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Groove readers’ opinions and feedback. On “Korea’s black racism epidemic,” February 2014 In the past few months, a number of media outlets have published English articles detailing the issues that black people confront here in Korea. Although the focus of these articles has been on black Americans, there have also been mentions of discrimination against black Africans as well. In short, there have been enough cases of legal anti-black discrimination that now English media outlets here are beginning to cover them. The tone of the articles has been “how can we help solve this problem?” and “what can we (non-Koreans) do to help change Koreans’ minds?” Yet this is merely shifting the burden from the perpetrator to the victim — it is not the victim’s responsibility to change the perpetrator. If you aggregate the information in these articles, there is mention of discrimination in hiring practices, denying qualified (college degree, TESOL or TEFL certificate, experience) people of color with job opportunities because hagwons or schools believe that if they hire these people, parents will not send their students to them. If this is to be believed, that means that the schools are not biased, but their clients and, by extension, society is. Moreover, these articles have cited that Koreans feel negatively toward black people due to a preponderance of factors, such as Confucianism, soldiers during and after the Korean War, the 1992 LA riots, the U.S. media’s portrayal of blacks, and having an affinity toward lighter skin due to Korea’s feudal and strictly structured past during the Joseon Dynasty. While these reasons seem legitimate on the surface, when one deconstructs the logic, or lack thereof, contained within, you realize that either people are uneducated, intellectually lazy, blissfully ignorant, purposefully ignorant or a combination of all of the above. Or, what is most likely the case, people have decided that they are intellectually superior to others, and anything negative about those who they have decided they are better than can be used to justify said discrimination. Black people are not just how they are portrayed in the media. In fact, recall that the air conditioner was invented by Frederick M. Jones in 1949, the bicycle frame by L.R. Johnson in 1899, the cellular phone by Henry T. Sampson in 1971, the electric lamp bulb by Lewis Lattimer in 1882, the elevator by Alexander Miles in 1862, the fire extinguisher by T. Marshall in 1872, the fountain pen by W.B. Purvis in 1890, the golf tee by T. Grant in 1899, the gas mask by Garrett Morgan in 1914, the traffic light by Morgan in 1923, the guitar by Robert Flemming in 1886, the refrigerator by J. Standard in 1891, and the phone transmitter by Granville T. Woods in 1884. I could continue, but for time’s sake, let’s ponder where our world would be without these black people. I hope people’s opinions change, but if they do not, history and the power of the spirit of mankind will pass you by — much like Jesse Owens sprinting to four gold medals in 1936 Nazi Berlin, Tiger Woods winning the 1997 Master’s on a formerly segregated golf course in Augusta, Georgia, W.E.B. DuBois becoming the first black to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard, or Barack Obama being elected the 44th president of the United States in 2008. In short, hate could not stop black people in Africa or the United States, and it certainly will not stop us here in Korea. By Anthony C. Greene, M.S. Ed THe INBoX Orthodontic Tx.(Invisible aligner) l Bleaching Implant l Aesthetic Tx. l Petit Clinic Family Medicine l Dermatology l Plastic Surgery Caries Tx. l Prosthetic Tx. l Periodontal Tx. Root Canal Tx. l Painless Tx. Oral Surgery (Wisdom tooth extraction, Bone & soft tissue graft) Experienced doctors and staff qualifed abroad (United States and Great Britain) 2F Yanghwa Tower, 736-16 Yeoksamdong, Gangnam, Seoul Mon, Wed, Fri 10:00am ~ 6:30pm / Tue, Thu 10:00am ~ 9:00pm Sat 9:30am ~ 12:30pm / Lunch Time 12:30pm ~ 1:30pm ALL SMILeS WeLCOMe GFC Star Tower POSCO P&S Gangnam Stn. Seolleung Stn. erispomme Dental Hospital (1fl. Paris Baguette Bakery) Line2 Yeoksam Stn. eXIT 3 Yeoksam Stn. Hospital