Not The Korean's, Too?

They must be kidding. The most attention I've seen paid to the race of the Va Tech shooter is when South Korean officials said something about fear of reprisals. What are they thinking? was my only thought.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Before his age, his hometown or his name, America learned one thing about the Virginia Tech shooter - he was Asian. That characterization has bristled activists who say the swift focus on ethnicity shows decades-old suspicions of Asian-Americans linger.

The Korean community joins America in mourning the deaths of 32 students and teachers at the Blacksburg campus. But activists see the identification of Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui as shaded to emphasize that he was South Korean - as if his 15 years living in the United States didn't count - and the rush to describe him by race, not by his physical features the way a white suspect might have been.

What some groups apparently want is a complete denial of reality. Asians are a minority in the US and it is absurd to pretend that the shooters race wouldn't be the most obvious physical trait to mostly white observers in this case. Still, when he was described as Asian, like most, I felt that could mean any number of things as regards his nation of origin. That has nothing to do with racism, it's simply common sense.

Traditionally, Asian minorities have done extremely well in America , at least in part because they did not fall into the now all too typical mentality of minorities - that, simply by definition, they are oppressed. I'd hate to see some likely left wing component of a proud American minority community tear down all that hard work.

Comments

[nowinger]

like most, I felt that could mean any number of things as regards his nation of origin.

I think, Dan, that most people outside of LGF and the rest of the wingers felt that a man witnesses decribed as "Asian" was, well, Asian.

[bloodrage bob]

good to see the south koreans are trashing the old notions of pride & responsibility; as well as "shame" and "common sense", and jumping on the ol' whiny train, too.

because after all, this whole tragedy is about THEM.

[K]

The news reports said he had permanent resident status. So he was not technically an American. He was a Korean.

Quibbling aside, he had been here for over half his life and he probably regarded it as his permanent home.

I have no trouble regarding him as an American until an activist groups tells me that saying Asian and/or Korean is wrong and discriminatory. Professional whining.

[Buzzy]

PsyCho isn't representative of Asians but he is representative of psychopaths. When it was reported that the shooter was Asian it didn't enter my mind that the press was doing anything more than giving an element of the shooter's description but to the PC activist it smacks of racism. I wonder if that racism isn't just in the mind of the activist?

On the other hand most minorities, including Asians and Koreans, have no problem describing themselves by race and nationality when it is to their advantage.

[redherkey]

Koreans and Asians who are having difficulty dealing with this situation should read up on Timothy McVeigh and his contribution to the race-oriented bias of the "angry white male." Following McVeigh's crimes, and the Reno/Clinton obsession with the prosection of religious and anti-government oddballs in Waco and Ruby Ridge, white males became a stereotypical definition for uncompetitive losers unable to keep up with global changes.

The best advise is to get the chip off the shoulder. Anyone of any merit doesn't care what your ancestry is, and those who do aren't worth wasting time on.

Cho was an abject pathetic loser who should have been taken away from society by countless responsible parties, except their misguided compassion combined with incompetence to abandon Cho to his tendencies, while condemning countless individuals and their families to such an unfortunate outcome. We all need to focus on putting a stop to the misguided liberals who fear those of us who seek to protect our families and find comfort in the myth that appeasing a predator will protect them. The real killers here are Cho and those miserable weaklings who empowered him, while rendering good people defenseless.

[tally]

the whole article is bogus. are tall people also offended. we learned he was asian and six feet tall.