It's complicated
By Casey Lartigue
I occasionally receive emails from black people asking what type of experience they can expect in Korea. I start with the parable of Socrates at the gates of Athens talking with travelers interested in immigrating to the city.
Cleverly utilizing the Socratic method, Socrates turned the question around, asking the travelers about their previous cities. Hearing the first man rant about the people there, Socrates advised him not to enter because he would find similar people in Athens.
A second man, who came by later, heaped lavish praise on people in his previous city. Socrates welcomed him, saying the man would find similar people in Athens.
Instead of looking backward as Socrates did in the parable, I make two predictions when responding to blacks seeking my guidance about entering the gates of Korea: You will get discriminated against. You can have some amazing experiences with some fantastic people here. Which group is most worth focusing your time on?
When I was an English teacher here in the 1990s, it did seem that Korea was xenophobic, racist and nationalistic, “the armpit of the world” according to the first black person I met here. Before moving here for the first time, I had been warned by Koreans and whites that I would get discriminated against. I encountered some ignorance, but also was surrounded with so much love from so many Koreans that I had trouble focusing on bigots. I returned to the United States for 12 years, then came back to a different, more culturally open Korea.
I warn emailers that some black people disagree with me. People demanding change want it now, even when tackling grandiose endeavors like eliminating racism and global warming.
Reporters and social media junkies want the snapshot answer to the question “Are Koreans racist?” when it is a fluid and complicated situation involving almost 50 million. Korea can be tough, for Koreans as well as non-Koreans.
You’re invited to sit anywhere, even though the culture has a fixed seating chart. Foreigners have honorary seats, but your place isn’t really here, you just decide if you will make yourself comfortable anyway.
Non-Koreans aren’t seriously considered for most jobs outside of teaching. Universities and English language institutes typically have trouble digesting more than one black English teacher at a time. And that’s the case after recent progress.
When blacks ask about my situation, I tell them that unlike America, I can be sure in Korea that my race lacks an affirmative action asterisk. I have created three different jobs for myself in Korea and have many loving Koreans around me.
Still, I couldn’t dismiss a friend’s cynical suggestion that my latest project could attract more financial support if we had a white person as the public face.
There are many challenges with leading a project in a foreign country. Instead of blaming race, I may need to get smoother at networking with wealthy Koreans and learn to speak Korean fluently. Whatever, Socrates wouldn’t have stopped me, I’m already inside the gate.
The writer is executive director of the Teach North Korean Refugees Education Center at American Orientalism University. He can be reached at CJL@post.harvard.edu.