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Korean-American Blog (Virginia Tech Shooting)
Harlow's Monkey ^ | 4/18/2007

Posted on 04/20/2007 9:00:47 AM PDT by elc

Stuck When I first heard about the Virginia Tech murders I was driving home from work and at that time there was not information about who the shooter was. My first thought was what a sad and senseless tragedy this was, and all I wanted to do was go home and hug my kids.

The next morning I found out the killer was Korean and the first thought I had was, Every Asian man in the United States must be terrified right now. And the second thought was When will the retaliation begin?

It didn't take long, as it turns out. As I'm finding more out, there are a lot of questions and concerns that I have, as well as the rest of the world. But many of my questions are going to be different as a fellow Korean living in the United States.

For example, how do I write this post?

I could focus only on my condolences to the victims and families of this terrible tragedy, without any mention of the person responsible for this. That would be the easy answer. But it wouldn't be complete.

Do I leave out my critique of how the media is overemphasizing his race and residence status? Because this man has been living here since he was 9, he is likely more "Americanized" than "Korean" in a cultural sense. Yet the media continues to present him as a "foreigner" and as an "international student." Is this another way for the U.S. media to hype those who commit the most violent acts as "foreigners" i.e. the 9-11 tragedies?

I've been reading accounts that it must be that his Korean parents abused him and/or that Korean child abuse/physical abuse is rampant. This might be a way of providing some explanation into his psyche, but does it only serve to perpetuate stereotypes about Koreans?

Do I talk about how this individual was severely mentally ill and that reports are coming out that people tried to get him help but were unsuccessful? Do I talk about how mental health services for Asians are almost non-existent and how the Asian American population is severely underserved when it comes to access to mental health services? Or that there are few mental health professionals who understand Asian American issues regarding their mental health?

What kind of response should the Asian American population make regarding this tragedy? How quickly do we have to send out media and press releases, condemning this person? How much are we all going to be considered guilty by association? When a white man commits a heinous crime, how many white men in America are going to feel unsafe walking down the street? How many white men are going to feel that they are guilty by association? When Timothy McVeigh blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, did groups of white men send out a press release offering condolences and publicly recognizing the heinousness of the act?

Those of you who have adopted Asian children - especially boys - are you prepared for them to get harassed at school? Have you taught them what to say, how to keep safe, which teachers they can trust? Because it's going to get ugly.

I ask these questions because when terrible crimes occur, the racial and resident status of the assailant only matter if that person is non-white. And those who share that race or residence status have to be on our own "high alert." It is very likely that I would have spent my entire life without ever coming into contact with the killer in this awful situation. Yet now, I will be asked by co-workers what the Korean American response to this man is. I will have to make it clear to people that I am dissociating from him, while trying at the same time to counter the stereotypes that people will assert.

And when the Korean grocery stores are burned down, or the random Asian-looking person is beaten or murdered as retaliation?

Then what do I say?

Will my silence be taken as support?

Will my silence be taken as resistance?

What possible thing could a person like me say?

**Edited

I'd like to add this as a coda, from my friend Rich Lee's blog. Rich is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota and he writes,

One of the racial issues to emerge from this tragedy is the way in which Seung-Hui Cho has been characterized. In an NPR interview, one witness described in as foreign looking. Other sources keep referring to him as a South Korean or a resident alien or as a foreign student. In truth, according to the latest CNN report, Mr. Cho was an immigrant to this country. He immigrated in 1992 and was a permanent resident. He was probably as American as the next person living in this country, despite not being a naturalized citizen.

We also are reminded that Asian Americans, despite public portrayals, are not model minorities who seem to only succeed in the American Dream. This myth is fraught with socio-cultural problems, discussed widely elsewhere (just do a quick google search). Yet it is a persistent myth that is conveniently used to scapegoat Asian Americans when discussing race relations in this country and then quickly discarded when tragedy strikes such as the Virginia Tech shootings. People are quick to blame the foreigner whom they only moments earlier saw as the model minority.

Asian Americans are just as likely as other groups to struggle with mental health problems. Such problems seem to be even more challenging for individuals who grow up as children in this country, as noted in a recent NLAAS study. The unspoken other tragedy in the aftermath of this event is the fact that this young man did not receive the needed treatment to address his mental health problems and that could have perhaps prevented this rage. To what extent is this likely lack of intervention due to the model minority myth?

