and the "democratic"US is not so different from a dictatorship if the president can just run wild with a war that nobody else wants. Seriously, I've never met Koreans like this before! I didn't even know they existed.
Ok, getting off my soapbox now. Sorry about the rant, this one hit a nerve with me, especially since it's an issue that's bothered me since I was a little kid.
Moosh
Moosh - I would love to meet your liberal Korean friends! Or even some liberal Koreans over here... Definitely Korea is going to face a lot of race-related issues as it becomes more globalized and deals with the influx of immigrant workers - especially considering how badly Korea wants to be recognized as a *modern* country...
Hi this is RustyOP from flickr. These korean kids are just plan "hicks" for lack of a better word. Not all koreans think like them. there are many Korean living and working all over Japan and there are many Japanese working in bigger S. korean cities. as there are big chinese community in Seoul. there is racism in every culture among the less educated. korean are not any different. And we must not forget WHY Japan and Germany started WW2.
Yeah, Jane, it's you alone against the tide with this kind of pervasive cultural assumption. I think the message you have a realistic chance of getting across to the kids is that in America people think it's wrong to say that their race is better than another race. That is, if they go to America they should be prepared for people to consider them racist if they say that all Japanese people are monkeys. But really the limit of what you can do is to disallow rudeness as you define it in your classroom--every teacher has the right to do that--and try to teach them about your culture.
I live in Korea and I disagree with that cheap shot you used to close your argument. You can ask any child from any country and they will most likely tell you the same thing. Ask an American 7 year old if America is better than, say China, that child will probably say "yes."
How you blame Korean parents and the teaching on what you think is racism is racist in itself. You're basically accusing Korean parents to be racist. Why don't you get your facts straight, lady.
I agree that a 7 year old in just about any culture would probably claim that his race/culture is the best. However, I would like to point out that the students referenced in the discussion were not 7, but 14-15 years old. (With the exception of the 12 year old drawing graphic pictures of the Japanese.) Teenagers generally have well-formed opinions about races/cultures, which they have aquired from their parents and teachers.
You're quite right when you say that it's not the kids' fault and that racist notions and ideas of racial superiority are propagated by Korean adults.
Most Koreans are inherently racist I have found and also against white foreigners. They have a very large 'chip' on their shoulders which is why we are constantly reminded of how old their culture is, how beautiful their mountains are blah blah blah.
Quite honestly, I'm getting about sick to death of hearing such crap. Korea is a concrete jungle populated mostly by resentful, racist, self-important little people.
Oh - I'm having a bad day!! :-)
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