Racism exists everywhere, I know this, and I've experienced small instances of racism in the United States, and a lot of small instances here in Korea. Usually these instances are easy to ignore and justify. For example, when I go into a store and the cashier doesn't greet me, but then I hear him or her greet every single Korean that walks in after me. I can understand that maybe they were intimidated to see a foreigner and nervous as to whether they should greet me in English or Korean. People who come up to me and start speaking English, I can understand that they might want to practice their English and as a white person, I am more likely to speak English than an Asian-looking person.
However, today was the first time I have ever been the target of blatant racism. I'm sure that this guy did not mean to be racist at all, he thought he was being practical and I can understand the practical side of it, but that didn't make it hurt less.
Sogang University had sheets with the different clubs listed on them and the room number of where to find these clubs which they offered to the international students. They're all in the same building, so two of my American friends and me went to this building to look into joining a club or two. My friend really wanted to join the Taekwondo club, which we couldn't find in this building, and I was interested in joining the Drama Club. I participated in Drama club at my high school for four years and really loved it. I have a lot of experience working backstage and doing advertising and management for my high school drama club, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get back into doing something I love and also meet Korean friends and improve my Korean language abilities in the process.
I found the room for the drama club and there was a guy inside so I knocked on the door. I greeted him in Korean and confirmed he was with the drama club and told him I'd like to join (completely in Korean). He told me (completely in Korean) than they didn't accept foreign students because it can be difficult speaking a foreign language. I don't know if he meant that he didn't think my Korean was good enough, or if he meant that I couldn't participate because they didn't do plays in English... either way it's basically saying the same thing.
As I walked away, I thought I should have asked about working backstage or costuming or set-building, but I had been too shocked and upset to be turned down because I'm foreign. First of all, surely the language doesn't matter if I'm not on stage. Second of all, I clearly speak and understand some Korean, so even if they required me to act I could memorize Korean lines about as easily as English lines. I've spent the last two years in college memorizing Korean conversation lines and new Korean vocabulary every day. But it's not my personality to argue with people, so i didn't argue with him. Especially because as I was standing there - putting myself in the vulnerable position, speaking in my second language - I felt like he was judging me and being turned down made me feel like he judged me unfavorably. While I know this is probably not the case, it was still a very difficult position and now I feel afraid to approach any of the other clubs to see if they might accept me.
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