The recent tragedy reminds us to to NOT mythologize a group of people as model anything and to NOT scapegoat this same group as foreigners. Instead, it should remind us to view all people of all races and ethnicities as individual people. Moreover, it should remind us as Americans that immigration and acculturation are stressful life experiences, rife with discrimination, racism, and other cultural barriers, that put an added strain on human functioning. As such, a more appropriate question is what can we do as local communities and as a society to address these challenges?


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Society
KEYWORDS: hokies; virginiatech; vt
Apologies for the vanity. This was posted on a mother's board I frequent, which I'm taking a break from this morning after this. Please tell me if I'm overreacting with my response:

I have to agree that the article is a bit aggressive. And I find many parts of erroneous and frankly insulting to the victims (see bottom of this post for the insulting parts).

But mentioning race unfortunately happens with every tragedy or big story.

How many stories about the Duke Lacross (bogus) rape story included the terms "white lacross players" and "black accuser"? (Note, the author of that blog is apparently incorrect in her statement that:

I ask these questions because when terrible crimes occur, the racial and resident status of the assailant only matter if that person is non-white.

The Duke Lacross story proved that assertion incorrect. That was race baiting at its worst.

The point about the VT tragedy is not that the media is emphasizing that he is Asian or that he is a resident alien. His race was germane to the story before they released his identity, because it was they only thing we knew. The more appropriate description following that would have been Korean-American. And only because our media is obsessed with putting labels on everyone and everything.

The point about the media coverage is that they inundating us with stories about him at all. Where are all the stories about the victims? Where's all the coverage about the heros? What about the Israeli professor, who was a Holocaust survivor (murdered on Holocaust memorial day) that lost his life trying to protect his students? Why are they giving us 24/7 coverage on Cho Seung-hui and not the victims? (How sad is it that I can come up with his name but not the professors.)

I would bet the the number of cases of people taking out their anger and sadness on the Korean-American population is miniscule. It's unfortunate that it happens, but it is in no way a reflection on the people of this country. It certainly doesn't compare to the massive demonstrations and actual kinapping of an American soldier when two little girls were killed in a road accident involving American military in South Korea. My point in bringing that up is not as "see what they did" but to demonstrate that strong reactions are not unique to Americans.

And where are the large numbers of attacks on Korean-Americans that the author is insinuating will happen? Certainly there were a few after 9/11 that were inexcusable, but the press would have led us to believe that they were a constant occurance. Fear mongering.

Example of what I think is insulting to the victims:

Quote:
Do I talk about how mental health services for Asians are almost non-existent and how the Asian American population is severely underserved when it comes to access to mental health services? Or that there are few mental health professionals who understand Asian American issues regarding their mental health?

There is absolutely no one responsible for this massacre except Cho Seung-Hui. No one. It is not fair to the victims, their families, the survivors or the school to try and insinuate that if the mental health profession better understood or took care of Asian Americans that this tragedy might not have happened. And please do not tell me this paragraph is not saying that.

I'm sorry if you take exception to anything I've written. As you might tell, I am very emotional about this. As a native Virginian who had many friends who went to Tech, who graduated from the Fairfax County public school system (which lost several in this shooting) and lives just several miles from the shooter's family, I am very affected by this tragedy.

1 posted on 04/20/2007 9:00:50 AM PDT by elc
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To: elc

Sounds to me like she’s just another brain-washed, indoctrinated, bean counter who has bought all the leftist multi-cultural, group-think propaganda.


2 posted on 04/20/2007 9:09:09 AM PDT by penowa (NO more Bushes; NO more Clintons EVER!)
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To: elc

No problem here. Most people can’t distinguish Koreans from other Asians anyway.


3 posted on 04/20/2007 9:28:44 AM PDT by Thrownatbirth (.....when the sidewalks are safe for the little guy.)
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To: penowa

My favorite now is a reply I got that included this sentence:

One thing is for sure...if you have never experienced being a minority, you have no idea how it is to be one. Just let it be.

I think I’ll stick with FR for awhile.


4 posted on 04/20/2007 9:28:53 AM PDT by elc (Guns kill people the same way the spoon made Rosie O'Donnell fat.)
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To: Thrownatbirth
Most people can’t distinguish Koreans from other Asians anyway.

Guilty. Twice I have discovered that acquaintances I thought were Chinese were actually Korean. There are probably other such acquaintances that will happen with in the future (unless there names are Park or Kim).

5 posted on 04/20/2007 12:26:01 PM PDT by murdoog
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