Diversity Statement - I am Korean

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Diversity Statement - I am Korean

My first interaction with the cruelty of the "real" world was in fourth grade, in a small suburban town in South Carolina.

"You Chinese freak! Come on, use your karate against me!" boys would shout mockingly, then start spouting phrases of nonsense as if they meant something. Pshaw. I was, am and will always proudly be a Korean.

When I interact with new people, they spend their time guessing my heritage. Chinese and Japanese are always the first nationalities they guess. Others who are familiar with people of my ancestry catch on more quickly. And then there are those who automatically assume. A very small number of people can guess correctly on their first try.

We live in a country that drills into our heads ideas about freedom and equality. Wars have been fought, violence has been used and many have suffered so that this country can live up to its ideals. Could such a great country make false promises and hopes? Perhaps, because, after all, the U.S. is run by humans, and that means mistakes will be made. But shouldn't the U.S. have learned its lesson by now and not make the same mistakes repeatedly?

In 1997, a Civil Rights lawsuit against the City of Atlanta was brought by Korean-American store owners about riots that took place in their business. Police watched the destruction and did nothing. The city's attorney argued that the Federal Civil Rights statues were written exclusively for the protection of African-Americans, not other minorities, including Korean-Americans. Atlanta's position in this matter was rejected by the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, but many are appalled that a city so involved in civil rights could hold such an insulting view against our "certain unalienable rights." Their view was not only discrimination against Korean-Americans, but against descendants of other minority groups residing, visiting or working around Atlanta.

Koreans, as well as other minorities in Atlanta, might have to deal with the fear that we will not be protected by the laws of the city because of prejudice. Signs of prejudice are everywhere.

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