A New Chapter in Korean-Black Understanding : Books: A scholar chronicles African-American hardships for Korean-Americans. The author says he is trying defuse hostilities and to show how the black struggle for civil rights has created opportunities for others.

A new book by a San Gabriel scholar is drawing praise from Korean- and African-Americans as an unprecedented step toward easing tensions between the two groups.

Aimed at teaching first-generation, Korean-speaking immigrants a hefty dose of African-American history and culture, “Who African Americans Are” was published in February by the Korea Economic Daily. Perhaps the only book of its kind printed in Korean--and only Korean--it is available in some Korean-language bookstores.

“Right now Korean- and African-Americans have lots of negative stereotypes of each other,” said author Edward Chang, 36, an assistant professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Riverside. “This book is one of the first attempts to educate and inform Korean-Americans, especially immigrants, about who African-Americans are and where they’re coming from.”

Chang said he got the idea for the book several years ago, long before last year’s riots, because he believed little progress was being made by an organization he belonged to, the Black-Korean Alliance. The alliance disbanded in December after its leaders decided the group’s focus on dialogue was not enough to improve relationships.

“It’s written for the layperson, and I think the reader will have a much better understanding of African-Americans and their history, something most new Korean immigrants have no knowledge of,” said Eui-Young Yu, a sociology professor at Cal State Los Angeles who recently read Chang’s book.

Joe R. Hicks, an African-American who is executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles and a former director of the Black-Korean Alliance, said that although he cannot read Chang’s book because of the language barrier, he is thankful for its mission.

Hicks said Korean immigrants often carry negative stereotypes of blacks based, in part, on the watered-down version of the black experience in U.S. history that is taught in Korean schools or depicted on TV shows.

Hicks also said that in many cases, “Korean immigrants have learned . . . stereotypes from experiences with the U.S. military, or by what they might see on the media (from the West), where black folks are portrayed as drug traffickers and people engaging in violent crime.”

Chang said his book chronicles the hardships African-Americans have experienced in the U.S. and highlights the civil rights movement and its leaders.

He tried to show how the struggles of the African-Americans to obtain civil rights have opened opportunities for other minorities, he said.

Also, he said, Korean-Americans and African-Americans “share a common history of oppression. Whereas African-Americans were enslaved here, Koreans were enslaved or abused during invasions by the Japanese, Chinese and Mongolians. And today, both groups are about 70% Christian . . . each with about 600 churches in the Los Angeles area.”

One reason new Korean immigrants have a hard time adjusting to life here, Chang said, is there are no sizable racial minorities in Korea. Thus, these immigrants “are ill-prepared to live in a multiethnic society,” he said. “They know about segregation by class, but they can’t identify with the notion of race . . . that people are placed in racial categories.”

Chang said his initial plan envisioned a 100-page book about the history of African-Americans. But as tensions rose between blacks and Korean-Americans during the past year and a half, he said, he turned it into a 300-page book that begins with an explanation of the Los Angeles riots.

Many of the book’s first 3,000 copies released have also gone on sale in Korea. There, the book has been featured in the mainstream press, including each of the nation’s three major TV networks and “What You Want to Know,” a Korean TV show similar to “60 Minutes.”

“A lot of Koreans are deeply moved. They can identify with the suffering of the African-Americans,” Chang said. “One of the parallels I draw in the book is the experience of Koreans in Japan. Historically, the Koreans there have had no legal rights, and they are like outcasts.

“Even those who get college degrees are not allowed to become a teacher or enter into white-collar occupations. Koreans get out of the ghetto by getting into entertainment, sports or illegal activities.”

While much focus has been placed on rebuilding communities decimated in last year’s riots, or on creating jobs, Chang said, scarce mention has been made of building human relationships.

“That’s what I talk about in my book: building relationships between different cultural groups and bringing back humanity to our lives,” he said.