Kee’s Weblog

I’ve refrained from posting on this tragedy these past couple days out of respect for those who’ve faced the absolute horror of losing loved ones in this senseless act and because I’m personally still processing it all. However, the fall-out has gotten so out of control that I cannot stay silent anymore.

As you know, the Korean government has officially apologized for the acts of Mr. Cho. Many Korean churches are also apologizing. And from what I’ve read, many Korean Americans say they feel “ashamed” and “guilty” for what has happened.

This, of course, is the result of the shame-based, idolatrous culture in which Koreans are raised. In a very perverse way, Koreans are flagellating themselves because this is the only way many of us know how to feel better. Many Koreans feel ashamed because this reflects badly upon them as a race. Consequently, to overcome this shame, they bear the guilt, hang their heads low, and apologize profusely.

Guys, what happened in Virginia is not a Korean problem, it is a human problem. I don’t know how much more clearly and loudly I can say that. I mean, come on. How self-absorbed can we Koreans be?

And believe it or not, by apologizing, Koreans are in fact bringing upon themselves even more racial retaliation. By apologizing, Koreans are validating the actions and sentiment of racial bigots. By apologizing, Koreans are affirming that we are guilty and thus should be the targets of justice, bigoted or not. Stop apologizing!

I have already heard of racists directing their hatred toward Koreans in the high schools here and in various places around the States. There will always be dimwitted people who will react this way. Here is what hulk1980 experienced this morning:

I decided to go to the town center of my hometown to pick up a cup of joe from Dunkin Donuts after dropping my brother off at the train station.

I parked my car across the street and waited for the cars to pass by before crossing. While I was waiting for the busyness of the road to clear, a car happened to slow down. Someone on the passenger side of the vehicle, rolled his window down and yelled out, “F**king chinks!!!! You murderers,” and then drove away.

This absolutely blows! In my 22 years living in my hometown, I never experienced anything like this.

Apologizing will not change this behavior, it will only encourage it. We should not be apologetic. We should not cave under and validate this tyrannical behavior. The United States Government responded to South Korea in a statement saying, “It isn’t your fault.” Why in the world does someone else have to tell us what we should already know? (Check out this NYT article.)

We don’t need to apologize. What we need to do is empathize and love those suffering just as any other human being should. We should have done the same during Columbine or any of the other shootings. The fact that we only react now shows our smallish nature – we only react when it affects our race. And this, in turn, shows us how we’ve completely failed to realize the vision Christ has set for us. In the redeemed world, there will be neither Jew nor Greek. That is our inheritance, and we are called to bring that future into the now. The brokenness and outrage we feel for those killed, those mourning, and those who did the killing…those feelings should not be contingent upon whether or not we identify with their race. No, our empathy should be solely based upon the fact that we are all made in the image of God.

Am I being naive? Absolutely not. I am fully aware people will be persecuted for their race and for being Christians. However, that did not keep Jesus from living out his standard of love in this broken and fallen world.

Koreans, I know it’s hard, but get over yourselves. Yes, it’s a human reaction to feel the way you do (ashamed), but that does not mean it’s right. And don’t “love” out of your shame or false guilt stemming from an idolatrous allegiance to nationality. Love because Christ loved first. Believe it or not, in the long run, the former will only serve to bring more divisiveness, bitterness, and polarization. Only the latter has the potential for healing, forgiveness, and unity. And for those who are being persecuted for being Korean, hang in there and don’t feel for one second that you or Koreans are in any way responsible for anything that happened in VA. But again, at the same time, don’t let the actions of these racists diminish your love for those involved in this tragedy.

God be with all those who are suffering because of the tragedy in VA.

EDIT: Good stuff in the comments. Thanks guys! Here are a few thoughts in response to the comments.

As some have rightly pointed out, Koreans and many other ethnicities do this kind of thing (apologize) as a “ritual” to smooth over relations and because sometimes they genuinely do feel bad. But I believe even that is rooted in shame. Also, it’s true that confuscian cultures do operate/react in unified (solidarity) groups when dealing with such issues. However, I do believe that too is rooted in shame. We bring shame on the group when we do bad, but we bring glory to the group when we do good (which ultimately is rooted and grounded in a doublebind of shame/worth…which, to me just boils down to shame. I mean, why do we have to bring glory? So we don’t bring shame!). I would also agree that minorities behave in this way because of the solidarity minority groups naturally engender, but for some reason, it just feels like in this situation and among Koreans, the role of shame is much more pronounced. I also think “identificational repentance” is another factor in this phenomenon. Emergingtruth makes some very cogent remarks about this in his blog.

EDIT #2: So it’s spreading. I just got a phone call from a congregant. Just last night, a Korean friend of her’s was being harassed by another non-Korean individual. The encounter got physical. It’s happening all around the campuses in the US. Just another sign that people in our institutions of higher learning are not very learned at all. How does this honor the tragedy?!