Tag: discrimination

The Joong Ang Ilbo has article published about the difficulties that African students are having in South Korea:

Karen, Lanre and Fatima are all black students from Africa living in Korea and studying at different Korean universities. They have asked to withhold their identities as they worry that they could face a backlash after speaking out about their experience of studying in Korea.  All three students agree that just being black in Korea attracts a lot of attention and discomfort.  
   
“When I ride the subway, people look at me and never want to sit next to me unless it is the last seat available,” Karen said.    
   
Lanre described how once, while he was out walking, “a little girl saw me and then went to hide behind her parents while looking at me as if I wanted to hurt her.”   
   
This kind of reaction seems to be common and could come from a lack of education on racial issues.  
   
Fatima also noted that some cultural features like braids, which are worn by some Korean rappers for a hip-hop look, are appropriated, and used in a different way than their original meaning.  
   
“Before doing it, you try to learn what is behind it and why these people are doing this, you don’t just do it for the style” said Fatima.    
   
Lanre also said that some of his classmates in Suwon kept repeating that Africa was very poor, and even asked questions like, “Do you have cars?” This type of behavior can continue to convey a lot of clichés, prejudices and preconceived notions about African people.  
 
The issue is not only a lack of education on racial issues, but also seems to extend to the culture in some schools and universities.  
   
Karen arrived in Korea in 2014 and went to study in a Korean high school once she finished learning Korean. On her very first day in school she sat in the front row and, “the teacher came up to me, took my hand, and asked me if I was dirty or if I was just black.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out:

The nation’s human rights watchdog has recommended a nightclub to stop denying entrance to foreigners based on their race or skin color. The owners of the facility, however, refused to accept the recommendation, saying they have had numerous “problems” involving foreign customers.

According to the National Human Rights Commission Korea (NHRCK), Wednesday, an Indian American filed a petition last year after he was barred from entering the nightclub due to being a foreigner while his Korean American friend was not.

The NHRCK said it concluded that the club’s rejection of his entry was clear discrimination based on the petitioner’s race and skin color, as the staff of the club did not check ID cards showing nationalities and allowed the entry of the Korean American.

In July, the commission recommended the club stop deciding customers’ entry based on their race and skin color.

However, the club said it would not follow the recommendation.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I have long been following this lawsuit here at the ROK Drop and now the lawsuit has forced Harvard to release how they select their applicants.  The way the admissions process is set up it makes it harder for Asian-Americans to be accepted to the prestigious university:

In an intense legal battle over the role of race in Harvard University’s admissions policies, a group that is suing the school says Harvard lowers the rankings of Asian-American applicants in a way that is unconstitutional.

Harvard says that its admissions process is legal — and it notes that the plaintiff group, the Students for Fair Admissions, is backed by the same activist who previously challenged the University of Texas’ affirmative action policy.

The SFFA says Harvard uses “racial balancing” as part of its formula for admitting students and that the practice is illegal. In response, Harvard says the group is misinterpreting data that the highly competitive school shared about how it chooses students.

Citing a 2013 analysis by Harvard’s Office of Institutional Research, the SFFA said in a federal court filing on Friday that if academics were the only criterion, Asian-American students would have made up more than 43 percent of students who were admitted, rather than the actual 18.7 percent.

Even if other criteria — such as legacy students, athletic recruiting and extracurricular and personal attributes — are included, the plaintiffs say, the number of Asian-Americans at Harvard would still have risen to more than 26 percent.

Saying that the admission rate for whites outpaced that of Asian-Americans over a 10-year period — despite outperforming them in only the “personal” ratings — the plaintiffs allege that “being Asian American actually decreases the chances of admissions.”  [NPR]

So how does Harvard justify not admitting Asian-Americans based on their academic performance? By penalizing them for their “personalities”:

Harvard consistently rated Asian-American applicants lower than others on traits like “positive personality,” likability, courage, kindness and being “widely respected,” according to an analysis of more than 160,000 student records filed Friday by a group representing Asian-American students in a lawsuit against the university.

Asian-Americans scored higher than applicants of any other racial or ethnic group on admissions measures like test scores, grades and extracurricular activities, according to the analysis commissioned by a group that opposes all race-based admissions criteria. But the students’ personal ratings significantly dragged down their chances of being admitted, the analysis found.  [New York Times]

I am not sure how an admission personnel can make an accurate determination about someones “courage” or “liability” from an application packet.  I think it is arguable that the personality scores are being used as a way to manipulate the stupid body to reflect what the university wants it to look like.

Could you imagine what the uproar would be if a university for example in the South was using personality scores to limit the number of African-American students?  I do find it interesting that since it is Asian-Americans being affected by Harvard’s policies that the usual race hustlers we see in the spotlight for issues like this are no where to be found.

Korean man mistreated for ‘foreigner-like’ looks https://t.co/epwsdXY4rK

— KingSejong (@KingSejong) July 19, 2017

I saw this the other day in the US media and now it has hit the Korean media as well:

Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, two of the main actors in U.S. TV drama “Hawaii Five-O,” are quitting the show over unequal pay, according to Variety, a U.S. entertainment news outlet.

Park and Kim had been seeking pay equality with the show’s other main actors, Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan, but were unable to reach a satisfactory deal with the producer CBS Television Studios.

The final offer is known to have been 10 to 15 percent lower than the other two actors.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but for those that have not seen the show Alex O’laughlin is the lead character with Scott Caan playing his sidekick.  The characters played by Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park are supporting actors.  Is it normal for studios to pay supporting actors as much as lead actors?  If not why would CBS pay more money to actors who have less screen time then the lead actors?

Plus this show has about run its course any way, I will be surprised if it survives another season.

