I Witness A Hate Crime On The Subway

[Verv]

I'd never really seen an outright hate crime... I'd never seen a physical assault on another person because of their race or sexual orientation. Yet that all changed yesterday at about 5:30 PM, riding the subway, just south of Yongsan, Seoul.

Previously, my image of what a hate crime would be involved large, overbearing meat-head Nazi skinheads pounding someone into the ground. However, my first exposure ever involved a Korean man in his late fifties or early sixties attacking a Filipino man in his late twenties. The Filipino man apparently was sitting down in a subway seat and the old man demanded it from him, and even though the Filipino obliged him by getting up and moving away the man was just looking for a fight... But he made a bad choice.

I think he was unaware that he is in his older years... He immediately began losing the fight even though he sucker punched him from behind...

Myself and roughly 3-4 Koreans, and the Filipino's friend, began separating them but the Korean ajoshi would not let go and kept swearing obscenely at the Filipino. Some of the curses were obscene enough to make me even laugh at the idea of a man taking the time to develop such obscene phrases.

For a moment I thought that this was going to be typical Korean justice -- a fight breaks out, it is broken up, police might show up but no one gets in trouble. I also thought that most Koreans would not have backed up the Filipino man like such...

But some Koreans physically detained him, called the Police, and within two subway stops the old man was being escorted away by der Polizei. It warmed my heart.

As another foreigner on the train a Korean began chatting with me, and they talked about how regretful they were that this happened... Most Koreans seemed angered and shocked, and very happy that he was being arrested.

Certainly, the majority of Koreans (the overwhelming majority) are decent people who really want nothing to do with violence. However, this does highlight a certain trend that exists within the society that I would say the majority are still keen on – the notion that foreigners are lesser than Koreans. Certainly the average person has no desire to fight or to take physical action, and most people care far more for their personal lives than their politics, but I have seen enough instances to confirm that there is a deep seated trend in Koreans of all ages that incline them to racism.

Really, I want you to be aware...

This is the tip of the iceberg of north Asian racism.

I remember riding a subway by myself and suddenly having a drunk man being held back from moving towards me by other Koreans. I was talking on my phone about nothing and the next thing I know I was about to be getting assaulted by a drunk Korean for merely being there.

I've had cigarettes thrown at me, I've been spat at, I’ve been barred entrance to clubs but magically given entrance when a rich friend came and I proved I could speak Korean, (and other times when my rich, Korean friend offered to pay double we've been refused -- you cannot even buy respect in this country),I've had my girlfrined stopped and lectured for walking with me not to mention general mistreatment at restaurants ranging from refusal of service to overcharging (I've paid $40 or so for two Bourbon & Cokes before, which apparently are 'not listed on the menu' and at the same time ' no menus were available').

I've had one old man try to take down my information when I was with my girlfriend, she believed he had some sort of connection and would try to essentially get me deported under false pretenses.

I had another old woman approach some police officers on a train and say, "Do you see that white man? He has a lot of tattoos. I think he is a gangster, You should arrest him." (this was a country where people were generally arrested and interrogated for having too long of hair in the 1970s, so I can understand her primordial fascist desires which have since become illegal after the mid-eighties).

I was once sitting on a subway and an old lady began lecturing two girls who I did not know FOR SITTING NEXT TO ME. One replied, ".. We are not even talking to him. We do not know him. We just want to sit on the subway..." and she kept going on, saying, "But he is a foreigner and you girls shouldn't be sitting next to him. It’s not right for young girls to be next to foreign men like this.”

Koreans do not think I can speak the language, and I've had people make blatantly racist comments with a smile on their face, thinking they are being witty and fooling me by handing me my change and saying "Please leave our country, thank you!" I've had Koreans who are being nice to my face and speaking with me suddenly convert into Korean and tell their friend something like, "This [wash my mouth out with soap] person is [wash my mouth with even more soap because I am rude and have the psychological disorder that is racism].”

At a club I've had Korean men try to take a girl I am talking with away from me, saying to her in Korean, "It is not right for you to be with him... Come with me." (This incident has happened three times to me – of course, there are other awesome variation son this line, like, “Look, come with Oh-pah, let’s go get a drink… You don’t need him – he’s a strange man and he cannot understand what you are saying.”)

