Skip to main content

Race in Korea

A few years ago when I was active with the Harvard outreach office I was named a Harvard Graduate School of Education Goodwill Ambassador.

I read in today's Korea Times that the office of tourism in Korea is inviting foreign residents to be Tourism Ambassadors.

I guess this is a good chance to add being an ambassador not just to a school but to an entire country to my resume.

According to the article there are 1.2 million foreign residents in South Korea.

* * *

Korean Government's War on Private Education

Here's an amazing story in today's Korea Herald about the government's ongoing war against private education in South Korea.

Can you imagine any level of government in the U.S. having to pass laws to prevent people from studying after 10 p.m.? One thing we do have in America is Midnight Basketball, than you Bill Clinton, in some urban areas.

I do wonder just how late Koreans would pay for education if the government didn't crackdown on such education services.

* * *

Private institutes and profiling

A person of "Indian decent" [sic] in a Henry Louis Gates state of mind asks: "Am I being rejected strictly because of my race?" The person is trying to get a job in South Korea teaching English.

By the way, I'm not trying to make fun of the writer's spelling, it may have just been an editing mistake.

The ask the expat answers in today's Korea Herald:

1) "Korean society is slowly working toward racial tolerance, but still appears to be some time away."

2) "Well, it's all about enrollment, money, stereotypes, fear and mothers. Perception is king and while the average mother doesn't have anything against non-Caucasians, she is more comfortable with what she knows and likely prefers her child to be taught by a white teacher."

Then, the expat writes:

An example is a private school in Dobong-gu, Seoul that two weeks ago put up an
ad on a popular job site for foreign teachers. The ad read, "American or
Canadian, if possible American, black is okay, but not 100 percent black." The
school was forced to remove the explicit rejection of "100 percent blacks" in an
updated job advertisement recently.

The expat then gives some advice: 1) Apply directly to schools rather than using recruiters 2)
Play the game but recognize the cost of using recruiters. 3) Don't assume the worst, because it isn't just race but being different that gets one eliminated from resume pool.

A couple of random thoughts:

* It is easy to beat up on Korean mothers for wanting white teachers. But then, I've been out with people at restaurants who don't feel like they are eating "authentic" Chinese food if the cook isn't Chinese. I suspect that my best friend, a black man who is a trained chef, can probably outcook most Chinese people when it comes to Chinese food. Not sure what should be done about people's personal preferences.

* I've actually had a manager at an institute ask me if I knew any white American teachers she could hire. I said that I couldn't recommend anyone for a position I'm unqualified to fill. She answered that I'm too expensive and overqualified, that she would love to have me teach at her institute. She said she didn't have anything against black people or any people in general but that as manager of her institute she had to respond to the wishes of her customers. Her adult students and the parents of children complain when they hire Africans, Brits, Europeans.

* I'm not the darkest brother in the world so I often have people asking me what my race is. Asians, the police and black people are pretty consistent in labeling me as black. Latinos often disagree. A little while ago when I was the lead instructor of an intensive three-day English language seminar the Korean recruiter who set up the whole thing explained to the teachers and students that "Casey's black, but he's not really black. When you see him, you won't even recognize that he's black." A Korean-American who was going to be working with me on the project later told me she couldn't wait to meet me to see what a non-black black man looked like...

* I've got Koreans grabbing my butt and trying to kiss me on the head...so I guess that race relations are improving. Yet another way I am being an international ambassador!

* A few weeks ago when I was hanging with a colleague a Korean man approached us in the subway. He said that I look like a famous actor.

My colleague (a white guy who is one of the blackest white men I've ever met) offered up Samuel L. Jackson. The Korean man disagreed, suggesting Michael Jackson. He even wanted to take a photo with me. A few days ago someone suggested that I look like Barack Obama. Another suggested Michael Jordan. I've even been compared to Mike Tyson. It seems that I look like whichever black person is in the news at that moment.

By the way, I snapped this photo earlier today: You can get a nice suntan here, at a place about a block from my apartment in Seoul.

















linked by Booker Rising

Popular posts from this blog

Scam? Yo Momma!

Note: This was originally posted shortly after Jesse Lee Peterson's book was published, reposted in 2005, and now because of a fight between black customers and a Korean merchant in Dallas, Texas. Scam? Yo Momma! During the summer of 2002 I was an observer to a dispute between the Asian owners of a Chinese takeout and some of their black customers in Washington, D.C. The month-long boycott began when a local activist accused a cook at a Chinese takeout of attempting to cook a piece of chicken he had allegedly dropped on the floor. Despite the best efforts of human rights activist Dick Gregory, popular talk-show host Joe Madison, and Rev. Walter Fauntroy, the protestors were unable to coax any media to report on the protest. On some days there were, by my unofficial count, as many as 100 people chanting songs and marching. But one key person was missing: Rev. Jesse Jackson. It was important to the foot soldiers at the boycott that someone from the media report on...

Get rid of that watermelon!

Part 1: When I was a youngster I used to collect Confederate money, posters and photographs with caricatures of blacks, and "No blacks allowed signs." I loved the money because it was a reminder of how far the sorry Confederacy had fallen. I had one poster of a dark-skinned black boy munching on a watermelon. I would look at that small poster and wonder, "What in the world is wrong with anyone wanting to eat watermelon?" Yes, white people, I'm talking to you. Your parents, grandparents, and other ancestors who thought making fun of blacks for eating watermelon were crazy ! Even people who say that nothing has changed in race relations must acknowledge that the many stereotypes of blacks are no longer prevalent. But then, there are also some ready to remind us of days-gone-by by debunking stuff that doesn't need to be debunked today. According to the Washington Post: The sound you just heard was yet another racial stereotype going kersplat ! Some ...

Thank God for the Atom Bomb

Paul Tibbets , the pilot who dropped the first A-bomb on Japan in 1945, just died at the age of 92. I agree that the dropping of the A-bombs was a proper and effective way to end WWII. The best defense I've read is Paul Fussell's "Thank God for the Atom Bomb." A couple of random thoughts about Paul Tibbets . 1) His certainty is striking. It is now so hip to be a moderate or wishy -washy. The media in particular seems to enjoy stories about American soldiers torn over the need to obey orders to fight. Tibbets would be loved today if he had expressed anguish over what he had done. In today's climate, he might even be Time Magazine's Man of the Year if he dropped the bomb in an ocean rather than obeying orders to drop it on the enemy--except that the environmentalists might then protest glorifying such an environmental hater.. 2) Soldiers who actually do their jobs—that is, eliminate the enemy—seem to play second fiddle to soldiers who get captured and must be...

Park Jin welcoming remarks to FSI (and Casey Lartigue)

  National Assembly member Park Jin makes the welcoming remarks at FSI's conference featuring North Korean diplomats. Park Jin | Greeting message to FSI and Casey Lartigue mention - YouTube

From nothing to something super special (2023-02-10)

FSI has moved into a better institutional neighborhood where we are the poorest in the area. In August 2022, I was elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Freedom Speakers International (FSI) and in January 2023 FSI achieved incorporation status in South Korea. This has meant that FSI must upgrade operations and structure and I am the one, as chairman and co-president, who will be blamed if it doesn’t happen. I really should not be the chairman, for a variety of reasons, but anyway I am. Eunkoo and I are not the typical executives of a growing organization. In addition to being mainly responsible for building and fundraising for the organization, we are the hands-on leaders who are constantly in contact with North Korean refugee speakers. We look forward to the day we can afford staff to handle many tasks. Until then we can expect to continue having more days like yesterday, even on Eunkoo’s birthday. 2023-02-10 Meeting #1: planning We started Eunkoo’s birthday with a planning...