Link: Biracial Koreans

This is a topic that interests me. It’s something that I wasn’t very aware of until I started blogging. I had a vague idea that things weren’t one hundred percent, but until I started reading about Hines Ward, I didn’t realize how bad the situation had become.

The article “Treatment of Biracial Korean a national disgrace” by Gwon Su-hyeon intrigued me on more than one level. First I am always amazed how concerned everyone is by external looks (and I am looking at other countries with same sense of amazement).

The Hankyoreh - Gwon Su-hyeon (see full article link above) Helping these Kosian children become more like wholly ethnic Koreans in terms of language and education is not going to change the color of their skin, so it's not going to eradicate the estrangement they face in Korean society. In the end, the key problem is the discriminatory way Koreans view appearances. ...Contempt, alienation, and poverty lead to crime, and these individuals will gradually become a group marginalized in society.

We can not point our fingers at Korea and wonder how they could let this happen. The United States history is full of similar experiences. I especially see it now when some people speak of residents who immigrated here from the Middle East or Central America. For some, the place that the immigrated from automatically makes them a second class citizen. We always ask which came first, the chicken of the egg. The author points out that Korea should take note of what happened in France with the recent riots. Perhaps we should all take note.

The Hankyoreh - Gwon Su-hyeon (see full article link above) In Ten Thousand Sorrows: The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan, the biracial author Elizabeth Kim, who was adopted in the United States after being born in Korea, makes a few requests of U.S. society regarding the way it treats its foreign adoptees. She suggests that instead of forcing them to completely adapt to mainstream white U.S. society, adoptive parents should try to understand the cultural shock their children are going through, and that there isn't anything wrong with them that requires that they change.

Her exotic appearance meant she was teased everywhere. In Korea, her Western appearance made people treat her like an animal, even throw stones at her. In the U.S., she was looked down on because of her Asian features. ...

I think that most people hope to find a place where they belong. The question is why should anyone have to sacrifice who they are or what they look like in order to belong? So, while Gwon Su-hyeon calls the treatment of biracial Koreans a national disgrace, perhaps we all need to take a look at what could be better described as a global disgrace.

If you would like to comment, but not on this site, please e-mail me at adoptkoreablog@adoptionmail.com.