I know several white women who are routinely sexually harassed by Koreans, in one case one once had an attempted rape on her, and another had a man expose his penis to her and begin trying to hit her in the face with it while she was on the subway (what is it with these darn subways?).

... And I am white and have it 100 times better than south Asians and blacks, who are treated worse than homeless cats. I am viewed as being from a modern country and viewed as having a civilization behind me – respect is doled out to the whites on some levels, and a good portion of people are respectful… I cannot imagine some of the hardships others endure.

I'd like you to ask Koreans and Japanese about their racism.

I know they carry out racism abroad as well as at home -- I've first hand experienced some interesting reactions with Korean-Americans and I'm well aware of the insulation of their communities within the US. I've witnessed corruption within the military where Korean workers defraud the government to benefit one another (do not worry, the next one I see is going to be officially reported). If whites were to give each other benefits and turn blind eyes to each others crimes it would be considered one of the gravest and most serious offenses in the eyes of the World, yet this is a daily event in north Asia and even within our militaries and societies.
And I feel what we can do together is simply ask the Koreans and Japanese we know, "So what is the deal with all of the racism in your country? Are you going to be honest with me and look me in the eye on this one, buddy?”

I have no doubt if today, in New York City, it was commonplace for Filipinos to be assaulted, yelled at, refused service, spat on, have cigarettes dropped on them, have their girlfriends verbally harassed, etc. we'd have lots of foreigners asking us "What is the deal with all this racism in America?"

So really... You need to ask them about this and see where they stand.

Anything remotely evasive should be attacked. I am certain you will get routine answers saying it does not involve them, but what it comes down to is things like “is it okay for Japanese/Koreans to marry non-Japanese/Koreans?” “Is it okay for them to marry a black or an Indonesian?”

I'd really appreciate it if you called them out -- people are literally being assaulted in this country and hate crimes are being committed. In Yeosu, South Korea 19 immigrants were held in substandard conditions and when a fire broke out at their detention facility they all died, and no one has been held accountable even though there are even theories that they purposefully weren't saved.

We are impressed with their society and their culture, we accept them as exchange students and in many ways embrace them into our societies... Yet most people are totally unaware of the racism they are partial to, and the general elitism… It is unacceptable in our society, and we pressure other societies to change and to modernize, yet not theirs.

Witnessing a hate crime on the subway was sort of my last straw on the issue. I am fed up with what I have endured, as well, but when I witness something like this it is just crazy.

Literally, it is a society that modernized with American money, was saved by the Allies in WWII and was saved by British and American forces during the Korean war... And this is the extent to which they are grateful? Throwing cigarettes at me, spitting on me, trying to fight me in a subway, harassing my girlfriend, overcharging me, barring me from their clubs, refusing me service?

It may seem irrelevant to you but one day you may have some friends coming to live here for a while, or coming for a visit. It seems irrelevant, but really, we are all humans, are we not?

Honestly, one of the last fortresses of racism is north Asia, and it's got to stop.

We need to call them out -- let's do it together. I've had enough.

I want the society to be put under a microscope and be held accountable the same way that racist, white nations were held accountable for the longest time. The double standard is pretty ridiculous and the question needs to be raised.

 

[KittyPryde]

Nice essay. Yes, racism and bigotry is a plague of the world.

I hope these cases you site are the exception, not the norm of the South Korean population.

 

[meebs]

Rascism is always under the skin of every nation and occasionaly it pops up it's ugly head like a nasty spot. Personaly i don't understand it or the reasons behind it but i acknowledge it's existance. I was very saddened to read this story and those actions people took.

There are groups and organisations that try to help stamp out rascism in their own countries and the world. The way forward could be perhaps education and better laws. Teach the younger generation.

And you are right, after all, we are all human - whether black, white, Asian, Native American, Latino, Philipino, Japanese, Russian, British, American, French etc...

Now im gonna admit, i have heard and laughed at "ethnic" jokes though personaly - it could be anti-political correctness on my part - never out of spite and anger, but i hate it when it comes down to the raw voilence, spite and anger and even name calling hatred and the "this person is different and therefore not worthy cos he/she has a different skin color/comes from a different bit of land to me" kind of rascism.

I'd join an anti-rascist group myself though at the moment the one based in my country does not have a very good campaign strategy.

