Korean vs Korean-American

by Judy Jean Kwon

I talk with Mo Sibyl about life, media, and what it means to be Korean-American. Have a listen.

American media is still confused as to what Korean or what Korean-American is.

These are 2 very distinctively different things.

KOREANS IN KOREA ARE WELL REPRESENTED. KOREAN-AMERICANS ARE AMERICANS. Where is our story?

Why can’t Whyte America give credit to their own and validate, uplift the experiences of Americans with a hyphen “- “? Why can’t Whyte media give credit to their own colored Americans and validate, our American experiences and give us visibility?

Is it because whyte America does not really want to make a significant change here in our home? We, colored Americans, are not “exotic” and dismissed. If you traveled overseas to cast a Korean instead of Korean-American for a Hollywood role and think that validates those of us that are American, it’s missing the point of representation.

Korean-American stories are struggles of adjustment, learning to be judged by our cover (being Asian) and not being seen as a whole individual human, learning to be looked down on and pegged in as a ‘group of Asian’ people, being demoted in social status because Whyte’s automatically assumed we are here for a “better life”, a WOC should kowtow to those that are whyte, otherwise, we get “how dare you”. Learning to be alone and dealing with loneliness because no matter how liberal or non-racist Whyte’s think they are, we are always being excluded (unless you are a kowtow’er) and we are the first to be thrown under the bus, silently, when in a group of whytes. Token. Having an Asian friend does not make you non-racist. LOL. It just means you like to decorate.

Learning that many of the rules, products, culture and American life revolve around, and is centered around whyte culture and is not meant for you. Anything you see or hear, you have to filter, decipher and judge for yourself and ask if it applies to ‘me’.

Such as in comedy, they say, punch up, not down. If you are Asian-American, you need to punch yourself or punch down. You gotta punch down to other Asian races or ethnic groups so you help your gatekeepers laugh at others and not at themselves. Yet, we are constantly told…