Black Images in Korea

ええ、なんとなく今日は疲れ切った。
こんな日々が日本語というのは頭の中には浮かばないから今日の日記はちょっと。。。

しかし書かなかったら上達しないと思うからとにかく書いてる。

今日、面白いブログの記事を読んだ。
http://metropolitician.blogs.com/scribblings_of_the_metrop/2006/02/blast_from_my_p.html

ちょっと過去のことだけど前の数年間以内には韓国でいくつもの人類差別みたいの事件があった。
多分その事件はアメリカの差別主義者に比べてそんなにイムパクトがなくてそれに韓国人に何か意味が伝えられなかったかもしれない。

まだ、それを見たら、妙の気持ちが湧き上がった。

黒人の僕にとってちょっと気になる。それで記事とコメントによると韓国人でもその行動の意味がよく理解された。

じゃ、韓国と言えばあまり知識がないけどなんとなくその記事のタイトル「黒人のカルチャー、黒人ではない」の感じがよく分てる。
僕の経験では「黒人が駄目」と言った韓国人があったけどアメリカ人の強烈な例に従わなかった。
むしろ、記事で他の書かれたのことでアメリカの一般的の白人のイメージがあこがれのものだ。
一方で黒人はマスコミの影響から悪いイメージが存在して黒人は劣等の物だ。

読んで続いたと意外に韓国のような塾でほとんどは黒人雇わなくて驚いた。
実は中国に関してそのことも聞いたけど韓国にめぐってそれは初耳だ。
なんとなくその記事の前にもその感じがしてたからあまり韓国に旅行することがあまり興味ない。

でも今は韓国が嫌いとか決して行きたくないとかのことには限らないけど行ったら僕に対して快適な状況が想像できない。
実は韓国に行きたい。うまい韓国料理食べたくていい景色を見たいだけど今、行けば不安心という事だ。

まあ、とにかく、ぜひ読んでください。

I'm pretty worn out today for seemingly no reason. In any case, when I feel like this it's pretty hard to organize my thoughts enough to write something, not to mention in Japanese. My brain simply doesn't function.

But I'm writing anyway, and I'm not going to improve if I don't write.

Anyway, i read an interesting article.


From what I've read there's been some "incidents" concerning Korean's perceptions/interpretation of Black people. This article specifically is a response to the "Bubble Girls" incident where a Korean pop group performed in black face. As the article says, even though they said it was harmless and had no intention of offending anyone, considering how close it is to actual black face it's hard to think that they couldn't know about the meaning and history behind it.

This article is shocking in my opinion, but it might not carry as much of an impact as reading about true American racism.

Regardless, something is stirred up inside me when I read this. I feel worried as a person of color.

It also seems that from the comments, they knew about the meaning of their actions and did it anyway.

Speaking on Korea, I've felt that the title of the article, "Black Culture, Not Black People" is something that I've felt about the country. In my experience I have met Koreans who have said "Black people are bad" but it doesn't really follow the fierce racism that I've seen from many of my fellow Americans.

Or rather, I've seen many Koreans that seem to revere Americans, specifically the typical "white guy" image that many foreigners see in the media. On the other hand, the media also creates a very negative image of Black people throughout the world and because of that Koreans have bought into the hype so to speak, and probably see us as inferior.

Anyway, upon reading I was also surprised to see that most Korean juku's don't hire Black people. I had actually heard about this in China, where many places looking for teachers will not hire black people and specifically say so in their ads. Somehow that wasn't particularly surprising.
But this is the first time I heard of this, and it's pretty surprising for me.

Though, I've felt this way about Korea before and because of that haven't had a pressing urge or interest to go to Korea anytime soon. Of course, because of the media's portrayal of black people around the world, their a lot of countries that make me feel this way. But on hearing this it kind of reinforces my feeling a bit.

But don't get me wrong. I actually do want to go to Korea, and I do like Korea. Just thinking about eating all kinds of Korean food makes my mouth water. But I feel that if I went...it would be a bit unsettling.

Well, please read the article.

And I just wanted to say that I was trying to kind of write about this without stepping on any "landmines" so to speak. So if you feel offended or think something is off, I apologize. I would like to think I'm a fair person and am always open to discussion.