Yesterday, CNN Newsroom aired a special report on the Virginia Tech shooting that took place last Monday. The Korean and Korean American communities’ responses to the shooting became a primary focus of the report, which presented them as feeling “a lot of shame, a lot of guilt . . . they feel it that way because it is a Korean person that has done it.” A professor at UCLA commented on the general sentiments of Korean students at his campus with “they feel really uncomfortable and they’re very embarrassed.” When the reporter interviewed the shooter’s great aunt, Kim Yang-Soon, she said, “Who would have known he would cause such trouble, the idiot?”
The Korean and Korean American communities (we could very well generalize here and say the Asian Diaspora as a whole) shirk from blame or scrutiny by trying desperately to appear agreeable (read: “Remember? We’re the model minority. The rest of us are good Samaritans, not psycho killers.”). We want to separate ourselves from Cho by pointing out all the differences and playing down the similarities. I want to celebrate those similarities and let Cho know, if he could hear us from beyond the grave, that we did and do care, and we love him.
Dissociating Cho from our community reveals our cowardice, placing an emphasis on self-regard over convergence and solidarity. In our signature passive-aggressive way, we insist to the world, “This was not our fault.” Wrong. This was our fault. Those of us who are Americans and even more specifically those of us who are Asian Americans need to assume responsibility for what happened. We did not reach out to Cho Seung-Hui and I contend that a deep-rooted internalized tension between Americanized Asians and “FOBs” (Fresh Off the Boat), or newly-arrived immigrant Asians, meant Cho felt even more ostracized and isolated from the rest of America. Ultimately, the white-washing of Asian American identity contributed to the pain and suffering of Cho that, in the end, put him over the brink of sanity.
This part of the broadcast roused me the most:
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday, April 21st. . . .
NGUYEN: Well, sadness and shame in the Korean community in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre. And some are concerned that they may become targets of hatred.
CNN’s Alina Cho reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the Korean community learned one of their own, Cho Seung-Hui, was behind the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, many said it was like a member of their own family had committed the crime.
THOMAS KANG, KOREAN-AMERICAN: They feel a lot of shame, a lot of guilt, not because — it’s not because they’ve done it, but they — they feel it that way because it is a Korean person that has done it.
CHO: Thomas Kang was not much older than Cho when he moved here with his parents. His family, like Cho’s, came for a better life — hard working parents who sacrificed everything for their children, in the same way Kang is now doing for his daughter — a classic Korean- American story, why so many are connecting to this tragedy.
PROF. KYEYOUNG PARK, UCLA: It’s Korean-Americans that I talk to, they feel really uncomfortable and they’re very embarrassed and trying to do anything, if there is anything that we could do.
CHO: Cho’s sister graduated from Princeton, a source of family pride. Her brother is now a source of shame.
KIM YANG-SOON, CHO’S GREAT AUNT (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Who would have known he would cause such trouble, the idiot?
CHO: They were weeping in Seoul and South Korea’s president said his shock was beyond description. Here in the U.S. Korean-American leaders say they are scared of a backlash in the same way Arab Americans felt after 9/11.
SJ JUNG, KOREAN-AMERICAN: Some parents, they are really afraid of sending their children to school and some Koreans (INAUDIBLE) decide to shut down their store.
CHO: There is intense sadness, too. Just as the students of Virginia Tech are grieving for the victims by holding vigil, Korean Americans are doing so as well. Alino Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: It’s time for us now to turn to some weather. Our Reynolds Wolf standing by for us in the weather center. What are you keeping an eye on for us Reynolds?
[For entire transcript of airing, please go here (last visited April 22, 2007).]
How typical-Asian is it to disown a person who causes us to lose face, with “face” defined by dominant social norms? Reports on Cho Seung-Hui’s profile show a young man who endured senseless teasing throughout his youth for his thick accent. He appears to be an overly-shy and awkward individual, and we all know how the Asian American community tends to treat our overly-shy and awkward community members: we make sure we’ve got first dibs at making senseless fun of them; we jump to the cruel punchline first, before the non-Asian Americans get a chance to, so by the time non-Asian Americans see it, they can clearly see we are Americanized, we speak impeccable English, and we are different from those overly-shy and awkward Asians. That’s not us. We’re cool.
White Americans aren’t the ones using the term “Fresh Off the Boat” pejoratively; Asian Americans are. It’s a way for us to strongly imply, “hey, we fit in. We’re not ching chong ching, but they are. Those Asians over there with the broken English and the funny-looking clothes are the ones we can all come together and pick on.” This is our way of identifying ourselves with the Americans and turning the teasing and ridicule away from ourselves.
