Letters to the Editor: Stereotyping Koreans is not OK
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 30, 2009 10:49 p.m.
I was delighted to read a piece about one of the most cultural and historic areas of Los Angeles (“K-town Galleria offers the best of both worlds,” March 12). But I was shocked at the way Jenae Cohn described her experience in one of Korea Town’s proudest establishments.
1) I was extremely offended by the fact that she supports the “irony” of the word galleria. Just because her friend Jeff is Korean and can make “excusable statements” about the word galleria does not mean it is true of all Asian people.
2) Cohn writes that the menu was written “in Korean or Korean accompanied by poor English translations.” The wording “poor English translations” just assumes that Koreans are too unintelligent to know “proper English.”
3) The few sentences after the quote: “Lady, you like spicy things?” It is wrong of Jenae to presume that the Asian lady was speaking negatively about Jenae when she herself uses a tone and wording that insults Asians during this whole article. It is a common stereotype that Asian people or immigrants are talking negatively about other people in their own language and this reinforces the stereotype. As an Asian American, I felt that this was an antagonistic and offensive article that has depicted Asian people in a facetious way.
I was not amused. In a place so diverse and cultured as UCLA, there is no excuse to be ignorant.
Leslie Shim, Third-year, international development studies and history
