Koreans are not to blame
by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Margie Perscheid, originally published at Third Mom
I’m sure I’m not the only adoptive parent of Asian children who is struggling to help their kids understand the Virginia Tech tragedy. Tech draws many students from the northern Virginia area (where I live), so Monday’s events hit very close to home. My children were horrified by the murders, and their reactions have ranged from shock, fear, relief (when friends at Tech were found to have survived without injury), and sadness. I wonder, too, if they are feeling shame because the shooter was Korean. They say they aren’t, but it worries me that this message may be reaching them.
Cho Seung Hui was a terribly disturbed young man. How he flew under the radar of family, physicians, and schools for so long, and how he evaded treatment while at college are questions that deserve our consideration. Their answers will likely point to disparities between white and minority access to mental health care, as well as the challenges faced by immigrant families in obtaining these services. And they may help us avoid similar tragedies in the future.
But it’s Cho’s Korean-ness that has flooded the airwaves. The news program that broadcast Cho’s picture superimposed over a Korean flag is probably the worst example I’ve heard of - my husband watched it in disbelief the first day Cho’s identity was released. I can see no point to that news clip outside of an effort to drag our minds to the conclusion that being Korean was an important factor in Cho’s decision to arm himself and kill 32 innocent people.
My frustration with the focus on Cho’s race and ethnicity has been intensified by the apologies and collective shame that are being expressed by some Koreans and Korean Americans. Washington State Senator Paull Shin issued a public apology for Cho’s actions, saying, “It hurts me deeply, knowing what happened to Korea and how much the U.S. helped,” drawing a illogical connection between the Korean War and this sick young man’s action. The Korean Ambassador to the United States, Lee Tae-Shik, joined in, saying in his official statement, “This shocking tragedy gives the Korean community a reason to look itself over and repent, as well as reaching out to American society to form a closer relationship.” Repent? For what?
I received such an apology myself – a formal statement from the director of our adoption agency’s Korean affiliate. He voiced sadness and sympathy, but most of all shame that a Korean could have committed such a crime. And he apologized for Cho’s actions. I heard another apology right here in my neighborhood, too, from the owner of a local restaurant. After voicing her apology for Cho’s actions, she hastened to add that she was Chinese, not Korean. I’m still trying to get my head around that one.
Even now, as I write this, Alina Cho on CNN is covering this very issue. Every Korean and Korean American she interviews expresses shock and shame – sorrow, yes, but most of all shock and shame. I understand national pride, but to draw it to the point of taking on guilt for the actions of a person who clearly suffered from serious mental illness is too much.
Apologies and expressions of shame send a message that Koreans are responsible, Asians are responsible. They aren’t. The only one who bears responsibility for the murders at Virginia Tech is Cho Seung Hui himself. As Adrian Hong of the Korean American Coalition DC Chapter said in this morning’s Washington Post, Koreans aren’t to blame.
The Korean American Coalition DC Chapter has set up the Virginia Tech Memorial Fund in support of Virginia Tech Victims and their families. If you would like to contribute, and add your voice and action to a positive response from the Korean American community, please send checks to:
Korean American Coalition
Attn: VA Tech Memorial Fund
1001 Connecticut Ave NW Ste 730
Washington, DC 20036
For more information, email kacdc@kacdc.org.
Margie Perscheid is the adoptive mother of two Korean teens. She is a co-founder of Korean Focus, an organization for families with children from Korea with chapters across the country. Margie is on the Board of Directors of the Korean American Coalition DC Chapter, a former board member of KAAN, the Korean YMCA of Greater Washington (now KAYA), and ASIA (Adoption Service Information Agency). Margie writes about her intercountry adoption experiences at Third Mom. She, her husband Ralf, and their two children live in Alexandria, Virginia.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Lyonside wrote:
The Korean or Korean-American community expressing sorrow is one thing - to think they’re culpable is another - I hope that ends soon.
It reminds me of a post-9/11 phenomenon: a friend was a regular at an Indian restaurant - the owners are Sikh. The main owner made a point of not only pinning a US flag pin to his turban (pretty much a no-no), but APOLOGIZED to every non-Indian American who walked into his restaurant. My friend pretty much told him to stop, seeing as he’s not even of the country, culture, religion, etc. of the hijackers, and even if he was, he wouldn’t be responsible.
