Hines Ward on ESPN's : "Outside the Lines"

[ijiified.livejournal.com]

Hi, everyone! This is my first post on OMNTD, so please go easy on me. I know it doesn't exactly, fall in the category of Korean news, so it may or may not be appropriate for posting here, but I found it interesting, so I thought that you guys might too.

Hines Ward, half-Korean wide-receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL, was recently featured in ESPN's "outside the lines" Report.

For those of you that don't know, Hines Ward is a fairly famous NFL wide receiver, who is currently playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was awarded the MVP award for the super bowl in 2005.

Why do you care, Omona? Hines Ward, half black and half Korean, is one of the only Asian players in the NFL, and the only Korean. Not only that, But he was actually born and spent his early childhood years in Seoul. His family was eventually forced to moved to the states because of discrimination.

Not too long ago, Hines revisited Korea, and established the Helping Hands Fund to help multiracial children and combat discrimination in Korea, to which he donated $1mil USD.

On top of that, as far as NFLers go, he's just a big sweetie. I gotta say I really admire the guy for donating such a large sum of money to a country that 1)essentially shunned you and your family as a child and 2)that you don't even live in anymore. Korea, though it really has advanced leaps and bounds in the last 30 years, is still a country that discriminates against biracial children and interracial couples. Hopefully, through media exposure and time, this will continue to change.

Source: SirHypnotoad @ Youtube.

Comments

[-ochre.livejournal.com]

I accepted this post because if Daniel Henney the Korean-American is in Omona, he can be on here too.

Ty for this bb. He seems like a nice guy.

[iheartomntd.livejournal.com]

We need more post on the pure sexiness that is Will Demps. Who's Half-Korean too

[iheartomntd.livejournal.com]

and Will Demps Plays for the Giants and can speak some Korean

(http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d93/BluMistLaydee/korean/?action=view&current=demps-1.jpg)

[summercello.livejournal.com]

Awww, what a sweetheart. ♥ I'm glad there are people out there who want to help make people aware that discrimination's never okay. :/

[waiyza.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing this! He seems like an awesome guy. It's great what he's doing, because it's easy to forget that despite all the progress the world has made, discrimination still continues to exist.

[-ochre.livejournal.com]

Korea can be such a douche sometimes.

[xxarnxx.livejournal.com]

damn i like this guy.
I really admire whats hes doing over there in Korea.
Sweet kid, sweet kid ♥

[xradiostatic.livejournal.com]

i love hines ward. he's such a sweet guy. ♥

[xradiostatic.livejournal.com]

i finished watching and i want to cry now. ;_;

[poppytea.livejournal.com]

...asians are not minorities re: the world..if anything, they're the majority, lol.

[distortedinpink.livejournal.com]

I want to give him a giant hug :(

[raenism.livejournal.com]

well i have a new respect for someone i didn't even know about.

wth world, everyone's beautiful no matter where they come from.

[rerightings.livejournal.com]

I cried :(

[shanny-w.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Korea will ever accept that they aren't pure blood like they claim. No one is pure blood of anything. & if you were well that would probably mean you come from a long line of inbreeding. Leave the mixed children alone.

[marochi-x.livejournal.com]

I almost didn't watch this [cus I have 0 interest in sports].
But this was really nice.

& I had no idea bi-racial kids had it so bad. I always personally thought that being multiple races was a cool thing. Like a pokemon with different types. ..LOL. SRY FOR MY LAME COMPARISON.

[sojufever.livejournal.com]

I'm happy that he's made it through all the tough times he had growing up and is now a top athlete. And it's sweet how he's reaching out to kids who have to face what he did. He seems like a great guy.

One of my favorite female artists - Tasha - in Korea also had a tough time growing up there because of her being biracial.

She talks about it in this song.

[xradiostatic.livejournal.com]

i immediately thought of her when i saw this video on hines ward.
when i heard that song for the first time, i cried super hard. tasha is amazing and had to overcome so much. ;_;

[liu-zhoucheng.livejournal.com]

NGL...I cried ;____;
This reminds me of a show I used to watch on the Korean satellite channel...it was about bi-racial couples and their families...UGGG I cant remember the name of that show...if anyone knows could you tell me..........

[poppytea.livejournal.com]

that's why i love canada/america for being a country of immigrants.. of course there will be stupidity, but it's not so closed off like pretty much all other homogeneous countries.

[kawaiiairbender.livejournal.com]

Oh I adore him <3 I can't remember if it was him or Demps that brought some Korean to the US I was reading about it in a article about mixed kids in Korea.

Hot Black/Korean Picture Spam

[iheartomntd.livejournal.com]

Korean, needs to learn that the Black and Korean Mix people are fine as hell

Will Demps
(http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d93/BluMistLaydee/korean/?action=view&current=willdemps19.jpg)

Crystal Kay
(http://photobucket.com/images/crystal%20kay)

Amerie
(http://photobucket.com/images/amerie)

Tomika Skanes
(http://photobucket.com/images/tomika%20skanes)

Denyce Lawton
(http://photobucket.com/images/denyce%20lawton)

Re: Hot Black/Korean Picture Spam

[sojufever.livejournal.com]

Crystal ♥

[missjoongie.livejournal.com]

ah I remember seeing a documentary on this, he ended up making a mixed korean kids foundation ya?

Hmm isn't korea getting a little better on this tough? Unless KBS has brainwashed me with all their 'Love in Asia' (show about interracial couples in Korea) & 'Chit chat of Beatitful women' shows .__.;;

[liu-zhoucheng.livejournal.com]

OMG Love in Asia...I used to watch that show ALL the time. It was so cute. I mentioned it (not by name) earlier I just could not for the life of me remember WHAT it was called =D

[nautisch.livejournal.com]

As a huge sports fan I'm really glad this got posted here...whenever I try to talk to friends about sports they just assume all athletes are crooks and gangsters, and Hines Ward is the complete opposite. :) I'd read about him before, but I didn't know he lived in Seoul for a time. Poor kid :(

[heartsolid.livejournal.com]

Poor bb. He's a really admirable person though.
That's just freakin' terrible. CAN'T WE ALL JUST LOVE ONE ANOTHER?

I can't help but think though, if he wasn't as famous as he is now, would Korea have accepted them as nicely?

IDK, even though racism still exists, I think it's changed dramatically than it was, say, 50 years ago.

Good post, it was good to see/hear something like this!

[yuukihitohira.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES! I remember seeing the special that the NFL did on him a few years ago when he went back to Korea and was awarded something(I can't remember what D:). I was not into KPop/Korea at that point yet, but I just remember feeling really bad for him hearing his story but then really happy that he could get over his past to go and do something better and help other people. IT REALLY WARMS MY HEART <3

[ellyatthedisco.livejournal.com]

this is sooo true though. I'm biracial (mom's black, dad's korean) and for the longest time my grandparents didn't want my dad to marry my mom but when they saw that we had a nice family (after me and my sister where born) they warmed up to the idea. I've visited them twice in Busan and though people in general didn't seem so open to me, my relatives where^-^