Cho may not have fit in with mainstream American society, but maybe if he felt a sense of belonging with Asian Americans, events would have turned out differently. Sure, I am speculating; but the comments by Koreans and Korean Americans about feeling embarrassed and his own great aunt’s demeaning reference to Cho as “the idiot” bear striking resemblance to how we Asian Americans generally feel and what we have said about newly-arrived immigrant Asians with broken English and those who have not assimilated well into White American society. We’re obsessed with appearing white-washed, even if we choose not to use that term to identify ourselves or claim we revile the concept. If our entire community truly does feel like one big family, as the CNN report suggested, then when Cho lived, we should have reached out to him more. We had an even greater responsibility to be there for him, to offer our compassion, to love him, more so than anyone else. When we failed to do so, we are even more at blame, more so than anyone else.
Thus, the way the Koreans and Korean Americans talked about Cho in the report saddened me greatly. We felt “a lot of shame, a lot of guilt” because ”it is a Korean person that has done it”?! No. We should be ashamed of ourselves, not ashamed that he was a part of us. When we are the way we are, how can it be a wonder that Cho would do what he has done?
Other posts you might be interested in:
Blog RSS Blog Comments RSS
tim wrote:
“Sexy Asian Woman”
There are some inappropriate ads showing up on your blog…
Posted on 22-Apr-07 at 12:49 pm | Permalink
rom wrote:
You state “Cho know, if he could hear us from beyond the grave, that we did and do care, and we love him.”
Do you trully love Cho and do you really think you or or the greater community could have saved someone with his degree of mental illness? And he would not be capable of returning your love. When someone dissassociates from soceity they are pretty much unreachable by the general community and attempts were made by teachers and sweetmates to include him. Unfortunately mental health professionals were what he trully needed.
Also I have seen the networks that form with exchange students (korean groups), there simply amazing. Even a just shy person would be connected. I don’t see “blame” for the asian community. Like wise should a non-asian embrace and love their serial killers? I say not, but help them with professional help if you can…
I see where you are coming from, I just think you playing the what if game or if only. And being too hard on oneself. One of the sterotypes of Asians, is the importance of saving face. Is this as imprtant of a factor as the “white wash”. Was the great aunt living in the US or Korea?
Just some thoughts…
Posted on 22-Apr-07 at 5:38 pm | Permalink
BL wrote:
Wow…are you really asserting that simple isolation and alienation led to Cho’s murderous rampage and if someone merely took the time to reach out to him that all could have been fixed? If that sort of logic really panned out there would be a lot more gun wheelding people of color out there. From what I’ve read about Cho, I’m going to guess the boy suffered from a mild disassociation disorder coupled with psychosis and depression. His problems where not a result of the community he grew up in or the experiences he endured growing up. His problems reached far beyond his ethnicity, his familial history (unless there was a history of psychological disorders in his family), or his status as an immigrant.
Rather than a “white washing”, the reaction of Koreans and Korean-Americans has been all too disappointingly rooted in Confusionism. Somehow the collective Korean community feels this responsibiity for the actions of Cho and thus feel compelled to apologize for him. There is absolutely nothing to apologize for. Cho’s actions are as much a reflection of the Korean community as Ted Bundy’s actions were a reflection of the white community. If you’re trying to blame anyone, I’d blame the overall American culture and its overwhelming blood lust. Without Columbine and any other countless school shootings (and the subsequent media attention given to these events) I doubt Cho would have had the wherewithall to even dream up such a planned act of violence.
As a first generation KA I have no sympathy for Cho, nor do I take any responsibility for his actions. I refuse to apologize for the actions of a monster, nor do I feel any shame. Mindless solidarity to an individual, concept, country is what leads to group think, mass genocide, and overall loss of common sense.
Posted on 23-Apr-07 at 12:58 pm | Permalink
MJ wrote:
You want to say that the white washed asians disassociate themselves to fit in with white american. That’s a blanket generalization, and inaccurate. Some asians do purposefully try to disassociate themselves, however, we are disassociating ourselves from Cho because of the cowardice of his actions. He took other people’s lives then his own to escape the sad fact that he did not fit in. How can you love somebody who murdered 32 people in cold blood?
WE disassociate from him because he acted in a way that the asian or korean communities do not condone. We do not support murder, so we do not want him to be visualized by race-sensitive america as our legacy.
Are we responsible for what he did? Not a chance. Unless free will doesn’t exist anymore, he had a choice. Shoot 32 students then off himself or figure out a better alternative. He chose a permanent solution for a temporary problem. He’s a fool and a coward.
Posted on 23-Apr-07 at 8:51 pm | Permalink
rom wrote:
Interesting post KL and MJ.
