Ted, Do you have any idea how Koreans treated blacks BEFORE the riots?
Actually, I do. Most 1st-generation Korean-Americans didn't have any time or energy to devote to "sensitivity" toward blacks. They were too busy working their asses off so that their children don't have to.
Trust me when I say they had time to be pleasant to their white clientele.
As for customer service, well, it's already bad for fellow Korean customers. Mix in some racism embedded within the culture, and you can imagine how worse it is for non-Koreans, especially blacks. That's something 2nd generationers has to reconcile.
Its much easier and more acceptable to heap all the blame on the black community.
That was never my intention. Lots of screw-ups that 2nd-generation Korean-Americans will have to clean up. However, it doesn't help when the successes of the 1st generation are to be ignored or denied just because they were racist. It's not like their ancestors owned black slaves or anything like that. In fact, they come from a society that was enslaved just a generation prior to them (thank you Japan).
My intent was not to ignore the accomplishments of the first generation.......they set up stores in neighborhoods that others wouldn't set foot in nor am I defending the black community......at least a portion of any blame lies with them. Its just there is a lot more discrimination going on than alot of us are willing to admit.
For an example, after years of saying that no supermarket chain would ever go into the South Central barrio because of crime and insurance issues, that all changed when one LA chain made a go of it. Soon there were a number of supermarkets opening up both in South Central and the Crenshaw district. Now one must remember that during those years when the barrio was understored, blacks were routinely gouged on the basics of life in LA. That meant that some of the poorest people in LA paid the highest prices for food, medications and toiletries. And during those years, they were told they were bad people and because they were bad people, no supermarket would dare put up a store there. Finally, a supermarket chain that didn't pay attention to the 'rules' made a go of putting stores in the barrio, and suddenly, all the other chains were falling all over themselves to put up markets as well.
Now one has to wonder..........were the costs of doing business so much higher in the black community......after all, land costs are significantly cheaper there than the rest of LA.......or was it simply racial bias putting a negative spin on things?
ted |
