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What do you know about Korean AMERICANS?

NODUTDOL - NY

KIWA - LA

K A History 101:Then & Now

Contributed by Seung-Eun Chai, Hye Young Choi, Jee Eun Kim

Chosun (the mother land)• The Korean peninsula is surrounded by three world

powers: China, Russia and Japan.• Throughout its history, Korea has been invaded over

900 times and many Koreans have felt it necessary to fiercely defend their identity as a separate culture, leading to quite nationalistic values.

• Due to its central position on the globe, it has been used as a political pawn. At the end of WWII, without the consent of the Korean people, the US and the Soviet Union divided Korea at the 38th parallel into two zones of occupation – a Soviet controlled north and a US controlled south.

• The result of this geopolitical chess game resulted in the Korean War (1950-53) and the longest war in history (to this day, the country is still under cease-fire agreement).

Occupation/Colonization (1910-45)• Korea was occupied and colonized by Japan.• Although some improvements/modernization were

made, Korea did not reap the benefits. Eg., Japan used half of the Korean rice crops for its own industry and most farmers were forced off their land.

• All Korean schools & temples were controlled by the Japanese where Koreans were forced to worship at Shinto shrines, speak Japanese in schools and adopt Japanese names. Japan also prevented them from publishing Korean newspapers and organizing intellectual and political groups.

• Several Koreans sought independence and worked ‘underground’ organizing movements toward winning back a Korean republic (e.g., Kim Il Sung).

Immigration (early 1900s)• The history of Koreans in America began when some

7000 Koreans were recruited and brought to Hawai’i as plantation laborers from 1903-1905.

• They were brought to meet the labor demand in the Hawaiian plantations after a series of laws barred Chinese labor immigration.

• About 1100 Korean’ picture brides’ were also brought in to appease lonely Korean bachelors.

• These brides were better educated than their male partners and took an active part in the Korean Independence movements.

• Students and political exiles constituted the 3rd group of early Korean immigrants – the most famous being Syngman Rhee, who later became the first president of the Republic of Korea.

• Most Koreans left seeking better living conditions and to escape Japanese persecution.

Immigration (1950s)• American intervention in the Korean War

triggered the next wave of Korean immigration.

• American soldiers stationed in Korea brought home Korean brides, arranged adoptions (which arguably started the commodification of orphans), and sponsored students to come to the US.

• The number of Koreans who have immigrated as adoptees or brides since the Korean War numbers 100,000+ for each group.

Immigration (post 1965)• After 1965, students-turned professionals were

able to apply for permanent residence visas.• Since 1970, close relatives of permanent

residents or citizens have comprised an overwhelming majority of the Korean immigrants coming to America.

• Today, there are over 1.6 million Koreans living in the US (2010 census) with the majority living in Southern California and in the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania area.

• Koreans, more than other AAPIs (except for maybe the Vietnamese), have been quicker to disperse themselves across the wider regions of the US, most remarkably in the South.

Acculturation/Assimilation?• Coming from a traditional society greatly

influenced by the Confucian principle of placing elders, family & community before the individual, Korean immigrants have struggled to make sense of the American concept of individual freedom.

• Support organizations like churches and Korean schools have helped to fill this cultural gap.

To know Han is to know Koreans• A unique Korean cultural trait denoting a collective

feeling of oppression and isolation in the face of overwhelming odds.

• Theologian, Suh Nam-dong describes it as: a feeling of unresolved resentment against injustices suffered, a sense of helplessness because of the overwhelming odds against one, a feeling of acute pain in one’s guts and bowels, making the whole body writhe and squirm, and an obstinate urge to take revenge and to right the wrong – all these combined.

• This is a trait that is believed to have been passed down from generations.

• Literature, poetry, art, songs (e.g., Arirang, and folk songs similar in spirit to African American spirituals and blues) and Korean dramas are based on Han.

Arirang – Han, the musical• Professor Oh-sweetandtasty (video)

• Chang Sa Ik-folk singer (video)

Entrepreneurship• The1997 US Economic Census stated that

with more than 155,000 businesses, Koreans ranked 3rd among AAPIs, after the Chinese and Indians.

• Their tendency to enter into business is one of the highest among all minority ethnic/racial groups.

Why small business?• Aside from potential profitability, many Korean

immigrants faced status inconsistency and self-esteem issues after arriving in the USA.

• The majority of Korean immigrants earned college degrees and/or held professional jobs before moving.

• Language and cultural barriers forced them to take lower status and less rewarding jobs, so they looked into operating their own businesses, albeit, often in risky and difficult neighborhoods and environments.

• To compete successfully, Korean small business owners (usually a husband and wife team) worked long hours with no vacations or weekends off, and utilized family labor – kids).

Prejudice & Stereotypes• Early Korean immigrants suffered discrimination much like

the Chinese & Japanese but weren’t specifically targeted until they became a significant percentage of the population.

• Most Americans didn’t (and still don’t) know much about Koreans.

• When Jack London was a correspondent covering the Russo-Japanese conflict in 1904 for the SF Examiner, he wrote the Korean is the perfect type of inefficiency-of utter worthlessness.

• Like other immigrants, they’ve been accused of stealing jobs and often receive lower pay and getting fewer promotions.

• There were false rumors that Korean immigrants were given money by the US government upon arrival.

• The view of Korean Americans as ‘super immigrants’ has caused discord and resentment, which resulted in boycotts against Korean greengrocers in various cities.

• Do the Right Thing (1989) (video clip)

Sa-I-Gu (4-2-9 or 4/29)• The date referring to the 1992 Los Angeles Riots

following the unfair acquittal of police officers on trial regarding a videotaped police brutality incident of Rodney King.

• Black rioters targeted Korean grocers, destroying countless Korean American businesses. Many felt unprotected by law enforcement and some tried to take matters into their own hands.

• Korean immigrants came to represent wealth, greed, materialism and arrogance because of having started businesses in inner-city neighborhoods that were abandoned by corporations.

• People often use the Korean small business person as a scapegoat for their anger against corporate America.

• Ishle Park-spoken word poet (video)

Sa-I-Gu Aftermath• KAs faced physical, emotional and psychological

despair. Their stores were looted or burned, contributing to nearly half of all damages caused by the riot.

• However, this trauma created a positive moment as KAs began to establish their political and social empowerment.

• A week after the riots, the largest Asian Am protest ever held in a city, about 30,000 mostly Korean and KA marchers walked the streets of LA Koreatown calling for peace and denouncing police violence.

• It created a new form of leaders in which 2nd generation KA children spoke on behalf of the community.

• KAs saw a shift in occupation goals from storeowners to political leaders.

Who are we today?

I am Korean: Family (video)

Our stories continued…•Hye Young Choi•Jee Eun Kim•Desun Oka