Less than two weeks! Saying good-bye can be difficult but I'm ready to go home. I'm ready to return to the U.S. for a while. Lately I have felt stuck in time and therefore have not wanted to blog. The eclipse was today and the light which was created from it was pretty amazing. It changed the color of everything. Speaking of color changing, a friend of mine told me a story the other day about something her Korean boss asked her to do. She works at a Hogwan outside of Seoul, she used to work at my workplace but she quit after three months because it wasn't what she was expecting. Turns out the job she went to after wasn't what she was expecting either. She has a master's in education and I think she came to Korea expecting something else than what she found when it comes to the educational system here. So what did her boss ask her to do? Nothing sexual, but before I tell you it's important that you know she's a blue eyed, blond hair white girl from Ohio. Why is this important? I'm getting to that. Her boss dropped off a stack of resumes at her desk and asked her to go through the applicants. He told her to throw away the ones with black people.
Now, I can hear you thinking. How the hell would she know if the person applying for a job was black or not? Would she go through the names and guess. "Shaniquwa Jones", "eliminated!" "Tyrone Jackson", "I don't' think so Mr. Jackson, not in my school!" No, she wasn't expected to look at names and guess because in Korea, you have to submit a picture of yourself along with your resume and qualifications. Everybody who has worked in Korea already knows that Koreans doing the hiring want to know if you are black or white. Unless you are in some serious denial about how things work here, every foreign teacher knows this is the reason why you submit pictures. Pictures are required. It's bullshit actually and totally discriminatory. That said, if the United States could get away with it I have suspicions they would do the same thing.
So my friend Missy was asked by her boss to go through the resumes and just look at the pictures and throw out the ones with dark faces. He said and I quote "I need a blond one or else parents won't keep sending their kids here." I'll take a moment while you get your "what the fucks" out of the way. Korea is an interesting place to be a foreigner. White skin is king in this land. The darker you are the lower you are. Does every Korean feel this way? No. Do a lot of Koreans feel this way? Yes. And in a land that has as many people as Korea has in such a small space, these beliefs can get thick.
The Korean working environment is openly racist at times and I can appreciate that. I'll say it again, I can appreciate that. It comes from ignorance, fear and an unwillingness to step outside ones comfort zone but I appreciate the openness of it. It turns my stomach of course and if I had hair I'm sure I'd want to pull it out but I am one who appreciates honesty. Those of you who know me know that I am a huge fan of honesty. If this happened more openly in the states people would lose money left and right. Why? Because there is no way I'm going to give my money knowing to a business that is bigoted and racist.
Back to my friend Missy. After her boss asked her to do this she told him she was uncomfortable with the assignment. He asked her why. He seriously did not understand what the problem was. And there in lies the problem. He honestly didn't see that there was anything wrong with what he was doing and what he had asked her to do. Now, I don't know how many of you out there have taught in Korea or had friends who taught in Korea but it is not all shits and giggles here. It has been an amazing and frustrating experience for me. As with any place I've been treated poorly and with kindness. But don't get it twisted, my experience as a black person is not the same as a white person, just like my experience as a male in Korea would not be the same as a female.
If you ignore the American army there just are not that many black people in this country. It's like I'm back in my liberal arts college again. We are few and far between. So, I have gone out with groups of friends and been the only black face around. One of the most interesting experiences happened a couple of months ago and I don't think I ever wrote about it. I was meeting some friends for late dinner in Ilsan which is a city near my workplace. When I arrived one of my guy friends was pissed off and another friend of mine was sitting on a bench crying. Everyone else just looked annoyed and frustrated. When I asked them what happened they told me this story. Keep in mind that everyone in the group was a white Canadian, South African or American.
They showed up at this Korean restaurant to have drinks and eat some food. There were six people and they were seated right away. After sitting down for five minutes with no service a man came up to them and asked them to leave. He said in broken English that the place was closing. They looked around and saw other Korean people eating. Never mind the fact that Korean restaurants stay open late as hell. Anyways, the group got up and walked outside. I was still on my way to meet them at this point. Now, while they were waiting for me they watched several Koreans in a period of ten minutes walk into the restaurant sit down and start eating and drinking. I guess they have never experienced discrimination on this level and they were all thrown off. When I arrived and they told me the story I think they were waiting for a reaction that never came. Of course I felt frustrated but I wasn't surprised. I realize this next statement might prevent me from being appointed to the supreme court one day but I think growing up black gives you a special insight to the way the world works. I said it! Senator, I did not mean to imply that black people are better than other people and I'm sorry if you took it that way.
Side note: Am I the only one that finds it ironic that the dudes grilling nominee Sotomayor about her views on race and decision making are some of the most bigoted dudes in the Republican Party? Senator Sessions straight up does not like people of color. Dudes history is full of comments and writings to prove that. But he kept trying to come back to the "wise Latina" comment. We all sit there and pretend like these questions coming from these men are appropriate. I've been able to watch and read some of the comments they have made and it stinks of racism, sexism and just plain ignorance, but I guess that's politics folks. Anyways, got off topic, just needed to vent about that a little bit. Back to my white friends getting kicked out of a restaurant...
I could sympathize with them but I didn't' have the same outrage that they felt. I think I've been desensitized to that kind of shit. But one thing I didn't do was the classic response people who can't really relate have. I didn't say "yeah but..."
I fucking hate the "yeah, but" response. I've never understood why it's so hard for some people to admit that sometimes a duck is a freaking duck. They always wanna make an excuse for the inexcusable. "Yeah but maybe he shot you because your wallet looked like a gun in your pocket." "Maybe you shouldn't have been carrying your wallet on you."
I can't wait for the days when we can just hate people for being assholes. Race, religion, political affiliation, sex, socio-economic status, size, orientation, etc. these things should not matter any more. Sometimes I think if humans were born with no eyes and no voice we would learn to hate each other over different smells. I hope we are better than that. Some days...I'm just not sure.
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