On March 28 2012, I
traveled to Harlem to attend a conference. It was my first time to go to Harlem,
and I was nervous because I have heard that Harlem is a dangerous place. I am
Asian but not racist. Before coming to the United States, I was warned by
friends in Korea that I should not say “black” to African-Americans and Harlem
is dangerous, so I should not go there. It is a Korean stereotype. In Korea,
most of the information about the United States comes from the media, such as
drama and movies. I remember a scene in Die Hard 3 where Bruce Willis goes to
Harlem to look for a suspect and the suspect wanted Willis to wear a panel in
Harlem on his neck which said, “I hate Negroes.” Everybody in Harlem considered
Willis to be crazy and one guy shoots him. Those kinds of movies give foreigners
a stereotype.
When I got to Harlem, the atmosphere
was not the same as the movies. Kids walk on the streets freely. After getting to
the Schomburg Library, I was prepared to listen carefully to the speakers at the
conference. I thought the topic of the speech would be about health care,
history, and justice. However, the topic was about discrimination and difficulties
for minorities in getting health care
services and the fight for those services. The speech was surprising to me
because I thought discrimination in the welfare system was a past problem. However,
Alondra Nelson shocked me by saying “public awareness of the way in which
medicine was not only healing but particularly harmful in communities of color.” The problem still exists
within the Black community.
For me, that is a little strange as I think whites and
blacks are just simply Americans to me. There
are so many black people in the media, entertainment, and sports. The President
of the United State is black. For me, America looks like a complete mixture of
people and races, however, I am wrong. The melting pot has not been mixed well.
Discrimination still takes place and attempts
to eliminate those problems are still the work of social activists.
In Korea, there is a concept of discrimination, called
“Sa-Dea-Ju-I” which means worship of the powerful country. Korea discriminates
in favor of foreigners. I remember watching a documentary once broadcasted on
EBS on August 13, 2008. The documentary
showed that when a white person asked for directions, everyone wanted to help,
and even walked the person to their destination. In contrast, when an Asian asked
for the same help more than 70% of the people ignored him. Korea is a small
country and was conquered several times, so Koreans admire the power of developed
countries. In addition, South Korea is not a melting pot like America. It is
mostly a Mongolian heritage.
In Korea, there
is not much chance to meet people of white heritage. One of the stereotypes Koreans
believe is that white people are from rich countries and it is acceptable not
to respect other Asians. Koreans now
realize this problem and they should throw away those old ideas. South Korea is not a country of immigration
but it is learning.
The United State is a country of immigrants. The
American Indians lived in continental North America first, and Europeans have
settled since Juan Ponce de Leon came to America on April 2, 1513. Black Africans were forced to live in America in
slavery, however, Abraham Lincoln repealed the law of slavery in 1861. Martin
Luther King began the civil rights movement in the 1960’s and Malcolm represented
black people. Eventually, one black person was elected President of the United States, Barack Obama.
However, I am curious about America. Even though black
people have fought with social discrimination and achieved, why is there still
discrimination of color? Why does this continue in one of the most wealthy countries
in the world? Why can this country not solve its inner-problems? No matter what
color, Americans are American, why is there is a difference in distributing
welfare to citizens because of color? Why can the sick not get health care
because one is black? I strongly believe that every citizen has the right to
have health care and the government and people must not let allow the unfair
distribution of welfare based upon color.
First, all citizens must be afforded equal access to
health care and welfare programs. Do
whites pay more taxes than blacks? Or is there a “white tax” for whites only? Or
is there some civic duty which only white people are required to perform in
America? If so, I would not complain about the unfairness. However, there are
no different taxes, civic duties, or responsibilities, among blacks, whites, or
Asians. Civic obligations are equal among all citizens, and all citizens should
have equal rights in American society. Societies must treat all citizens
fairly.
Second, governments have a duty to allocate welfare
fairly and to ensure that individuals within the welfare system do not prevent
citizens to have equal access. In American society, there are differences among
individuals. By recognizing the differences among individuals, and making fair
but equal accommodations, American society can be healthy and promote variety. Any
society which allows discrimination cannot be healthy and developing. The ideal
society demands justice and fairness for all its citizens. Discriminating and
taking away the rights of others is a kind of crime. Injured persons can lose the
will to live and discrimination can cause social disintegration.
Third, welfare systems should be open to all. The
government and society are sustained by the efforts of individuals. People
cannot live alone, so we establish a society to cooperate with each other. People
can make power, power can be big, and big power can affect people negatively. If
the government has the power to support people, the government should
support the development of the whole
society. If welfare is closed to some people and other people monopolize those
rights, the government loses its legitimacy..
It is possible that discrimination and inequality of
treatment existed in the past because immigrants from Europe established the
United States. However, the United States Declaration of Independence and the
United States Constitution of the United States, cast away those old rules and
thoughts. Americans became the masters of North America but they were also
invaders who killed many Indians. Whites were immigrants and even the founding
fathers came from different backgrounds and heritage. America needs to
eliminate a past way of thinking, discrimination by color.
Why the unfair distribution of welfare can take place in
a country like the United States and why people allow the unfairness is
puzzling. The government is made by the people and people give the government
power. So, the government must use its power to fairly serve its people and
remove racism. There can be individual differences in ability but there should
be no differences among groups. If people take away privileges and rights
because of racial differences, then that society is not just. People should
eliminate those thoughts and strive for a society based on fairness and justice.