By Jay Kim

After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, U.S. legislatures passed dozens of strict laws against racial discrimination. It was believed that only strong punishment could solve the problem of discrimination, and such an approach was a hot-button topic during that time.

White supremacist organizations like the KKK and American Nazi Party were still in existence. Even during the 1950s, blacks had to sit in the back seats of a bus, and there were restaurants that publicly displayed signs expressing that blacks were not welcomed.

Asians of the time were also ridiculed through insulting behavior and even subject to violence, although not at the same level as blacks.

These are all just things of the past. Of course, people say that invisible racial discrimination still exist in American society, but the episodes of discrimination against Asians have almost disappeared.

It is true that the United States has improved on the problem of racial discrimination more than any other country in the world. Now the U.S. has a black president.

Twenty years ago, I received a call the very next day after my announcement that I was running for the House of Representatives. It was a threat. The caller told me that Asians like me should hurry back to their countries and live there instead of here, since the U.S. is a country for white people.

However, 620,000 constituents of my district believed in me and selected me as their representative for the House, instead of 13 white candidates who had fancier careers than mine.

Twenty years after my election, Danny Chen, a 19-year-old Chinese-American who was a U.S. Army private, committed suicide in Afghanistan last October. The insults, racial slurs and physical abuse that Chen’s fellow soldiers inflicted on him just for the reason that he was an Asian led to his suicide.

Chen was born in the U.S., and was a U.S. citizen. He grew up poor, as the only son of a father who works as a cook in a Chinese restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown and a mother who works at a sewing factory. Last April, Lance Corporal Harry Lew from California committed suicide in Afghanistan because of hazing and racial slurs from his fellow marines.

These are really unbelievable tragedies. There was a news report that these tragedies are happening because the quality of soldiers has deteriorated from the days when soldiers were drafted, as many young people who are full of discontent from not being able to enter colleges volunteer to serve in the military.

What about Korea? Cases of suicide caused by bullying and hazing have been visibly increasing. The total number of cases of school violence last year is 7,823, and the number of cases in middle schools is 5,376, which makes up 69 percent of total cases.

Experts point out that bullying in middle schools is the most violent and cruel. A 14-year-old middle school student committed suicide because of bullying from his classmates in Daegu on Dec. 20. Two days after, another 14-year-old middle school student chose to kill himself in Gwangju because of bullying.

Such an act of bullying is an immoral behavior which was not imaginable even a few years ago. It seems that people are becoming more heartless. The only solution is strict punishment.

Twenty years ago, the 42nd Street in New York City was a breeding ground of crime, full of addicts and prostitutes. However, after the announcement of the war against crime, New York has changed under the strict law. People would be surprised by the change now.

A few days ago, there was a new report that the average life expectancy of New Yorkers is longer than others by 2.1 years. Maybe, a law-abiding society without crimes may make its people live longer.

Jay Kim is a former U.S. congressman. He serves as chairman of the KimChangJoon US-Korea Foundation. For more information, visit Kim’s website (www.jayckim.com). The views expressed in the above article are the author’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of The Korea Times.