Posted on 24-Apr-07 at 10:34 am | Permalink
Xxxtine wrote:
As I stated in another post re: Cho - the only people who can really claim him are his poor parents (who I’ve heard through the grapevine have tried taking their own lives out of shame). Nonetheless, I’m more concerned with people (Asian, specifically Korean Americans) feeling it is their obligation to apologize on his behalf.
Since when did the community do anything wrong? If I’m not mistaken, there is help available, you just have to a) swallow your pride and b) ask for it. The unfortunate part is, if someone may have actually suggested to him that he seek some help, I have about a 95% gut feeling he wouldn’t have gone anyways.
I think people are forgetting that the more central theme to all of this, isn’t really his own mental condition, but the mental condition of every sniper, Colombine shooter and Montreal executioner - why they feel such rage to take so many lives before their own.
Posted on 24-Apr-07 at 1:38 pm | Permalink
hk wrote:
I think the root issue here is that certain antisocial and deranged behaviors extend themselves beyond ethnic, social and class divides. Korean/Korean-American feelings of guilt are misplaced - what happened at Virginia Tech could not logically be explained or apologized for by any group or individual. Do white or black Americans apologize for every crime committed by a single individual of their race? Unfortunately (but perhaps it’s good to note we’re not all so different from one another), it seems that not a single ethnic group is immune from mental illness or violent crime. Korean-Americans and Koreans may have been shocked to hear it was “one of their own” to commit these crimes, but wasn’t he really just one person in a larger international community? These events should be evaluated on a national and global level - to understand and prevent the level of isolation and anger that would cause anyone to commit such heinous acts. And in the meantime, get some tougher gun control laws…
Posted on 24-Apr-07 at 8:43 pm | Permalink
Bertie wrote:
Do you trully love Cho and do you really think you or or the greater community could have saved someone with his degree of mental illness? And he would not be capable of returning your love. When someone dissassociates from soceity they are pretty much unreachable by the general community and attempts were made by teachers and sweetmates to include him. Unfortunately mental health professionals were what he trully needed.
———-
BRAVO! I wholeheartedly agree.
I read a news article (link forgotten) that stated that others *did* reach out to him, but he rejected them. According to one article, his sister even asked a friend to check up on him, and he rebuffed the friend’s attempts at friendship.
He had a debilitating mental illness, and it did not manifest itself in overt acts of threatening behavior. This is why he slipped through the cracks. He was quiet and secretive, and no one could have imagined that he would commit such an act, not even his family. He wrote weird, twisted, and badly written plays, and he was socially awkward, but there were people in my high school and college who were more menacing than what was reported about Mr. Cho. And these people went on to live healthy lives.
People, let it go. Please. 99.999% of weird loners with odds thoughts don’t go on rampages. Seung Cho was a statistical outlier whose actions had devastating consequences, but a statistical outlier nevertheless. The APA community shouldn’t treat this incident as anything more.
Posted on 25-Apr-07 at 9:30 pm | Permalink
Bertie wrote:
Unfortunately (but perhaps it’s good to note we’re not all so different from one another), it seems that not a single ethnic group is immune from mental illness or violent crime. Korean-Americans and Koreans may have been shocked to hear it was “one of their own” to commit these crimes, but wasn’t he really just one person in a larger international community?
I agree.
Posted on 25-Apr-07 at 9:31 pm | Permalink
bekhyon wrote:
I agree with you. thanks for the words. Sadly, there are still more Chos out there that need us to reach out.
Posted on 26-Apr-07 at 5:12 pm | Permalink
d wrote:
A very interesting article, but I think a major issue regarding this tragedy is being overlooked. His Korean ancetry DID play a part in this tragedy
I have become aware through personal experience that there is shame in mental illness in Korean culture. Immigrant parents are often are in denial about the seriousness of mental illness of family members. In conversations with professionals I have learned that when mental illness issues come up in Korean families, family members tend to try to place blame as opposed to solving the problem. What this means is that even if some of the shooters teachers saw problems and tried to help him, he very well might have been told by members of his family that “there is nothing wrong with you, you are working too hard, you should pray more, something is wrong with the school etc…” As one psychologist told me “the family becomes enemy of the treatment.’
Psychotic mental illness doesn’t just pop up because a kid is having a bad time at school. It is cased by a chemical imbalance in the brain( like bipolar) or trauma during childhood , almost always before the age of 13. Yet I have hear from school professionals that initial reaction when talking to Asian immigrant parents of mentally ill young adults is either denial or to blame a girlfriend, job, school, or spouse. I talked with psychologist who said the parents blamed him. That their kid was fine until the psychologist convinced him he was crazy.
Teachers and fellow students felt the killer had problems and recommended treatment. WHAT ABOUT THE FAMILY!! Why weren’t they aware of his problems and trying to get him help. I think this denial of mental illness within the culture may be to blame .
Posted on 09-May-07 at 10:52 am | Permalink