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The Intersection of the Media &
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Why The New York Times is a better newspaper. It focused on the right perspective - the mourners were one in their sorrow. Center photo by T. Reisler |
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by Yina
Chun and the AA E-Zine staff
As news of the Virginia Tech tragedy
spread, there was grief in America. But
as news broke that the killer of 32
students and professors was of Asian
descent, other feelings arose as well,
both here and abroad.
For Asian Americans, Asians in America,
and their friends, the first reaction
was, "Be careful." Would we face
discrimination due to one person’s
actions simply because he looks like us,
and we do not look like the American
majority? Given how Muslims and Sikhs
were treated after 9/11, an
understandable reaction.
Then word spread across the internet. He
was from Shanghai. It was not true but
since the US and China are neither
friends nor foes in their newly evolving
relationship, it spread fear in the
Chinese community.
During his spring break, the son of a
Stony Brook China alumnus now in a US
boarding school had visited classes with
us. He emailed his father’s advisor,
"Will the US send all boarding school
students back to China?" "NO!" he was
told emphatically. "America understands
this was just one crazy person." He was
not told that was a hope, not a fact.
As it became known the killer was South
Korean, other Asians breathed a sigh of
relief. "I know it is wrong," said one
SBU Chinese grad student, "but I prayed
and thanked God that he was not
Chinese."
South Korean Ambassador Lee Tae-sik’s
first comment was that he hoped "the
tragedy would not stir up racial
prejudice or confrontation" against
South Koreans, exactly what many
dreaded. Another SUNY student, Lee Hyun-Choi,
told online Korean American
iChosen Network2.0
that he "missed classes since he feared
retaliation." Virginia Tech Korean
American students hid in their rooms.
Some were advised to say they were
Chinese when asked.
Apologies from the Korean and Korean
American community poured in. It was as
though the guilt of one person was the
communal guilt of an entire nationality.
President Roh of South Korea apologized
and held a Cabinet meeting to discuss
what to do if Americans blamed South
Korea.
That unleashed comparisons in newspapers
and websites. Why should Korea apologize
for one mentally ill man? Many Americans
spoke of President Bush’s hypocrisy.
Typical is this example from
The
New York Times
The Lede blog: "For EACH of the 32
people who were killed in Virginia, more
than one hundred American soldiers and
perhaps two thousand civilians have been
killed in Iraq, also in horrific
violence. When will we collectively be
encouraged to mourn these deaths? When
will our President drop everything to
rush to a memorial service for these
people, whose deaths he has directly
influenced?"
Along with expressing condolences for
the tragedy, that comparison was echoed
throughout the world. American media
focused non-stop on the Virginia Tech
deaths, sadly a paltry amount in
comparison to the deaths daily in Iraq
and Darfur. The rest of the world once
again asked if only American lives are
important.
The Korean American community was
divided. Eugene Lee, a Korean American
at UC Berkeley’s
Daily Californian,
made valid points in his
Finding the Korean Voice:
Ambassador Lee could speak for South
Korea but he did not have the right to
speak for the Korean American community,
all Koreans fasting one day for each
life lost to prove they are a
"worthwhile ethnic minority" would not
prove anything, and no one should repent
for sins they did not commit. "There was
nothing Korean about what Cho did."… but
rather "We fear that Cho will indirectly
become the mainstream image of Korean
America, and we desperately search for
an alternative champion." He concluded,
"We can overcome this dark day, not as
Koreans linked in shame, but as
Americans united under tragedy."
But as the aftermath of 9/11 on Muslims
and Sikhs showed, the fear all Asians
felt as the Virginia Tech tragedy
unfolded, and the emphasis on Cho’s
nationality and visual image the
American media spread worldwide - more
is needed than finding a "Korean Voice."
Eugene Lee quoted former Congressman
Norman Mineta talking about the need to
find a coherent Asian American voice
within the national discourse. Until
that happens, we will remain the
"perpetual foreigner" in our own
country.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/updates-on-virginia-tech/
www.ichoson.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=567&Itemid=10581
http://www.dailycal.org/column.php?id=24692
http://arabwomanprogressivevoice.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech-shooting.html
http://www.modelminority.com/article676.html
