2016.12.01 07:56
2016.12.01 09:04
2016.12.09 23:39
2016.12.27 08:54
Dear Dr. 이한중
I read those two articles in regard to the racism with quite an amusement. Not a surprise at all! In my experiences, Koreans are THE worst racists with full of prejudices as I know of, worse than Japanese. In comparison to Koreans, (U.S. born) Americans I met and worked together for almost half century are the least racists. I will tell you more later.
So, you lived in this country for half century now- I still need two more years to reach since I came to the States to Richmond, Va in 1968-, and still conscious(?) on this racial issue, correct? Isn’t it quite natural? Another words, you feel uncomfortable to identify yourself as 100% or quasi American, perhaps? So?
Me? I don’t know! Lost the identity as Korean (American)? Nahhhhhhhhh!
But definitely I confirmed I do NOT belong there/Korea through my tenure at SamSung Medical Center- I went back to Korea in 1994 to stay for almost 10 years-. Believe or not, I felt more racism(?) among Koreans while in Korea than any other places/countries and my worst experiences on the racism in a certain way was while in Korea; I felt so disgusted that Koreans are real racists, worse than Jap.
Indeed, I am embarrassed to tell you but I always found myself with a sigh(?) of relief for unknown reasons whenever the plane to bring me back to the States touched the ground/soil of the U.S.- to maintain the clinical professorship at the Johns Hopkins as a safety net during my tenure in Seoul at SamSung, I had to give a service for a minimum 1 ½ months per year including two weeks at the JHH physically so that I had to travel constantly between Seoul and Baltimore till I came back home/the U.S. permanently-. Oddly(?), longer I stayed in Korea, more intense I had such response to make myself embarrassed!
So, I feel more and more comfortable as a cosmopolitan(?) with NO nationality though I identify myself as an American in these days although my wife thinks I am “NUOMOO BBUN-BBUN SROWA” to claim myself as an American (she thinks I should limit my claim to U.S. citizen and NOT as an American). Perhaps, she is right! But I feel more home here in the U.S. than in Korea sadly although 49% of the voters are white trash or rather human garbage.
Warm regards,
BB Lee
2016.12.27 09:08
Dear Dr. 이한중
Those articles you posted remind me of my days back in Richmond in early '70 as a damn- or rather blessed(?)- foreigner. Racism? Yes, of course! Indeed, many MCV/Richmond clans still quote me as BB Lee, one and only GD foreign MD, ever accepted to MCV surgery program, which was one of top five surgery programs in the country they were so proud of. But I survived miraculously(?) as one of 5 out of 11 through the competition/pyramidal systemas a damn foreigner, which means they were fair, right? But, I have been conscious all along as a FMG and worked harder to compete with the AMGs. So certain degree of the racism(?) against the foreigner is quite natural in my opinion as long as they were civilized to remain fair.
Nevertheless, the problem with me during the MCV era was they all expected me behaving like HM Lee, who was always courteous on low key with such gentle attitude as only professor with foreign background in the department. So, everyone who adored HM as gentle South Korean- actually he was from the North Korea-, was shocked with me/BB Lee with such difference from HM, who learned the four-letter words first from the colleague residents freshly out of Vietnam War, and called me as North Korean- I am actually KyungSangDo origin-.
Indeed, a few years ago, one of my junior alumni joked on me and HM Lee over the alumni dinner saying HM Lee as such nice, gentle and cordial SOUTH Korean but BB Lee is a combative and abrasive NORTH Korean with the temper tantrum to scare the hell out of all the junior staffs. So I responded, too bad, I am NOT a HM but a GD foreigner as they used to tease me with full of prejudices they would never understand.
However, later when I heard from HM Lee that one of faculty/professors, that is James Wolf (he soon moved to Northwestern Univ to set up the transplant program), loudly protested to David Hume to accept me as a resident to violate/waive unwritten rule to limit the residency program only to AMG, and NOT a single FMG. That story really humiliated me but after all I am NOT an AMG but GD FMG, different from them. So, I willingly accept/admit with a laugh whenever the young guy who introduces me at the alumni dinner of Humera Society as “one and only GD foreign MD, ever accepted by David Hume”.
After all, a foreigner is the foreigner and no way to clear mutual prejudices, good or bad, but remains forever! Racism? No, it is human nature!
BB Lee
2016.12.28 01:52
이병붕 선배님,
Thank you for your comments and sharing your stories with us.
A Happy and Healthy New Year to you and your family!
이한중
This article is a very good historical review on the subject of racism and Asian-Americans in U.S.A.
I came to America in 1965. After reading this article, I must say the timing was good.
Yet I still remember clearly almost every Caucasian American I had social conversation with
in the next ten years used to ask me when I was going back to Korea.
By reading this article, obviously there was a widespread underlying
anxiety then among the white Americans against Asian-Americans.
Although they stopped asking that question sometime ago, that anxiety, I believe, still remains in many parts of this country.