Have you ever been subjected to Racial/ Cultural Abuse/ Discrimination?

[Gandalf]

I have been subjected to racial abuse a number of times. One christmas me and my wife decided to go to Seoul with another married couple who are friends of ours. Immediately after getting into the streets from the train station a woman walked up to me and started to abuse me for having the audacity to hold hands with a pure blooded Korean. Forget the fact that this was my wife, but apparently I was white and so was a perfect target for her ire. I got quite pissed off and grabbed her hand which was pointing into my chest a little too much for my liking. My wife and my friend pulled me back, telling me to walk away because she was obviously not worth the argument. I saw their point and let it go, but it soured my day somewhat. That's just one of my little stories, there are others though.

I have come to the conclusion that Koreans are a very insecure bunch and nothing fills them with fright more than a white male married to one of 'their' women. The racism is institutionalised here and it feeds from the politics and media through to the public who have been fed a very negative image of 'the white menace'. In no other country are white middle class university educated males held in such fear. Currently a group called the anti English spectrum has come to prominence in Korea. They cloak their agenda in saying they are about improving education and protecting the children. Pull the other one! Im the teacher with an MA in education...I care about education. These muppets are on the whole concerned with white/black foreign males who date Korean women. They even stalk English teachers and post pictures of their apartments on their website. They even went through a female teachers trash and reported on their site that they had found a used condom. These are obviously classy people. Unfortunately the ministry of justice has invited their leader to government meetings and the media has been quoting from him quite freely. The police have also given him an award for his vigilante behaviour. It's almost like the British government taking the BNP under its wing and asking them for advice! Just a few weeks ago the leader of ATEK (a small foreign teachers union out here) recieved an email from a member of Anti English spectrum threatening to kill him and throw acid into the faces of English teachers starting this christmas. Police are currently investigating.

Currently they are trying to stimatize foreigners as AIDS carrying, drug abusing, pedophiles. Of course, when the media is going along with this without verifying any facts and creating a climate of fear it makes the public somewhat uneasy. Foreign teachers are now being forced to provide incountry AIDS tests. Even the sex workers (entertainment...ahem) and the 3D workers are able to supply AIDS tests from their home countries and yet educated English teachers must do it in country. It's all about trying to stimgmatise the English teacher.

I don't have to bother with all that crap because I have permanent residency status, but for any new people wanting to come here. I would tell them not to bother. I wouldn't have come with all the extra paper work required these days, it's just not worth it.