Seoul Searching from a Black Girl in Seoul: Dealing with White Privilege in Korea
Interrupting your regularly scheduled program to bring you this important announcement that even in Korea, I still have to deal with stupid racist privileged ass white men ugh.
So on my way home from a great night after my white girl friend Tabby and I were having chicken and beer and teaching my Korean friend Jaeyong important English phrases like "I ain't gotta do nothing but stay black and die", Tabby and I ran into some Portuguese girls, a British Indian boy, and a white guy from Miami, Ohio in our ISS program who were all drunk and loud.
I had never met this drunk White guy from Miami, Ohio before but I tend to avoid them all because they have the most students in the program and most of them (there are a few exceptions) are nothing but frat guys who are the epitome of privileged White men. They essentially want to get laid by Asian women and get drunk and make slightly condescending/racist comments about asians while they're in Korea. Adding alcohol just increases the chances that their privileged will be confirmed.
So we started talking about politics for some reason and you know how alcohol loosens the tongues of white people, and the drunk White guy from Ohio starts saying that Obama has done nothing except Healthcare, which I shrugged and just said that its only been a year and a half into his presidency but oh well. Then he goes on a rant about how Obama is turning the country into a socialist state and will give all the lazy poor chicagoans money and then they'll just spend it on fucking drugs (don't ask me why he focused on Chicago). According to him Socialism was evil, and I just said : Police, Fire, library, Post office all = socialism.
My friend Tabby knew where this was going and tried to change the conversation but I wanted to discuss this even though we all knew he was too drunk for it to get through to him, but it's slightly intriguing to see just how privileged and racist white folks can get, so I indulged him in his privileged world view.
He tried to say that it was going to help all the 'lazy' people and not the hardworking people. I told him that the GI Bill was largest form of Welfare because it subsidized low mortgages to white people who couldn't have afforded them otherwise. Same with the Homestead Act of 1840s/1860s because it was practically giving away free (i.e. stolen Native American) land to people who also didn't have to work. He was like 'psh Native Americans that was 300 years ago'. I was like those white people killed millions of Native Americans and who the hell cares if it was 300 years ago, doesn't lessen their crimes.
He then said he couldn't wait for America to go to shit and I was like "Yeah because it was so dandy before: Native American genocide, enslaving Africans, legalized segregation and lynching. But oh no socialism is going to be the final straw" I told him if Socialism was greater than all those crimes I couldn't wait for America to go to 'shit'. That shut him up.
And then the British Indian guy was trying to make the case that it was the Africans who sold their own people. I countered that that's fine and dandy, but no one was forcing some of those white people to take the slaves and then come in a colonize and rape the entire continent. Sarcastically mimicking a white slaver, I was like "ooh but the Africans are giving us these slaves, we cannot not take them. That would be rude. It's not like we have a choice and KNOW slavery is wrong," to highlight how fallacious that whole argument is yet how white folks still try and use it. I was surprised this Indian guy from BRITAIN-which by the way, I reminded him subjugated the entire subcontinent of his people for 200 years- still felt the need to defend this racist drunk argument.
Yet the Indian guy wouldn't give up even though the Miami Ohio guy had long ago been lost in his drunk stupor. He kept saying why are you living in the past, it was so long ago. I countered that the Holocaust was a 'long' time ago yet are we supposed to forget about it. He got real quiet. And he tried to back track and say he didn't say to forget it. I was like yes you said all these things happened a long time ago, but legalized lynching and the civil rights movement was just 40 years ago and we're 'living' in the past. Everyone got quiet, I noticed that the Portuguese girls were real quiet and uncomfortable as they should be because Portugal is a whole 'nother story.
The indoctrinated Indian guy tried to save himself and asked why was I making it about race and all white people. I said if the Ohio guy can make a racist generalization about all poor (i.e. Black) Chicagoans then I could make these factual statements about 'some' white people who killed millions of Native Americans, enslaved black people, and then forced legalize degregation, rape, and lynching on them up until 40 years ago. I made my point as he got quiet. Then I wished them all a good night and hoped we could sell shithole Ohio to the highest bidder.
Being surrounded by Koreans-people of color- made me forget how much I didn't miss dealing with stupid racist American white folks. It was ironic too because Tabby and I had asked Jaeyong earlier in the evening what the Korean equivalent of Honky and Cracker was, which is apparently "Chaila" (if I heard him correctly) which is stupid White foreigner. Never thought I'd have a chance to actually experience that word in Korea.
I didn't know why but I apologized to Tabby for stupidly indulging those morons while knowing it wouldn't get through because they were drunk, but you say something stupid and racist you better back it up and I will definitely let them know. She knows how radical and racial I can get and is indulgent in it (I asked her when the revolution comes, which side she was going to chose, she correctly chose the people of color side) but you know being all militant tends to scare white people and they tend to stab you in the back and run from you first chance you get. She told me I had no need to apologize or explain myself to her or to those racists. She is one of the best friends I have made in Korea.
