그나라의 문화와 음식을 경험하게 됩니다. 저는 이 부스를 위해 포스터를 만들고, 부모님의 도움으로 잡채, 수정과,
그리고 한국 과자들을 준비했습니다.
“저는 한국이 너무 좋아요! 한국문화부터 한국인들이 사람을 대하는 자세, 음악과 한국의 분위기까지 너무 마음에 듭니다. 제 핸드폰에 엄마 이름까지도 한국어로 ‘엄마’(EOMMA) 라고 해놓았다니까요!”
-Hamilton Southeastern High School 12학년 Sue
저희 부스는 다른 나라의 부스와 달리 한국에 대한 정보의 참 또는 거짓을 골라내는 활동을 했는데요, 자세히 보면 이렇습니다.
이 활동은 한국에 대한 참 또는 거짓의 정보가 적혀있는 포스트잇을 보고 사실인지, 아니면 거짓인지를 구분하여 각 칸에 붙이는 것이였습니다. 예를 들어 “세계에서 최초로 금속활자를 만든 나라는 한국이다.” 라거나 “한글은 영어처럼 표음문자로 만들어졌다.” 등 한국에 대한 정보를 읽고, 맞다고 생각하면 ‘참(True)’이 적힌 칸에, 거짓이라 생각하면
‘거짓(False)’이라 적힌 칸에 붙이도록 하였습니다. 이렇게 해서 ‘거짓’ 칸에 진실인 정보가 쓰여있는 포스트잇이 붙여져 있으면 그것을 사람들이 잘못알고 있다는걸 쉽게 찾아낼 수 있었습니다. 많은 학생들이 부스에 찾아와 한국음식을
맛보고, 한국의 전통놀이인 재기차기도
저는 대한민국에 대한 이러한 오해를 해결하기 위하여 어떤 행동을 취해야 할지 구체적으로 고민해 왔습니다.
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1992 LA Riots
[NAKS Resolving Korean Misrepresentation [ ] Project]
In April of 1992, fire blazed through the streets of Koreatown and South Central in the Los Angeles County of California. Korean men and women were on the streets, armed and ready to shoot at those looters who attempted to take advantage of the chaos and steal from broken down buildings, taking a bagful of loads at a time. Police were nowhere to be seen, and the Koreans had no form of protection other than their handguns and rifles and each other, all trapped in Koreatown. What on earth had caused these scenes of chaos and disorder in 1992?
A year earlier, in March 1991, Rodney King, a black construction worker in California had just come out of a bar, where he had enjoyed his time and had a few drinks. When driving home, Rodney witnessed police cars coming from behind him and snapped, put into a state of shock. He led the police on a high-speed chase through Los Angeles. At the time, Rodney was on parole for robbery and hit the gas in order to escape being arrested for a potential DUI. Rodney was caught and his companions were transported to a patrol car. Rodney, however, was put to the ground as a group of white police officers moved to physically abuse Rodney in public with their tasers and batons. The officers continued to strike down on Rodney until he lay still.
This incident was all recorded by a local named George Holliday. His footage of the police officers abusing Rodney was released through the media, and many, particularly the black community, were outraged. Rodney's case was taken to court but when the verdict played lose on the white
officers, infuriated blacks ran rampant in the streets of South Central and Koreatown and other parts of L.A., showing their anger and discontent by destroying property and burning them in their paths.
Due to these riots, Korean Americans that had lived in the South Central and Koreatown area suffered massive damages. An estimated 2,300 privately-owned shops run by Koreans were damaged through the burning and looting during the riots, measuring up to approximately $400 million in damages.
This amounts for about half of all the damages that the city suffered through due to the riots.
During the riots and violence that roamed Koreatown and the South Central area, the police and enforcement teams didn’t bother to come in and help out those who were in need. Instead, they barricaded the area until conflict deflated. This meant that the Korean Americans living in the area would need to find protection for themselves. Many turned to armed weaponry and held patrols throughout the city to inspect or help out with any incidents that occurred. They were forced in an arena of hate and violence with no form of assistance to help resolve the issue.
If the cause of the riots were an issue protesting against white oppression and abuse over a black male, why were the Korean Americans a major target for the blacks that rampaged through L.A.?
It is seen that there was a cascade of cultural misunderstanding and lack of communication between the two minority groups. This may have all started due to the incident of a Korean store-owner shooting a 15-year old African American girl after accusing her of stealing orange juice from her store, instantly killing her. A large number of African Americans grew angry towards the growing
community of Korean in South Central Los Angeles. As these Koreans continued to earn a living in
their communities, they felt disrespected and humiliated by many Korean merchants. Cultural differences and a language barrier fueled tensions. For example, Koreans are taught to avoid eye contact with their customers, as it is considered rude in Korean culture to make straight eye contact with unfamiliar individuals and especially not with customers. Also, Korean culture finds it rude to count change out loud and give the change over hand-to-hand for the customer. Counting change out loud would mean that the individual deems the customer as stupid and can’t count and because hand-to-hand exchange is not physically something that is considered normal in Korean culture. These cultural differences and misunderstandings caused the African American community to label Koreans and Korean Americans as rude and disrespectful store owners.
