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indytrucks
Joined: 09 Apr 2003
Location: The Shelf
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 Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:10 am Post subject: Hines Ward made honourary citizen of Seoul |
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Let the love fest continue.
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-fbn-ward-south-korea,1,1492780.story?coll=sns-ap-sports-headlines
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Super Bowl MVP Ward Embraces Heritage
By BURT HERMAN
Associated Press Writer
April 4, 2006, 3:37 AM CDT
SEOUL, South Korea -- Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward was nervous for the first time in his life as he prepared for a trip to the land of his birth. He also looked forward to learning more about his heritage.
"I'm proud to be a Korean, that's something when I was little as a kid, I was ashamed of," Ward told a packed news conference room at the Seoul hotel where he was staying in a complementary suite normally reserved for world leaders.
"I had to overcome a lot, being teased a lot by American kids about my being 50 percent Korean, being 50 percent African-American."
Ward was virtually unknown here before the Super Bowl, since American football isn't widely followed in Korea. But since his Pittsburgh Steelers' victory and Ward's MVP award, he has become a media phenomenon in South Korea -- also drawing attention to the discrimination faced in this country by children of mixed parentage.
"The Korean community has supported my mother and I for the first time in my life," Ward said at the news conference, carried live by several TV channels.
Ward had lunch later Tuesday with President Roh Moo-hyun, presenting him with an autographed ball, cap and jersey. Roh gamely tossed the ball to Ward before the meal at the presidential Blue House.
"You came back a hero," Roh said. "Children growing up in South Korea can have big dreams by watching Hines Ward."
During his 10-day trip, he will also be granted honorary citizenship by the city of Seoul and be greeted at a reception hosted by the U.S. Embassy.
He will also meet with children of mixed backgrounds. Ward was born in Seoul to a Korean mother, and his father was a black soldier.
The family returned to the United States while Ward was a baby and his parents soon divorced. His mother, Kim Young-hee, was initially ruled unfit to keep her son, but he ran away to live with her in second grade. She worked three jobs to support him, a story that has drawn sympathy from hardworking Koreans.
This is his first trip as an adult to South Korea.
"I'm very intrigued with the Korean heritage. It's something that I missed out for 30 years of my life," Ward said.
He said his mother taught him that race wasn't important, and called for understanding among people of all backgrounds.
"You can learn a lot from someone else's culture," Ward said. "If two people love each other, then love has no color."
Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:53 am Post subject: |
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He certainly looks Korean. i wonder how it was for him as a mixed- race kid in Korea.
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:54 am Post subject: |
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I was initially quite cynical about the press adulation shortly after the super bowl. But it sure has generated a lot of public discussion about the plight of mixed Koreans. Maybe it wasn't related but they've recently allowed mixed Koreans to do their military service. That might not seem like they're doing anyone favors but I do suspect one's national service becomes like a frat later in life. Your army budies, people in your unit, are your frat boys for the rest of your life. They become your business contacts, you throw business their way, etc. If you served honorably and in a hard core position, you're a better hire at Samsung. If you avoided your military service or got stuck as subway safety gimp, your career prospects are lessened.
Anyway, I'd put this in the category of "encouraging step in the right direction". One thing you can say about Koreans is they're capable massive attitudinal change over night. |
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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:26 am Post subject: |
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| As far as I can tell most mixed-race Koreans are very skeptical that the Ward affair will make for lasting change. But I think the demographic wave of them that is predicted to occur over the next 20 years will force change. |
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Smee
Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 8:48 am Post subject: |
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This might be posted elsewhere, but it's a reaction by Hines' mom to all of this.
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When she had composed herself, Kim said she had spent 30 years ��without looking at Koreans and without thinking about them. What do you think would have become of us if I had kept living here with Hines? He would probably never have been able to be anything but a beggar. Do you think I would even have been able to get work cleaning houses?��
An agreed that it is hard here for single mothers to get a job, and even more difficult if their child is of mixed parentage.
Kim said this was the way Koreans are. ��Even in America, Korean's don't get along. Koreans who immigrated ignored us. Koreans of the same skin color are even more racist among themselves. It doesn't make sense. If everybody hates our children so much because their skin is a different color, then why do Koreans run around dying their hair blond and red?
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http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200604/200604060002.html
There's also stuff on the Marmot's Hole:
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| ��I��ve lived 30 years without looking or thinking or thinking about Korean people. What would have become if I��d brought Hines to Korea? Perhaps he could have become no more than a beggar. Would anyone here have hired me, even as a house cleaner? Now that Hines is famous, they are paying a lot of attention. Yeah, well. It��s burdensome, really. That��s just life, no?�� |
http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=2667 |
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Wrench
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
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| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Koreans are a bunch of hypocrites. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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One thing you can say about Koreans is they're capable massive attitudinal change over night.
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I think this is true as well. This whole thing alone may not solve the problem (I'd be surprised if it did), but it has certainly opened up the topic for discussion. That is a healthy thing for everyone.
A country having a problem is not a shameful thing. They all have problems. Facing up to the problem is the key to dealing. Good for Korea for starting on this one. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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Used this as a topic last night. Three of the four essentially decided you're Korean only if "pure" blood.
Let me know where they came from... or did they spontaneously generate here on the peninsula? |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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| I hung out with an american korean last week.He was here for a few days, and quite shocked at what he saw here. He definitely felt looked down upon for being a gyopo, despite speaking Korean fairly well. I suspect his very casual almost scruffy dress style may have been a contributing factor though. |
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