Alex Lee

The first time I visited the Trevi fountain, a European couple kept chanting, ``Konichiwa,’’ to get my attention.

Another time _ slightly more dramatic _ a gang of angry Italian youths chased me around the Parthenon while yelling, ``Sempre Japonese’’ (always Japanese).

Facing prejudice is nothing new for American ``kyopo’’ (Americans of Korean heritage). Maybe this is why we just grin and bear it whenever native Koreans _ ``our own people’’ _ perpetuate the same prejudice towards us.

When a hagwon hires and pays ``kyopo'' less because we are not ``native English speakers'' _ code for white people _ they send the same stinging message we hear back home: People who look like us are less ``American/Western’’ than the white people you see on ``Friends’’ and ``Sex and the City.’’

Many white ex-patriots in Korea complain about Korea while rarely reflecting on their own enormous privilege.

They are considered ``American/Western'' wherever they go _ including their own ``motherland’’ _ and enjoy all the perks that come with it.

Sure, ``anti-American/Western’’ sentiment exists, but does that really matter when most Koreans still worship all that is ``Western’’ or white, though they would never admit it?

Why else do the same white faces that saturate the Korean media receive preferential treatment from Koreans (particularly from women) and make more money out of college than the average white-collar Korean worker?

Perhaps white ex-patriots complain that Koreans are irrational, sexist and racist because feeling marginalized and discriminated against is new to them, while ``kyopo'' have known these feelings forever.

Hyperbole aside, white ex-patriots have it better. Not all foreigners in Korea, after all, are treated equally.

Admittedly, I also enjoy the privileges of being a product of the West, though, obviously, not as much as a white ex-patriot.

Meanwhile, the same hagwon that hires Westerners like myself, forces its native Korean workers to work much more for less money.

For them, the opportunities we American ``kyopo’’ and other white ex-patriots have _ making easy money teaching our native language (English) without ever having to learn a foreign language (Korean) _ simply do not exist.

Meanwhile, bi-racial Koreans (Hines Ward and Daniel Henney notwithstanding) and ``kyopo’’ from non-English speaking countries struggle even harder to earn money, let alone respect, in ``the motherland.’’

And finally, we must not forget migrant workers from Southeast Asia and beyond who toil in the hardest jobs, while receiving the least pay and least dignity in Korea.

Minus its glossy rhetoric of ``freedom, inclusion and progress,’’ America and ``the West’’ are really not that much different than Korea.

Suffice to say, the same oppressions and hypocrisies exist. In the case of the U.S., it just has had more time to smooth out its rough edges while masking its more blatant hypocrisies.

Korea, on the other hand, is still a country in awkward adolescence, trying desperately to make sense of a tragic and often undemocratic history.

Consequently, Koreans’ foibles are easier to detect. It behooves white ex-patriots to give Koreans the benefit of the doubt before denouncing them as crass, superficial and prejudiced toward everything female, foreign or poor _ a sentiment many Koreans themselves admit.

Back when I was studying in Italy, one of my roommates was an Italian-American.

His biggest gripe was that while he had come to Italy to discover his roots, all the other students could do was complain about what was wrong with Italians.

At the time, I never fully understood his frustration. But now, I finally do.