<p>i wasn’t quite sure where i could post this but i have to say it.</p>
<p>In the korean news, they are showing pictures and videos of hatred of american toward koreans right now.</p>
<p>donuts shops and dry cleaners are getting vandalized, bricks thrown through windows, ppl getting beat up. and other profession where korean cultures are inbedded.</p>
<p>As a korean, i am ashamed of this event, but i DO NOT feel obliged to be the “victim” of this event.</p>
<p>i even heard that small factions of koreans in VT are transferring out of the school b/c of fear. I even also heard, (although not mentioned in american news) that korean president is giving apology to the U.S. </p>
<p>i wish the koreans at VT live peacefully and live not through hostility</p>
<p>I am not trying to be stereotypical, but it seems no american know about the apology the korean president is making. While all the koreans are angry b/c our president is apologizing. </p>
<p>I’m not quite sure where you can get it, but i watched the korean news. I 'm not sure where you can get it. srry</p>
<p>I have been monitoring the Korean press (in both Korean and English), and I have not seen anything reporting retaliation/backlash against Koreans. One of the major Korean news outlets (not saying which) posted that the parents committed suicide 12 hours after the event, so I’m finding the credibility of some of these news reports questionable…</p>
<p>I am sorry if anything of this sort is happening. I do not believe the Korean president owed anyone an apology, other than the same apologies and sentiments all of us are giving to the victims of this tragedy. That the young man happened to be Korean instead of British, German, Australian or Iraqui is not an issue.</p>
<p>If there were violent acts against the Korean community, I agree with others that the new stations would have been all over it. In this large gathering, nobody has heard of any incidents either. I’m sure there is fear, but I believe and pray that it is unfounded.</p>
<p>I would not be surprised. We are Chinese living in Centreville. The day Cho’s name was announced, our phone was non stop that we finally took it off the hook for the day. Calls continued the last two days. If it does not stop, we will contact the authorities. We had calls from the news media, church members offering condolences, planks calls, abusive and insulting calls…</p>
<p>That remains to be seen. Korean immigrants are known for the pressure-cooker environment that is much, much likelier to be imposed on their children than those of other minorities. This is reflected in their college admissions results, among other things. Whether the VT murders are related to the killer’s nationality is not a question that can be answered pre-emptively in the negative.</p>
<p>Living in unprecendented prosperity, Americans do not understand the extreme difficulties the Korean people experienced over the past 70 years. American understanding of Korean and Chinese history and culture is very very limited. </p>
<p>As the Cho family seems unable to deliver condolences, I am not surprised that national Korean figures are stepping into that role. In doing so, they are placing the sorrow of the families first and that is commendable in my opinion–and very Korean.</p>
<p>After Columbine, the nation picked apart the alienating factors in white suburban society. That is going to happen again–but this time there will be a national discussion of the alienating factors, if any, in Asian American societies–and the willful blind ambition that led the Cho family and Westfiled High School to send that extremely disturbed boy away from his home to a huge state college in a very rural, non-Asian location.</p>
<p>That discussion is part and parcel of American society. I am sure that discussion will be very uncomfortable for the majority of Asian Americans–and very foreign too. Keep in mind that Americans are very rational people who like to dissect the ‘cause’ of events. The conclusions drawn by the various discussions may feel extremely judgmental especially as Koreans are a more emotional people. Hopefully Korean Americans will realize that the dissection is merely a cultural event, a rationale exercise for the American people and not a judgment directed at their society. In the main, most Americans understand it as such. There will be bigots who do not, however.</p>
<p>It seems some of the post asks me for my source of information.</p>
<p>It isn’t just random BS i’m creating up to dramatize the issue</p>
<ol>
<li>My barber is korean and she told me her friends shops been thrown bricks at NY</li>
<li>The Korean president is apologizing to U.S president. I have not confirmed this information but i hae heard it from 5 different koreans. and they were pretty mad that the president have to apologize for it. and not to make assumptions,but i’m positive its true.</li>
</ol>
<p>BUT! if my information comes out to be incorrect, i do sincerely apologize for misunderstanding and decepting(?) on my part. But i say it again, i 'm not pulling story out of my butt. and there is good chances its true.</p>
<p>p.s: when i said i was ashamed it was just figurative thing, i’m not ashamed as in i take resposibility of his action</p>
<p>And what about immigrants from China, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, etc. and Caribbean and African nations where parents also place a lot of emphasis on academic achievment?</p>
<p>And if anything, the “pressure-cooker” environment is significantly greater in South Korea where it is much more difficult to get into a top university - and yet, there has never been a mass shootings at any high schools or universities over there (in contrast to the about dozen or so in the US).</p>
<p>In addition, according to Cho’s relatives in Korea, he, at a young age, already showed signs of having an anti-social/mental disorder and he very much was culturally an American - according to his roommates, Cho listened primarily to Led Zeppelin, Guns & Roses, Nirvana, Collective Soul, etc. and was evidently influenced by Columbine (in his manifesto, Cho referred to the Columbine killers as “martyrs”).</p>
<p>Do a little more research and think about this kind of stuff more deeply before you post a rather surperficial and insipid “analysis.”</p>
<p>Your post was the first I’ve heard of any violence against Koreans. We’re in southern VA, about 3-4 hrs from VT, and there was an article in this morning’s paper in which a number of local Korean residents expressed concern about a possible backlash, but I hadn’t heard of any actual acts of violence. I’m really sorry about bricks being thrown at your friends’ shops. I don’t doubt it happened; there are stupid people everywhere. But I really don’t think it’s typical of the American response. Quoting this morning’s article:</p>
<p>“…most (people) don’t see it as a Korean attacking Americans …(as much as)…a really messed-up guy doing a terrible thing.” </p>
<p>I believe the paper in Chantilly, VA (where Cho was from) characterized him as a “local boy” - one of their own.</p>
<p>The article this morning also said that President Roh Moo-hyun had offered his condolences, but didn’t characterize it as an apology.</p>
<p>sial, I was listening to the radio yesterday fro people working at a Korean Radio station in LA…your initial post was way out of wak for what is going on</p>
<p>Korea is a proud and stoic nation, and felt a public shame that one of their “own” would do this, there was no reason to feel that way, but after the LA riots, of course they community is on watch.</p>
<p>A few years ago, some American soldiers killed a korean girl, a our governemnt was very slow in responding, which was tacky at best, and cold.</p>
<p>If someone is throwing some rocks, it is not a public outcry against Koreans, it is a few jerks trying to be clever.</p>
<p>Your second post is very different from your first, I can understand the anger, but facts would be useful</p>
<p>During the LA riots, many Korean businesses were damaged, people beaten etc, and clips from that time have been shown to show the concern of the community</p>
<p>the one where the american soldier killed a korean girl…is that one from that drunken soldier who drove a tank in the public road few years ago?</p>
<p>I heard that from a friend but all my american friends seem to never heard of such thing. but anyway…</p>
<p>I started this thread …actually i’m not quite sure what i was expecting. I was just curious b/c…ok being a korean, from my perspective, i shouldn’t be oblivious to such event (whether it was one psycho dude or other crazy dude). Now, i’m not saying americans are racist or anything…i’m just saying, certain event leads ppl into stereotypicalizing(?) certain race and ethnicity…and perhaps i’m blowing this way out of porpotion but…i’m glad that people in cc are giving …“moral support” (not sure the right word) for me and other koreans who are reading this …</p>
<p>i sincerely thank you</p>
<p>p.s: thank you for whoever clearified the issue with president’s apology
p.s.s: this post is moved to somehwhere where is it?</p>