I’ve read The Korea Times since I arrived in Seoul. It’s a fabulous paper.
I wish to bring to your kind notice regarding news in the Jan. 13 edition about the racial words used against a Korean lady at Papa John’s pizza outlet in New York City.
I see a lot of comments on the front page in today’s newspapers. I would like to bring to your kind attention the following facts:
1. Lee Hae-nam from Manhattan wrote that ― "just when racism seemed to be a thing of the past" ― I beg your pardon. Racism was and never will be a thing of the past. Anyone who thinks that it’s a thing of the past lives in a fool’s paradise.
In any country you go if you are not the native of that country there will be discrimination ― overt or covert, whether a person likes it or not. It may not be visible many times but it does exist. It may not be obvious if you are just a tourist as you are spending money in that country but once you settle in any country other than yours, the real character of the people come out.
2. If any non-Korean comes to Korea for living or settling he is different from the native people, he has to accept that thus the rules are different for him, as he also has an alien registration done, secondly the issues of voting rights for him or even standing in an election is remote. A Korean certainly will prefer a person from his race as racism is in everyone’s blood across the globe.
3. There is no need to lament as the pizza store wrote ― “lady chinky eyes” on the receipt. As if anyone goes to Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., the U.K., the Middle East or Europe, an African is called black/nigger, Indian is called a brownie, a Chinese is called ― yellow man or chinky.
It may not be called out loudly to him but in hushed tones among the native people and he will be discriminated at some level or the other.
4. Racism and regionalism does exist and will exist as man is a social animal and has boundaries as per his race, faces, behavior, if any foreigner settles to another country he remains a foreigner for life due to his race, the natives may or do not make it obvious to the non-native but racism does exist and discrimination will exist, come what may, as human beings are born racists.
Dr. Amitabh Arya
Associate professor
Department of nuclear medicine,
Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences
Uttar Pradesh, India
dramitabharya@yahoo.com
Associate professor
Department of nuclear medicine,
Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences
Uttar Pradesh, India
dramitabharya@yahoo.com
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