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Yaya
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul
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 Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:36 pm Post subject: Asian American soldier who killed himself endured racism |
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At a news conference, family members and their supporters said Private Chen had been mistreated virtually every day of his six-week stint in Afghanistan. They said he had been called a �gook,� a �chink� and �dragon lady.� He was also forced to wear a green helmet and shout orders in Chinese, to a battalion that had no other Chinese-American soldiers, they said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/nyregion/pvt-chens-family-learns-more-about-hazing-by-fellow-gis.html?_r=2 |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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I'm pretty sure most outfits refer to everyone by racial slurs and pull pranks. It's like jail. If you can't handle yourself, well stuff like this happens.
Not to say that it's right, but let's be real... |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Bad stuff. this is officers and non coms fault. Hazing is acceptable within limits this was out of bounds. Sure some rough humor is part of it. This poor guy had no allies. |
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Airborne9
Joined: 01 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
I'm pretty sure most outfits refer to everyone by racial slurs and pull pranks. It's like jail. If you can't handle yourself, well stuff like this happens.
Not to say that it's right, but let's be real... |
Yeah going from all my Call of Duty experience i agree, army life can be tough
Feel bad for the guy and his family |
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Yaya
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:06 am Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
I'm pretty sure most outfits refer to everyone by racial slurs and pull pranks. It's like jail. If you can't handle yourself, well stuff like this happens.
Not to say that it's right, but let's be real... |
Major Kranc wrote that �Private Chen didn�t need to �toughen up� or �require better coping skills� as many Internet commenters have suggested� and that Chen �deserved better, and his chain of command failed him.� Major Kranc also points out that hazing �contributes to a rising suicide rate within our armed forces, particularly the U.S. Army� and soldiers should not have to worry about being hazed while deployed as they �have enough to worry about in combat while fighting violent and ruthless enemies.�
http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/an-asian-american-veteran-reflects-on-when-discipline-becomes-hazing/ |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:00 am Post subject: |
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| Horrible story.. but why does this belong in this section of the chat? |
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radcon
Joined: 23 May 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:00 am Post subject: |
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| Yaya wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
I'm pretty sure most outfits refer to everyone by racial slurs and pull pranks. It's like jail. If you can't handle yourself, well stuff like this happens.
Not to say that it's right, but let's be real... |
Major Kranc wrote that �Private Chen didn�t need to �toughen up� or �require better coping skills� as many Internet commenters have suggested� and that Chen �deserved better, and his chain of command failed him.� Major Kranc also points out that hazing �contributes to a rising suicide rate within our armed forces, particularly the U.S. Army� and soldiers should not have to worry about being hazed while deployed as they �have enough to worry about in combat while fighting violent and ruthless enemies.�
http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/an-asian-american-veteran-reflects-on-when-discipline-becomes-hazing/ |
But do we know what Major Kranc really feels when there are no news reporters around? |
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fermentation
Joined: 22 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 2:51 am Post subject: |
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Not that I condone hazing, but killing yourself because someone made fun of you is pretty weak.
| Captain Corea wrote: |
| Horrible story.. but why does this belong in this section of the chat? |
Yaya has a habit of starting threads of Asians being discriminated in the US in the General Discussion Forum for some reason. |
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Yaya
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:31 am Post subject: |
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| Maybe because many posters here seem to think Koreans are racist and Americans aren't. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:45 am Post subject: |
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I think it's best to keep American issues out of Korean General Discussion.
Besides, wasn't there a thread on this topic a few weeks back in the off-topic section, or is this a new story? |
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Stout
Joined: 28 May 2011
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:44 am Post subject: |
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| Yaya wrote: |
| Maybe because many posters here seem to think Koreans are racist and Americans aren't. |
Yes, but it appears that Koreans are not aware of racism in the country and are not paying much attention to the racism that Asians and Westerners suffer. I would never claim that South Korea has more racism than the United States. It just appears that people can more easily get away with institutional racism. For instance, there are times when someone may side with a hagwon owner because you're a foreigner.
I think the prejudice that many minorities in the United States suffer from is horrible. Generally, Asians do well, but in some places you wouldn't want to be an Asian. We're talking about the US Army. People at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder tend to join the army with all due respect to your average soldier. Thus, there will be more racism in the US Army when compared to say a corporation. In the same vein, many blue collar people join the police force, and many of them will be prejudiced.
Racism is a problem in the U.S. I would never say it's not a problem. I just think you're more likely to have some legal course if you live in America. Good luck if you're overseas and in Afghanistan where all kinds of crimes are being committed by some soldiers against the natives. |
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fermentation
Joined: 22 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:06 am Post subject: |
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| Adventurer wrote: |
Good luck if you're overseas and in Afghanistan where all kinds of crimes are being committed by some soldiers against the natives. |
You have a source for that? By no means do I think American soldiers are saints, but such a statement warrants at least some evidence bro. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 8:01 am Post subject: |
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| fermentation wrote: |
| Adventurer wrote: |
Good luck if you're overseas and in Afghanistan where all kinds of crimes are being committed by some soldiers against the natives. |
You have a source for that? By no means do I think American soldiers are saints, but such a statement warrants at least some evidence bro. |
There have been court cases regarding that. There was some rogue unit that was killing Afghans for sport. It was publicized. What stories do we not know? And didn't some soldiers piss on some dead Afghans? These are stories we've heard about. What about those we don't hear about because they weren't recorded? And in Iraq, many soldiers called the locals Hajjis. We've heard about many crimes in Iraq. I don't think the army is representative of the average American population per se. I don't hear of anti-Asian attacks, generally.
My family lives in an area where there are many Asians, and they have no problems at all as far as I know. The racism this Asian soldier was subjected to does indicate that there is a race problem in the U.S., and this view amongst some people that to be American is to be white or black, not Asian or Arab. Asians are a small minority while blacks are a large minority and would gang up on white soldiers who would harass them and vice versa. Once there are more Asians in the armed forces, people would think twice before doing this.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/09/us-soldiers-afghan-civilians-fingers
Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies.
Five of the soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians. |
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everything-is-everything
Joined: 06 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Yaya wrote: |
| Maybe because many posters here seem to think Koreans are racist and Americans aren't. |
Care to provide evidence of this? |
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