It wasn't too long ago when Dr. Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Joseph Lowery, Malcom X and many others of the black race fought for unity amonst men, women, boys, and girls of all ethnicities of the great country called the USA and for the world at large. It also wasn't so long ago when Little Rock Central high school (Little Rock, Arkansas) opened the doors to "black" students, becoming the first high school to be desegregated. It was just yesterday that America voted Barack Obama as (the first black) president of the United States. Yet no matter how far we've come as a human race, there is still much work that need to be done.
I am working in Busan, South Korea as a guest English teacher at an all boys high school. Amongst the thousands of foreigners who come to Korea to teach, start businesses, etc., the black race is about 1%. Therefore, when one of us do something good or bad in the eyes of Koreans, we stand out being that there are only so few of us in this country. Not only that, but we at times get mistakened for being the person who did some good or acted an @$$ in these streets. I've had to disassociate myself from people of my own race (and others as well) due to being embarrased of their behavior. Jamie Foxx has a song entitled "Blame It On the Alcohol." Yet I say, blame it on being ignorant. That goes without saying. Come on, a person knows when they've had a little bit too much to drink. So don't give me that "I was drunk nonsense." Especially if it's the same lame excuse week by week.
What I'm getting at is that my skin color along is a punishment. Even in South Korea. I didn't expect to come over to a land where the people who were oppressed by the Japanese and is still at odds with North Korea to look down on me because of my skin color. I'm not crying about it. However, I do have a right to voice my frustrations. I've worked so hard to get where I am today, and it wasn't that I felt I had to because of my skin color. Yet it's because I set a standard for myself. However, it's sad when things I've accomplished throughout life go without notice or is overlooked because of my skin color. It's also sad that a "black person" in this country stand out more for the dumb ish he/she does than a person of the "white" race. Now don't think that I dislike white people, because I don't. My take on the racial issue is that if we're all human, then why not treat one another as such?
In this country, Korean women are treated as second class citizen, foreigners are third, with blacks at the bottom. Stereotypically, white men are the more dominant or the one's with the wealth. However, Mr. black man is thugged out and violent. As for me, to a Korean woman, and akwardly to a Korean man, I have a "sexy body " and is ridiculously huge (....go figure), which makes them pretty much admire or be scared of me. (Blame the media for that though!!) Yet in America, I'm a little dude. LOL! I know my white brothers and sisters get looked at strange and even talked about as well; however, they are more accepted in this culture than a black man. Yet if I give them some "musical" entertainment, I'll come out on top, because that's what blacks are known for and I'd be more entertaining to see. This has been proven. There are no advertisements here with black models, athlethes, doctors, lawyers, etc. Yet there are many with white celebrities on them. There are even white barbies here. Why? Because "white is the epitome of what it is to be beautiful and successful."
So I'll conclude this article by saying...Ignorance has no ethnicity; therefore, anybody can be it's prisoner!
I am working in Busan, South Korea as a guest English teacher at an all boys high school. Amongst the thousands of foreigners who come to Korea to teach, start businesses, etc., the black race is about 1%. Therefore, when one of us do something good or bad in the eyes of Koreans, we stand out being that there are only so few of us in this country. Not only that, but we at times get mistakened for being the person who did some good or acted an @$$ in these streets. I've had to disassociate myself from people of my own race (and others as well) due to being embarrased of their behavior. Jamie Foxx has a song entitled "Blame It On the Alcohol." Yet I say, blame it on being ignorant. That goes without saying. Come on, a person knows when they've had a little bit too much to drink. So don't give me that "I was drunk nonsense." Especially if it's the same lame excuse week by week.
What I'm getting at is that my skin color along is a punishment. Even in South Korea. I didn't expect to come over to a land where the people who were oppressed by the Japanese and is still at odds with North Korea to look down on me because of my skin color. I'm not crying about it. However, I do have a right to voice my frustrations. I've worked so hard to get where I am today, and it wasn't that I felt I had to because of my skin color. Yet it's because I set a standard for myself. However, it's sad when things I've accomplished throughout life go without notice or is overlooked because of my skin color. It's also sad that a "black person" in this country stand out more for the dumb ish he/she does than a person of the "white" race. Now don't think that I dislike white people, because I don't. My take on the racial issue is that if we're all human, then why not treat one another as such?
In this country, Korean women are treated as second class citizen, foreigners are third, with blacks at the bottom. Stereotypically, white men are the more dominant or the one's with the wealth. However, Mr. black man is thugged out and violent. As for me, to a Korean woman, and akwardly to a Korean man, I have a "sexy body " and is ridiculously huge (....go figure), which makes them pretty much admire or be scared of me. (Blame the media for that though!!) Yet in America, I'm a little dude. LOL! I know my white brothers and sisters get looked at strange and even talked about as well; however, they are more accepted in this culture than a black man. Yet if I give them some "musical" entertainment, I'll come out on top, because that's what blacks are known for and I'd be more entertaining to see. This has been proven. There are no advertisements here with black models, athlethes, doctors, lawyers, etc. Yet there are many with white celebrities on them. There are even white barbies here. Why? Because "white is the epitome of what it is to be beautiful and successful."
So I'll conclude this article by saying...Ignorance has no ethnicity; therefore, anybody can be it's prisoner!