Sorry I just had to rant about this. My next post will be about my perspectives as a Black woman in China after visiting Beijing for 4 days.
In other news, the sky is blue. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.
So on my way home from a great night after my white girl friend Tabby and I were having chicken and beer and teaching my Korean friend Jaeyong important English phrases like "I ain't gotta do nothing but stay black and die", Tabby and I ran into some Portuguese girls, a British Indian boy, and a white guy from Miami, Ohio in our ISS program who were all drunk and loud.
I had never met this drunk White guy from Miami, Ohio before but I tend to avoid them all because they have the most students in the program and most of them (there are a few exceptions) are nothing but frat guys who are the epitome of privileged White men. They essentially want to get laid by Asian women and get drunk and make slightly condescending/racist comments about asians while they're in Korea. Adding alcohol just increases the chances that their privileged will be confirmed.
So we started talking about politics for some reason and you know how alcohol loosens the tongues of white people, and the drunk White guy from Ohio starts saying that Obama has done nothing except Healthcare, which I shrugged and just said that its only been a year and a half into his presidency but oh well. Then he goes on a rant about how Obama is turning the country into a socialist state and will give all the lazy poor chicagoans money and then they'll just spend it on fucking drugs (don't ask me why he focused on Chicago). According to him Socialism was evil, and I just said : Police, Fire, library, Post office all = socialism.
My friend Tabby knew where this was going and tried to change the conversation but I wanted to discuss this even though we all knew he was too drunk for it to get through to him, but it's slightly intriguing to see just how privileged and racist white folks can get, so I indulged him in his privileged world view.
He tried to say that it was going to help all the 'lazy' people and not the hardworking people. I told him that the GI Bill was largest form of Welfare because it subsidized low mortgages to white people who couldn't have afforded them otherwise. Same with the Homestead Act of 1840s/1860s because it was practically giving away free (i.e. stolen Native American) land to people who also didn't have to work. He was like 'psh Native Americans that was 300 years ago'. I was like those white people killed millions of Native Americans and who the hell cares if it was 300 years ago, doesn't lessen their crimes.
He then said he couldn't wait for America to go to shit and I was like "Yeah because it was so dandy before: Native American genocide, enslaving Africans, legalized segregation and lynching. But oh no socialism is going to be the final straw" I told him if Socialism was greater than all those crimes I couldn't wait for America to go to 'shit'. That shut him up.
And then the British Indian guy was trying to make the case that it was the Africans who sold their own people. I countered that that's fine and dandy, but no one was forcing some of those white people to take the slaves and then come in a colonize and rape the entire continent. Sarcastically mimicking a white slaver, I was like "ooh but the Africans are giving us these slaves, we cannot not take them. That would be rude. It's not like we have a choice and KNOW slavery is wrong," to highlight how fallacious that whole argument is yet how white folks still try and use it. I was surprised this Indian guy from BRITAIN-which by the way, I reminded him subjugated the entire subcontinent of his people for 200 years- still felt the need to defend this racist drunk argument.
Yet the Indian guy wouldn't give up even though the Miami Ohio guy had long ago been lost in his drunk stupor. He kept saying why are you living in the past, it was so long ago. I countered that the Holocaust was a 'long' time ago yet are we supposed to forget about it. He got real quiet. And he tried to back track and say he didn't say to forget it. I was like yes you said all these things happened a long time ago, but legalized lynching and the civil rights movement was just 40 years ago and we're 'living' in the past. Everyone got quiet, I noticed that the Portuguese girls were real quiet and uncomfortable as they should be because Portugal is a whole 'nother story.
The indoctrinated Indian guy tried to save himself and asked why was I making it about race and all white people. I said if the Ohio guy can make a racist generalization about all poor (i.e. Black) Chicagoans then I could make these factual statements about 'some' white people who killed millions of Native Americans, enslaved black people, and then forced legalize degregation, rape, and lynching on them up until 40 years ago. I made my point as he got quiet. Then I wished them all a good night and hoped we could sell shithole Ohio to the highest bidder.
Being surrounded by Koreans-people of color- made me forget how much I didn't miss dealing with stupid racist American white folks. It was ironic too because Tabby and I had asked Jaeyong earlier in the evening what the Korean equivalent of Honky and Cracker was, which is apparently "Chaila" (if I heard him correctly) which is stupid White foreigner. Never thought I'd have a chance to actually experience that word in Korea.
I didn't know why but I apologized to Tabby for stupidly indulging those morons while knowing it wouldn't get through because they were drunk, but you say something stupid and racist you better back it up and I will definitely let them know. She knows how radical and racial I can get and is indulgent in it (I asked her when the revolution comes, which side she was going to chose, she correctly chose the people of color side) but you know being all militant tends to scare white people and they tend to stab you in the back and run from you first chance you get. She told me I had no need to apologize or explain myself to her or to those racists. She is one of the best friends I have made in Korea.
Sorry I just had to rant about this. My next post will be about my perspectives as a Black woman in China after visiting Beijing for 4 days.
In other news, the sky is blue. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.