i never say, "koreans are..."

i was thinking about how a while back (maybe two weeks before i got here) i met a brotha online who teaches in china, and he told me to stay away from korea. he said he'd never come to korea b/c of the shitty way they treat black people in the states. i sympathize, but i dont agree.

i beg of you, brotha, this type of generalization/stereotyping is what keeps us down. you may have great opportunities here in korea, and you choose not to take them, but dont discourage others from doing so. "the black man isn't free in korea," he said. really now, are you any freer in america?

i mean really, if you are black and live in america and think you are free, you are under arrested development. if youve never been past two blocks of your own neighborhood, the neighborhood that you're systematically caged in btw, of course you'll feel safe and not want to go to korea.

i dont know where im going with this. i guess i was thinking about his advice and feeling glad that i didnt listen to him. he'd never even been to korea. he had some bad experiences with koreans back home, as have i and i empathize. but dont judge korea on that. i dont like it when people say, "koreans are..." or "koreans do..." if anything, maybe we can just use "in korea..." Word choice is so important. miscommunication and misunderstandings starts fights and wars. Just as i dont like it when people say, "Black people always..." Non blacks think that my people are like the rappers and gangsters they see on tv... the men have all been in jail and have tattoos and wear lots of bling. the women all have babies from different men, we're all gold diggers, etc. When really, how many black people do you KNOW? you can count them on one hand. and you dont really know them. even if you think you do.

this reminds me too of the argument non black have about use of the word nigger, saying "well they call each other that, so what's the big deal, it's hypocritical to get mad at us for using it!" no, fools. we dont ALL call each other that. turn off the tv. stupid BET.