The pin thing I interpreted as being self-protective - there were some true knuckledraggers targeting anyone with a turban or a beard. But the apology business was totally unwarranted, and, we thought, sent the wrong message.
Posted 23 Apr 2007 at 10:51 pm ¶
daisy wrote:
Margie, this was so well put. Thank you.
Posted 24 Apr 2007 at 8:23 am ¶
Julia wrote:
I find this whole phenomenon of focusing on the race/culture/heritage of a killer to be very bizarre. They did it during the DC sniper killings, too. I just don’t get it.
If anything, the focus should be on noting how rare it is to find a mass murderer who isn’t white.
No one went around talking about David Koresh’s whiteness, or the fact that nearly all (or is it all) of the infamous school shootings were committed by Anglos.
The point here is that this young man was beyond disturbed and committed atrocities that have nothing to do with his race. And I agree that apologies fromt he Korean community at large send the wrong message.
Posted 24 Apr 2007 at 8:26 am ¶
Liz wrote:
Very well said. I noticed over the weekend how the slant was that his family is one that even Koreans think is weird. And I absolutely agree with Julia’s sentiments above.
Posted 24 Apr 2007 at 9:54 am ¶
Ka_Jun wrote:
Those apologies are based on fear of backlash. The APA community has seen historically what can happen.
Posted 24 Apr 2007 at 3:29 pm ¶
Jeremy Pierce wrote:
In this case I think it makes eminent sense to consider the various factors that went into making this guy what he was. It’s not as if his race played a causal role in what he did, and it’s not as if someone who wasn’t Korean or Asian couldn’t do the same thing. His psychological and psychiatric problems were not Korean problems. But his being Korean may have influenced some ways that they manifested themselves. They may have taken a particular form because of his Korean background or because of cultural elements that are more prominent in Korean culture than in American culture.
That probably doesn’t justify everything that’s being said and done about his being Korean, but I don’t think it makes any sense for those who are considering what led him to do this to ignore the things that have affected him that are particularly Korean.
Posted 24 Apr 2007 at 7:39 pm ¶
Sewere wrote:
Jeremy, Jeremy, oh Jeremy always the apologist.
Did it occur to you that his experiencing racism as a child because of his being Korean (like being taunted and bullied by other kids to “go back to his country” with passive encouragement by at least one teacher) may have contributed to preventing his access to much needed care rather than any other cultural attribute of being Korean?
Posted 25 Apr 2007 at 12:19 pm ¶
Barbara Walker wrote:
I appreciate your perspective. I thought the family’s apology and statement was very appropriate and loving and brave. I understood the apologies from other Koreans as coming from a cultural value and practice of humility and kindness and a belief in interconnection of humans, not as a way of claiming some sense of responsibility. These values are something more Anglos would do well to learn. I apologize to Muslims for the US actions in the Middle East, even though I am not responsible for it. This is different, it was one person, not a nation, but still, people feel a connection based on culture and they want to help somehow.
Certainly there is some racism and fear of racism playing out, and that will always be magnified by the media. I’m sure racism had a part in Cho Seung Hui’s mental illness, but it doesn’t explain it anywhere near completely.
I have also seen a lot of people reacting sensitively and compassionately to this event, even in the way they describe Cho Seung Hui. People did try to help him, but he did not want help, he was so closed down by then. I found some hope in watching how the tragedy was handled as I looked for the helpers as part of my way to deal with the grief.
I, for one, HAVE noticed that most murderers and rapists come from my Anglo culture, which makes sense if you understand the hierarchy of oppression. It is why I am doing everything I can to change my culture to become anti-bias and non-violent.
On a positive note, I have also noticed that MOST human beings all over this world keep on trying to be happy and kind, day in and day out. Most never even think of picking up a gun and doing harm to another human being.
every day, little steps,
Barbara Walker
West Virginia
Posted 26 Apr 2007 at 2:48 pm ¶
Jane wrote:
An article in today’s Washington Post examines these issues through a generational prism. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/29/AR2007042901736.html?hpid=topnews
Posted 30 Apr 2007 at 9:00 am ¶