I've already posted my ideas on racism in the USA. Actually, I linked to a post by somebody who thinks pretty much like me. Then, life in this country must be like a dream for a Korean-American, right? Since this is the least racist country in the world, this must be the best place outside of Korea for people like me to live, right?
Well, let me start by saying yes. This country is the best place for Korean-Americans to live, even better than Korea. Although I have wonderful memories of my time in the motherland I have to acknowledge that actually living there must be like hell. I really enjoyed my time in Korea because I didn't have to worry about making a living or anything like that. I was there to study Korean and to hang out, just that. It was a few months of wandering around with friends, drinking, singing in karaokes and all sorts of other entertaining activities. I didn't live in Korea, I was a visitor.
I worked for a Korean company back in Brazil. During that time we used to receive lots of visitors from our head office and I of course spent sometime talking to them. They used to tell me how competitive life is in Korea, how you have to study a lot to get in a good school and how you have to work long hours to keep your job. It makes sense, with 50 million people living in such a small peninsula, they don't have a place in the sun for everybody. You have to strive to succeed.
It's even more obvious now. If life in there wasn't unbearably competitive, why would Korea be importing mediocre Americans with a BA to teach English to their kids? Why would people spend lots of money to have their children come study here? And why would we have so many Koreans trying to move here?
I want my daughter to have a normal childhood. I don't want her to study 10 hours a day. I want her to enjoy life. So the USA is the best place to raise her. But one thing worries me these days. Should I raise her to be Korean or American?
Thinking with my heart I would love her to consider her Korean heritage a very important part of life. I don't know why it is so important for me to be Korean, but it is. It's a part of me and I can't explain how I got it. Rationally, though, why should I worry about her being Korean? Why not just raise her as what she truly is, as American as anybody born in the USA, for this is a country built by immigrants from all over the world? Why would I put this conflict in her mind while there's an easier choice?
Because she looks Korean. She doesn't look American. She's not white, she's not black, she's Asian. In every situation she is, people will always wonder where she came from, never actually accepting that she is an American, just like them.
Why is that? Why are whites and blacks accepted as Americans and we are not?
I will probably have to write more posts about this subject, just to figure it out.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
Hey Soje,
I'm not married yet and (as far as I know) I have no child. But the issue you raised is also something I think about for my future children.
I came to a conclusion that my child would raise in a way that makes him comfortable in his own self. That is, I really don't want my child to ever think that he were something he is not. In other words, I don't want for my child wish even for a moment that he was not a Korean, or he was not an American for that matter.
Practically, I think the best way to achieve that is to live in a community with a large population of Asians/Koreans, so that the child doesn't think he is the only one who stands out. That's why I really hope to move back to LA by the time I get married and have a child.
Honestly, I don't wish for it but I acknowledge that the ideal situation would be if we could let go of our "Koreanity" and embraced this new country that gives us so much, like many other immigrants have done. The problem is that since we look Asian, the ideal situation is not always possible.
Hi there,
I'm a Brazilian working for a Korean company and just started to learn Korean language - interesting to know you lived in Brazil, too. Back to your topic, I feel something similar than you when it comes to raising a child (I don't have a child yet) in Brazil. My ancestors were German and my first language was German. So I feel a lot of influence of the German culture on me, though I know I'm not a "real" German, like the ones who live in Germany. But I think it would be extremely important to pass my familiar tradition to the next generation - so I'm going to speak German at home with them. But always considering that we are Brazilians. Does it make any sense?
@franklin,
Eu entendo o que você está dizendo, mas há uma diferença fundamental entre nossas situações. Descendentes de alemães não têm feições faciais diferentes da maioria dos brasileiros. Orientais, em graus diferentes de intensidade obviamente, são sempre discriminados quando imigram para um país ocidental por causa de sua aparência "diferente", e nunca se integram totalmente à sociedade local.
Em qual empresa coreana você trabalha?
Jesus, I haven't written in Portuguese in such a long time...
Post a Comment