So, after meeting this girl and talking to her for a little bit, she was pretty adamant about not switching her citizenship. Besides, Koreans in Japan do get a special foreigner status compared to other foreigners, and they have the advantage of at least looking similar to Japanese people (but like I mentioned in my previous blogs about Japan, Japanese do look different than Koreans). Even though they are discriminated against in many areas of society, the Koreans in Japan tend to be a very resilient people who are still proud of their roots and how they have remained successful in the land of their oppressors.
So Ms. Bae acknowledged she has Korean roots, but she says has no connection with them. As my friend James put it: "She's a person without a country." She knows that if she goes back to Korea, and since she cannot speak Korean, she will be looked at as a foreigner, and since she does not think of herself as Korean, and neither Japanese, she's just plain stuck.
There is an Indian saying that describes Indian people who return to their homeland from studying or working abroad: "A local bird with a foreign walk." (Taken from a lecture from Ravi Zacharias)
Today, with voluntary migrations and globalization becoming more and more part of our world, a lot of people are losing their identity from their original countries. Immigrants always face that challenge when they leave for the new world. They become birds with foreign walks.
For example, today there are many Japanese who live in Brazil, descendants of farmers who left Japan earlier in the 20th century to find new work and hope. These Japanese-Brazilians left behind their culture and many, their identity. When a Japanese-Brazilian returns to his or her homeland, many are estranged because now they are just "local birds with foreign walks." They look Japanese, but they are not Japanese. Many speak Portuguese and not enough Japanese, and they too are discriminated against.
So I definitely can identify with Ms. Bae, feeling estranged in a country that is not your own (Korea, not the U.S.). What makes it harder is that sometimes, even in my own country of the United States, people still think you are foreign because of my looks as an Asian-American. Then when I come to Korea, I'm still a foreigner due to my looks. Its a Catch-22 of culture identification.
But, she was the one who taught me that being foreign is okay. Just go out there and do your job, and she taught me that you don't have to suck up to anyone's culture to feel accepted. The only Being that you have a standard to be accepted is the Lord. After all, He was the one who creates His beings with design and purpose. If we did not choose our race before we are born, than that means someone did, and I believe the Lord did, our Creator of Life. That means our race is sacred, no one can alter it or change it. Even if you got plastic surgery or whitened or blackened your skin, you are still who you are regardless! (like the Japanese girls who try to be Caucasian by putting on ridiculous tan cream and dying their hair blonde)
Mr. Bae taught me that its up to you how you want to adapt to this culture, without having to be a suck-up to the status quo or the standards that the society says is "good." People would expect her to speak Korean, but she had this air about her that she does not need to speak her native tongue to be "complete." I thought that when I came to this country this year, I had a "ticket" to be accepted in this culture, especially after Hines Ward's Bi-Racial Crusade in 2005 and how he said: "that we are all Koreans despite our skin color." But the sad truth is that I will never be accepted as a true Korean because of my skin color. I also thought that they only way I can truly learn about Korean culture and life is by speaking the language. Well, it takes years to learn this difficult language, but God has taught me after my trip to Japan to just "slow it down!" Study the language, practice it, but don't feel like I have to learn it in five minutes just to gain acceptance!
So what I conclude with is that just because a society will not accept me totally does not mean I am not Korean. I am bi-racial, but I am Korean...no one can take that away from me. God gave me the privilege to have two distinct ethnicities in my blood, and no one has the right to tell me who I am or not. God makes perfect sense when it comes to racial equality and identity because diversity is a manifestation of His glory and power, and if you have all types of blood in your system, than its yours! He gave it to you!
After coming back from Japan, a mighty and unique culture in itself, and renewed by the lessons I learned from this invigorating trip, I am more determined to learn about my culture, to become fluent in Korean, and as a Christian display Christ's power in my life through my diversity. Diversity is not an accident, its a road to recovery. A road to a world where God is recognized as Lord and Master, and not just an idea of human achievement as many preach and advocate for today.
No comments:
Post a Comment