After the riots, however, Koreans and other minority groups of the area came together in unity to promote healthy relationships of understanding and care between minorities in the United States.
The primary goal was to restore the hurt and misconceptions the various racial groups had against each other and learn to love one another. This is one of the most finest Eureka moments in United States history. Even through a period of intense violence and conflict, these minority groups came together to march for a common goal: social equality.
Even though the 1992 L.A. Riots may have started out as a protest against the white supremacy and discriminations that are held against minorities and transitioned to a period of hate between Korean Americans and African Americans, the significance of these events are held in the march towards social equality where various minority groups walked hands-in-hands in the aftermath of the riots. In the status quo, there needs to be a rising insurgence in the promotion of social equality, but this goal cannot be reached when misconceptions and hate between different minority groups exist. Likewise in the L.A. riots, Korean Americans of today need to promote awareness of
misconceptions and work in unity with other minority groups for social equality. The fight for equality cannot be achieved with this sense of unity between the underprivileged.
Model Minority
[NAKS Resolving Korean Misrepresentation [ ] Project]
In 1966, a New York Times magazine article written by William Petersen, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley, would forever mark a turning point in the American perception of Korean Americans and Asian Americans. Before this article was introduced to the public in 1966, the perceptions that had been held against this group of minoritized individuals was filled with a wide variety of nativist sentiment and stereotypes that shoved Asian Americans to the bottom of the social standards.
The first great wave of Asian American immigration into the United States was during the 1850s, concurrent to the well-known California Gold Rush. This wave of immigrants were primarily those of Chinese descent, but soon Korean, Japanese, and Philippine immigrants followed. During this era was the period “Yellow Peril.” Throughout the history of the United States, at the insurgence of immigrants, the United States shows the tendency to go through a period of nativist sentiment. The
“Yellow Peril” was just the same as the previous cases of nativist sentiment. John W. Dower, a Pulitzer-Award winning author, describes the period conceptualizing Asian as "the core imagery of apes, lesser men, primitives, children, madmen, and beings who possessed special powers" amidst the nativist fear of Asians invading “American” land. Due to this nativist sentiment roaring the country, there came a time where Asian immigration into the United States became severely limited through policy such as the Page and the Chinese Exclusion Act.
This trend of nativist sentiment against the Asians held a reminiscent ideal throughout the society of the United States until post World War II. When William Petersen publishes his article through the New York Times in 1966, he coins the term “Model Minority.” After a period of immigration restrictions that fundamentally only allowed elite Asians to come into the country, Petersen framed the Asian American community as the superior minority that was easily assimilated and broken down into American culture. Korean Americans and other Asian Americans were stereotyped to be the perfectly obedient, quiet, and smart group of people who did not cause any trouble. The Asian Americans were used as a comparison for other minorities such as Blacks and Hispanics in the United States. The logic that held was that if Asian Americans, who are minorities, are doing so well in society, why can’t other minority groups follow their ways and also become successful. This led to hate towards Asian Americans and caused disunity between the people. By setting minority groups against one another, the United States successfully warded off the minority groups coming together to bring change, especially during the Civil Rights movement era.
This framing of a minority race is an act of wrongdoing in so many ways. At the basics, it is one of the purest forms of misrepresentation of culture by the white majority in the United States. By describing the Asian American community as a quiet minoritized group that doesn’t cause any sort of trouble, it has led to the general public, as well as the minoritized groups themselves to be convinced of the fact. These minorities who are unaware are just a part of a puppet show put on by the white majority and its societal values. Also, in the status quo, the “Model Minority” myth is imposed on all
Asian Americans, but a recognition of a clear distinction between different countries in Asia must be implemented. Southeast Asian culture may differ significantly from that of an East Asian country and to impose any sort of stereotype on all Asians should be deemed unethical and is a form of
misrepresentation.
Because of the “Model Minority” myth, many Korean Americans must suffer through unfair stereotyping and become trapped in the perceptions that have been set by Petersen and the trends of the public opinion. A crucial observation to note for a second time that is by titling the Asian
American community as the “Model Minority” in the United States, it sets various minoritized groups against one another, discouraging unity between them. It is crucial that minoritized groups in the United States hold hands and make an attempt to meaningfully change society and stand a chance against the majority white population. Furthermore, since new generations of Asian Americans grow up being constantly treated and talked to as a “Model Minority,” these new generations may conform to various stereotypes imposed on them by history and the white community. Because of these
stereotypes and expectations bestowed upon them, many face stress and pressure for them to live a life that conforms to the ways of the “Model Minority.” The stereotype that Korean Americans and Asian Americans are non-activist may also have a crucial role in influencing these groups to believe that they are, in fact, non-activist. This is a major setback for potential uprisings and acts of reform in the United States.