Unless they ban job interviews this bill probably will not have the desired effect:

An opposition legislator has proposed a bill to eliminate discrimination during the recruitment process of companies based on appearance.

Rep. Han Jeoung-ae of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) proposed on Wednesday a revised bill aimed at prohibiting companies from asking job applicants to specify information unrelated to their capabilities and skills in their resumes.

The proposed bill stipulates that requiring information such as a job applicant’s photo, properties owned or parents’ profession will result in a fine of up to five million won, or roughly 44-hundred U.S. dollars.  [KBS World Radio]

The discrimination against Asian-Americans in the admittance process into US universities has long been a problem with Congressman Ed Royce is now speaking out against:

Being Korean American should not be an obstacle to receiving a top university education. It’s sad I have to make that clear in 2015.

Earlier this year, a coalition of 64 Asian American organizations filed a complaint with the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights against Harvard University. The coalition argues that Harvard has set hidden racial quotas and a higher admissions bar for Asian American students, including Korean Americans.

Supporting this case is a mountain of evidence. While the population of Asian Americans has grown rapidly in the United States over the past 20 years, the admission rate for Asian Americans at Harvard University has stayed between 15 percent and 20 percent. This suspiciously flat number is also at odds with data that shows a much higher proportion of high-performing American high school students are of Asian descent. “We have data that suggests that 55 percent of kids with SAT scores of 2300 or higher are Asian,” says scholar Edward Blum, who launched another lawsuit against Harvard last year, accusing the school of racial discrimination in its admissions process.

Harvard claims it does not discriminate against Asian American students, which would be illegal. Instead, Harvard argues that it uses an “individualized, holistic review” process to select students, and that “diversity” is but one of many factors considered.

But Asian American parents are right to be suspicious when their hard-working, high-performing children are shut out of top schools and their less qualified peers are accepted instead.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but one’s skin color should not be the deciding factor of who gets to attend a university.

It will be interesting to see how this federal lawsuit plays out because right now universities are allowed to discriminate against another minority Asian-Americans because they are too smart:

The Education Department on Tuesday dismissed a complaint against Harvard University by some Asian American groups who say the university uses racial quotas to keep out high-scoring Asians.

The complaint was filed in May with the department’s civil rights office by more than 60 Chinese, Indian, Korean and Pakistani groups. Education officials said the complaint was dismissed because similar concerns were the focus of a federal lawsuit.

The complaining groups said they were “very disappointed.”

Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were sued last year by some rejected applicants who want affirmative action policies banned. The Harvard lawsuit also contends the university specifically limits the number of Asian-Americans it admits.

Harvard said its admission policies have been found to be “fully compliant with federal law” and said it “has demonstrated a strong record of recruiting and admitting Asian-American students.  [Korea Times]

Here is another article that shows how discrimination against foreign English teachers in Korea is quite common:

Sean Jones was on his way for a job interview last week in Seoul and received a disturbing text message that reads “Hey Sean. Sorry they just told me they actually want a white teacher.”

“I was on my way to the interview when I received a text message from my recruiter stating that they only want a white teacher,” Sean told The Korea Observer.

“Regardless of my two plus years of experience, TEFL certification, great references and the ability to speak intermediate Korean, I was turned down before even given an opportunity to speak with them.”

To add insult to injury, the 30-year-old American from Oklahoma experienced racial discrimination again two days after the incident.

This time he received a facebook message that reads, “I am sorry. I just found out today that my school is one of ones that won’t hire black people.”  [Korea Observer]

You can read more at the link, but to show that discrimination in Korea isn’t always about skin color either in the past people have been denied English teaching jobs due to accents and even perceptions of heavy drinking.

Discrimination of foreigners in Korea is nothing new, but recently it has been getting a lot of attention because of the current Minyeodeului Suda Scandal. This scandal has caused at least one K-blogger to start an online petition to protest KBS’s racism.

Well now the Korea Times has an article about foreigners being denied access to swimming pools and saunas:

Connie Arnold, a middle-aged English teacher at Pochon CHA University in Songu-ri, began having hip pain earlier this year and went to see a doctor. He identified it as muscle strain and swimming was prescribed.

Arnold knew of only one pool in town, but when she went there she was told, “No Foreigners Allowed.’’’ She asked a Korean co-worker to call for her and explain that she had to swim for health reasons.

“I explained about you (doctor’s order) but they said no,’’ the co-worker wrote in a follow up e-mail. “Foreigner(s) cannot use the pool.’’

None of this is really surprising to me because foreigners have long been treated like second class citizens in Korea. However, the ones that have it by far the worst are the people who come from third world countries to work in Korea’s manuafacturing businesses. Korea’s Confucian thinking puts these labors way at the bottom of the class structure. That is the real reason why foreigners are denied access to swimming pools, saunas, and even internet cafes:

Arnold said that besides the swimming pool and sauna, she has been refused entry to PC bangs in Songu-ri because she is a foreigner.

A reporter asking to use a computer at the Joy PC Bang in Songu-ri was told foreigners were not allowed to use the service.

I have never been denied access to an internet cafe or even a sauna, but the denial of GI’s to bars and restaurants is quite common, but also keep in mind the denial of Koreans and other foreigners to American only bars happens as well, which I don’t agree with. This is done the ville areas outside of some of the US military installations. The bars are owned by Koreans and just goes to show that they are willing to discriminate against other Koreans in order to make a buck.
There is plenty of discrimination in Korea, but I really think it has been getting better in recent years and the netizen outrage to the KBS show is encouraging, however it is going to take a whole lot more Hines Wards out there to end discrimination in Korea any time soon.

UPDATE: The Marmot’s Hole now has a posting on this article as well worth checking out.