Anyone know of any good, international and intelligent groups?

 

[Museveni]

Personaly i don't understand it or the reasons behind it but i acknowledge it's existance.

Usualy comes down to two things.

1) Belief that ones "race" or Culture is superior for various reason. Ranging from everything to"we created the civilized world" argument from white people to the "We got the biggest dicks" of the african community and religeous racism, "look at those primitive Muslims with their woman hating and primitive ways".

2) General distrust of strangers. If a person has problems accepting strangers around them then they are bound to be even more distrustful of people from another "race".

Are ofcourse other reasons if you dig deeper but these two and the most mentioned. Grew up in a city that is abit of a "hub" for refuges and immigrants aswell as the (former) mainseat for several racist and nazi organisations so I've seen my fair share of racial violence and intolerance.

 

[RealityCheck]

I know this is going to sound silly but your story reminded me of this:

A local radio station has a rather inane "call-in" program, in which, for whatever reason, people call in to the DJs for advice. Now, calling a DJ for advice on relationships or other serious matters probably sounds pretty stupid, but anyway...

Recently, a Korean couple called, asking for advice on how to handle their daughter (this is in the U.S., btw), who does not want to date Korean boys despite the parents' attempts to hook her up, and only wants to date white boys. They were really broken up about it, and wanted to know how they should handle it - insist she can't date until she's 18 (she's 17 now), let her date whom she wants, etc.

It was very clear that this Korean couple felt torn between trying to help her daughter fit into American culture without sacrificing their Korean culture - but did not recognize the racism inherent in their attitude.

Anyway...

 

[kopilo]

I have no time for racists in my life, it's rather obvious that they suffer from some mental abnormality when they judge people on something the person has no control over.

 

[Verv]

Interesting story reality check... A lot of people do not understand that at any time ever proposing that one be racially/ethnically exclusive is absurd.

I am certain a lot of us have laughed at racist/ethnic jokes, but the fact that we feel comfortable even laughing at jokes at our own race/ethnicity sort of proves that they are more for comic relief. I am not so serious that I would preclude joking about...

But it is a serious issue when people are routinely mistreated.

 

[BenL]

Let me start by saying I appreciate your stance against racism; I wish more people would take n interest in such a common problem.

That said, I'm afraid your story sort of disproves your premise. You said: "We need to call them out", but there is no "them", just 40-odd million individual South Koreans. And for all the trappings of racism you may be able to find in Korea, it pales in comparison to the ongoing machinery of oppression we in the US enjoy. Indeed, they are two entirely different phenomena and it seems unfair to condemn the one while ignoring the other.

In the US, we have a large, societally-sanctioned under class that has been here for generations. The underclass' position is fixed about as firmly as the Indian caste system we like to rail against.

Korea on the other hand is not so used to dealing with different ethnicities and, whatever prejudices any Korean may-- or as you showed may not-- hold, they cannot be held up as the product of an oppressive society. Without excusing them in any way, I will say they are the views of those ignorant of other ethnicities. US citizens are frequently in contact with people of a different ethnicity and yet persist in upholding ignorant views and ultimately an oppressive system. This sort of ignorance is more than superficial.

In fact, I lived in Korea for 2-1/2 years and found Koreans by-and-large to be nothing but perfectly friendly and accommodating. What I did on those few occasions when prejudices did surface was simply to state my belief that they were garbage. That gets people to reconsider their own prejudices, even if saving face means they never admit it.

Finally, I don't pretend to judge entire societies. I may be wrong about the US and Korea, although I think the facts back me up. Actually, I doubt you could find many US citizens who are actively, knowingly racist. It's just that, in broad view, I don't think we have any moral basis to attack the Korean system.

 

[Verv]

I uphold what I previously said, and I feel that the society is getting off quite easy by you.

Racism is socially acceptable -- I can cite countless incidences of non-whites and non-north Asians being written off as lesser than them from a scientific viewpoint. I'll try to get you some documentation on it...

Also, check out the 먼나라 이웃나라 series (Far Countries, Near Countries); in it they suggest that the United States is controlled by Jews (who of course run the world economy according to the book).

To put it bluntly: it is engrained in Korean society to be racist and they even base it off of pseudo-sciences.

Writing someone off as lower than them in a public way is acceptable...

Try doing that in the United States.