nwasianweekly.com
April 21, 2007

Va. tragedy affects entire Asian community

Not long after the tragedy that left 33 people dead on the Virginia Tech campus, word began to surface about the gunman’s ethnic identity. By the end of Monday, several newspapers and television stations were reporting that the man responsible for the massacre was Asian.

Upon hearing that, some community members began scouring the Internet for information on the ethnicity of the gunman. Was he Chinese? Was he Filipino? Was he Vietnamese?

Some might have held their breath as they searched. Maybe they were thinking: I hope he doesn’t belong to the same community I belong to.

It turns out Cho Seung-Hui was Korean.

We don’t think that means anyone in the Asian American community who is not Korean should let out a sigh of relief, though. The reality is, Asians make up such a small proportion of the U.S. population that one person’s burdens easily get placed on all of our shoulders.

Of course, we don’t think it’s right for an entire community to be judged by the horrendous acts of a single troubled individual. We were as shocked and saddened as everyone else when we heard the extent of the violence. In no way does the community condone this kind of brutality. However, in the eyes of some, the entire Asian American community should be blamed for this tragedy. Just check out some of the online chat rooms.

We want to remind the Asian community that it doesn’t matter what the shooter’s ethnic background is. Most Americans can’t differentiate between Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese or any other Asian ethnicity. To the mainstream community, our black hair and dark eyes make all of us look the same.
This is a tragedy for everyone in the Asian community, so we must address it together.

Educate people that this was an individual act that is not representative of the community.

Encourage others to see people as individuals. There is a lot of diversity within the Asian community — we have immigrants and American-borns, extroverts and introverts, thinkers and talkers, scientists and artists, wealthy and poor, liberals and conservatives, pessimists and optimists.

By the same token, we caution people to refrain from judging the entire Cho family. Just because one member of the family was responsible for such terror doesn’t mean his relatives are capable of the same.

It’s not just Koreans and other Asians who have been eyed in the fallout of the Virginia Tech shootings. Immigrants, noncitizens and people of color in general haven’t fared too well since the gunman’s identity was revealed. We’ve heard Cho labeled derisively as a foreigner, even though he spent most of his life in the United States. It certainly doesn’t help that the mainstream media continually called him “a student from South Korea,” rather than a “Korean American,” a term that better reflects his cultural influences and upbringing.

Asian parents, this would be a good time to talk to your children about how they work through their disappointment, anger, hurt and frustration. Some Asian youths have a hard time expressing themselves. That’s due in part to the Asian culture, which dictates that the most important job of a child is to be a good student. Since the Virginia Tech shootings, we now know the importance of teaching children how to deal with their anger in a healthy and productive manner. Parents should explain to their children that it’s OK to feel upset, but that they shouldn’t take out their aggression on others, especially not through violent means.

The fact is, it is more important to be a well-rounded individual. If young people don’t have friends and don’t know how to establish healthy relationships, they will have a hard time achieving success in the future. Parents should encourage their children to have healthy social lives as much as they push them to do well in school.

Reports say the gunman was struggling with mental illness, a disease that is spoken about quietly in the Asian community. Keeping it a taboo subject doesn’t help anyone, especially not the victims. It’s important the community talks openly about mental illness and takes steps to care for those affected by it. Encourage those who feel depressed or angry to seek help.

It’s unfair to blame the entire Asian community for the Virginia Tech massacre. However, this is a “teachable moment” for both the Asian and mainstream communities. As America recovers from this tragedy, the Asian community should reach out to and educate others about why Cho’s actions aren’t a reflection of the Korean, Asian or immigrant communities. It’s also important for the Asian community to take stock of how it is raising its young people.

The Asian community does not condone violence of any kind.

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