Airing Differences in Bid for Harmony

A prevalent frustration among Korean Americans is the feeling that African Americans harbor an unfocused resentment against them.

Now, an unusual talk show on a Koreatown radio station is giving them a chance to find out first-hand.

“Listening to African American Voices,” the first Korean-language call-in program of its kind, features a black guest each Wednesday morning in the Koreatown studios of KBLA-AM (1580), better known as Radio Korea.

“By inviting African Americans from all walks of life--even gangbangers--we hope to have frank discussions,” said news director Tom Byun.

“Until now, we have relied on the mainstream media to learn about what blacks are saying about us,” said general manager Richard Choi, who doubles as the talk show host.

He said the program represents a “collective frustration” of station executives who have followed the months-long dispute between a Korean American hat shop owner and an African American, who charged that her business discriminated against black males.

“We have been told indirectly that Koreans are unfriendly, don’t know how to do business in black neighborhoods and that we don’t smile,” Choi said. “So we’re asking directly: ‘What do you want us to do? What can we do to become more acceptable?’ If enough people want us to smile (at strangers), I guess we’ll have to learn to smile,” even though Koreans consider smiling an intimate gesture reserved for people they know.

The guest on the inaugural show was none other than the Rev. Leonard Jackson, associate pastor of First AME Church, who helped mediate the hat shop dispute in June.

“Pastor Jackson, tell us frankly what is your impression of Korean Americans?” Choi asked, an interpreter translating his question.

“I believe Korean Americans are very strong people--they have learned how to come together as a community,” Jackson replied. “We certainly could learn from them.”

But Korean Americans also come across as “gruff” and “aggressive,” he said.

Jackson suggested that Korean American merchants try to soften their demeanor and to treat each customer as an “individual.”

A key to resolving differences between the two peoples, Jackson emphasized, is mutual understanding honed by cultural education.

The comment drew a sharp retort from a caller who said black-Korean tensions have little to do with culture or race.

“Our biggest problem is crime,” said Chang-Guk Moon, a Korean American shopkeeper in Compton. “Our problem is people who steal--people who feel no remorse even after they’re caught stealing.

“Why don’t leading black organizations and churches condemn stealing? Why is there no remorse by those who commit crime?”

Replied Jackson: “Why is there no remorse? Why anyone wants to steal? I also ask myself that same question.”

The Rev. Lee May, pastor of First AME Church of Pasadena--the black man whose clash with the hat shop proprietor was widely publicized--was another guest.

Choi said May’s appearance generated nearly 200 calls from listeners from here to Atlanta. Radio Korea, the first ethnic broadcast company in the U.S. to distribute its signal on the World Wide Web, is heard around the world.

May and the Korean American community rubbed against each other in February. The reverend, accompanied by supporters from the Brotherhood Crusade, an African American group, held a news conference in front of the South-Central hat shop, charging that he was refused service because he is a black male. Owner In-Suk Lee, who had operated the business for 13 years, fled the scene and has not reopened the business since.

Lee said the miscommunication was caused when a friend of her husband who was visiting the store told May it was a women’s store, after two elderly women customers appeared uneasy. Lee said she wanted to apologize to May after he left the store, but did not follow him because she did not want her husband’s friend to lose face. She later wrote him a letter of apology.

Last month, the black minister and the Korean American woman reconciled. But Lee, who suffers from a heart condition, says the experience has been so traumatic that she is not ready to return to work.

An angry caller rebuked May for taking so long to forgive Lee.

“It says in the Bible you have to forgive not seven but 70 times,” said the caller, describing herself only as Mrs. Kim.

She complained to May that dozens of Koreans are killed by blacks during robberies every year.

“Don’t you think the fear on the part of [Mrs. Lee and other] merchants is justified?”

“Nobody is allowed to discriminate because of color,” replied May. Crime “exists in every community.”

If Korean American shopkeepers are afraid of crime where they do business, May said, they should move to where they feel safer.

Another guest, former Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton), took on the role of a cultural interpreter rather than a spokesman for the black community.

Dymally, who is black, has been a frequent guest of South Korean dignitaries since 1981 and has kept close ties with some segments of the local Korean American community. He said both communities are ignorant about the other.

A fundamental difference between blacks and Koreans involves conversation, he said.

“An African American is a very gregarious . . . person,” Dymally said. “A Korean merchant is a very serious person.”

When a black customer tries to strike up a conversation and the merchant doesn’t respond, it can trigger anger, he said.

Another source of conflict is not having a shared frame of reference, he said.

A black customer talking about Mike Tyson or Michael Jordan may get the impression that the shopkeeper is unfriendly when he doesn’t respond, Dymally said. But the Korean shopkeeper isn’t reacting because he has no context, he said.

Conversely, many blacks do not understand the realities of today’s marketplace when they complain that Koreans don’t hire residents of black communities, Dymally said. Small Korean businesses must often rely on family members because their profit margins are so thin, he said.

“That’s sometimes difficult to explain to someone in the neighborhood,” he said.

Radio Korea executives say the talk show will continue until they run out of guests. Both Dymally and Rev. Jackson suggested that black radio stations participate in the program.

There are pockets of “infection” in the relationship between the two communities, Jackson said.

“If you want to get rid of the infection, you have to cut deep and it will hurt,” he said. “Frank talk is good for both communities.

“The question,” he added, “is: Does it heal clean” after the infection is removed?