oh and the guardian also covered it: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/01/k-pop-g-dragon-trayvon-martin-controversy
this comment is pretty sad, but also not surprising: I lived in Korea for a while. This doesn't surprise me, nor does it offend me. The country consumes a lot of American culture while remaining totally removed from the substance of it and the level of awareness about racism toward black people is quite naive. We're talking about an almost totally homogeneous country. A school production of Hairspray I saw used black face. After a the initial shock of seeing it, it stopped bothering me. I know my friend who was in it was mortified to learn that this was offensive to some. Her favourite singers are black and she and the cast wanted to honour that as well as engage with the racial storyline. To her it was the same as playing a geisha and painting your face stark white. Koreans I met were really curious about heterogeneity and non-white races. I am black and have afro hair some of the time. I had elderly people touch my hair while I was standing in public places and children stop open mouthed in supermarkets (one little girl in a supermarket stopped in front of me turned and ran away, she then returned hand in hand with her brother who also stood open mouthed looking at me. Their parents were so embarrassed, but it was actually quite cute and funny like you would believe). In Korea as a Black British person I was met with curiosity, wonder and real appreciation mostly. I mean who would have a problem walking past a group of teenagers and hearing them whisper "Wow!" There is racism in Korea, serious prejudice. Most of what I witnessed was toward Americans - who were assumed to be rude, sexually promiscuous and stupid - and towards other Asians who are judged very heavily on appearance and status.
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Date: 2013-08-01 07:41 pm (UTC)this comment is pretty sad, but also not surprising:
I lived in Korea for a while. This doesn't surprise me, nor does it offend me. The country consumes a lot of American culture while remaining totally removed from the substance of it and the level of awareness about racism toward black people is quite naive. We're talking about an almost totally homogeneous country.
A school production of Hairspray I saw used black face. After a the initial shock of seeing it, it stopped bothering me. I know my friend who was in it was mortified to learn that this was offensive to some. Her favourite singers are black and she and the cast wanted to honour that as well as engage with the racial storyline. To her it was the same as playing a geisha and painting your face stark white.
Koreans I met were really curious about heterogeneity and non-white races. I am black and have afro hair some of the time. I had elderly people touch my hair while I was standing in public places and children stop open mouthed in supermarkets (one little girl in a supermarket stopped in front of me turned and ran away, she then returned hand in hand with her brother who also stood open mouthed looking at me. Their parents were so embarrassed, but it was actually quite cute and funny like you would believe). In Korea as a Black British person I was met with curiosity, wonder and real appreciation mostly. I mean who would have a problem walking past a group of teenagers and hearing them whisper "Wow!"
There is racism in Korea, serious prejudice. Most of what I witnessed was toward Americans - who were assumed to be rude, sexually promiscuous and stupid - and towards other Asians who are judged very heavily on appearance and status.