It is of eminent importance that Korean Americans become aware of the concept of “Model Minority” and the implications that have followed. Stereotypes need to be broken and clarified to get riddance of misconceptions and unjust implementation of identities targeted towards a minoritized group of people. Once awareness is raised for the history behind the “Model Minority,” actions can be taken for various minority groups to come together in understanding and hold hands, further bringing change to a racist and discriminatory society in the United States.
6/1/2019 Final Paper - Google Docs
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kEUQETXxkS1pe52X7cOFCo8GMlOk8fDzfrKWyQDyp5o/edit 1/8
NAKS Resolving Korean Misrepresentation [ ] Project
[Daniel Lee]
Website Link: https://885700lee.wixsite.com/naksproject
As Koreans and Korean Americans have lived through many generations as immigrants in the United States, a general perception on the Korean minority has been formed by the social expectations of the country. Of these perceptions, I seek to correct misconceptions and unjust use of stereotypes and forms of discrimination used against Koreans and Korean Americans in the United States. The project uses a website as the medium for the portrayal of information.
As a minoritized group of people living in the United States, Koreans and Korean Americans, likewise of other minorities, have faced various misconceptions, stereotypes, and discrimination. In order to bring change to society, awareness must rst be achieved. On my website, I discuss some of the major controversies that have and currently a ect the lives of Koreans and Korean Americans in the United States.
First, as a form of reparations for minorities, A rmative Action refers to a government program designed to redress historic injustices against speci c groups by making special e orts to provide members of these groups with access to educational and employment opportunities.
Here is the essay I wrote regarding to the A rmative Action.
A rmative Action
[NAKS Resolving Korean Misrepresentation [ ] Project]
When asked to describe the fundamentals of the United States, those who are questioned may respond with common words associated with the United States such as freedom, opportunity, equality, and even possibly haven. As the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence to express their dissatisfaction against the mother country of Britain, all looked towards the concept of unity and equitability that would roam through the American society, all free from imperial rule. In retrospect, it would be adequate to describe the United States as a nation founded upon a pedestal of opportunities and equality. However, individuals in society today must ask themselves this disturbing question: Are the spirit of the values this country was built upon truly re ected within the American society of the status quo?
Allan Bakke was a young white man, a privileged individual wishing to pursue a career in the medical eld. However, when twice denied admission to the Medical School of the University of California at Davis, Bakke went onto sue the University of California at Davis in a state court. The Medical School of the University of California at Davis had a structured policy in their admissions that caught the eye of Bakke. The medical school had 16 out of 100 seats of each entering class designated for the minority population. These minoritized groups included Blacks, Asians, and American Indians. Because of the administration of this quota, Bakke made the claim that the medical school's
6/1/2019 Final Paper - Google Docs
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kEUQETXxkS1pe52X7cOFCo8GMlOk8fDzfrKWyQDyp5o/edit 2/8
admission policy violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The California Supreme Court ultimately came to a consensus that the quota system explicitly discriminated against racial groups and should be deemed illegal.
As this case was appealed to the Supreme Court, Regents of University of California v. Bakke of 1978 became one of the most in uential court cases dealing with the issue of A rmative Action. The Supreme Court of the time ruled that A rmative Action programs were allowed if and only if it served a compelling government interest and were narrowly tailored to meet that interest. Therefore, any form of quota that does not meet these narrowly tailored interests was deemed illegal by law. Based on this decision of 5-4, Bakke was granted acceptance and was able to attend and graduate from the University of California at Davis.
What exactly is the A rmative Action? This concept of A rmative Action can be described as a program that is typically structured to address historic injustices against minoritized groups by making special e orts to provide members of these groups with access to educational and employment opportunities as a form of reparations. In this case, the quota that the University of California at Davis set for its medical school can be deemed as a form of A rmative Action. However, it is crucial to note that the case of mutiny in 1978 brought discrimination towards a white male. In the status quo, however, it is not the white individuals that are being unjustly discriminated against in the name of
“A rmative Action.” Those who are discriminated against are Asian Americans, speci cally Korean Americans.
As a form of “reparations” provided for the minorities within the United States, the
A rmative Action of the status quo raises the meaning of equality of opportunity to a new ground.
A rmative Action of the status quo raises the meaning of equality of opportunity to a new ground.