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For the cultural interview, I interviewed Andrew Tran, a long-time friend of mine, who is currently a junior at the University of Oklahoma. We have known each other for about eight years now and were happy to help me with this activity. Andrew is Korean American and was born and raised in Moore, Oklahoma. His parents immigrated from Korea and first moved to Chile. After his parents got their green card, they were able to come to America and they had Andrew. Andrew categorizes himself and his sister as first-generation because his parents did not speak any English, and so they were the first generation to grow up in America.
Question 1: “Being Korean-American, what are some of your religious experiences or beliefs, if any?”
Response 1: “My family is very Christian, and we have been my entire life. I was put into a Christian school at a young age, and that is all I knew. My friends were all Christian, and like many others, I went to church on Sunday and still do to this day.”
Question 1: “When was one of the first times you can remember realizing that your culture was different from mainstream American culture?”
Response 1: “The first experience when I realized that I was different from the rest of the kids was when I was in first or second grade. I remember my mom packed my favorite food, which was kare rice, which is basically curried with rice, and it has vegetables and meat, and it is so delicious. I remember being so excited to eat it for lunch, and when I opened it, I remember a kid looking at it and just being so disgusted. He just called me out and was like, ‘Andrew packed poop for lunch!’ And I remember being so mortified and so embarrassed, and I just completely lost my appetite, and I didn’t even eat lunch that day. I went home and told my mom that I never wanted her to pack things like this again, and to only pack Lunchables or sandwiches like normal American kids.”
Question 1: “Were there ever any language issues for your family?”
Response 1: “There were definitely some issues. As I said, my parents hardly speak any English, but even for me, I speak Korean, but the equivalent of like a seven-year-old. Like, I know how to get by. I know how to ask for directions, order food, and have a light conversation, but anything with depth, I am like ugh, I don’t know. For example, when I watch the Korean news, I don’t know what they are saying. They have to talk a lot slower. With my parents, I speak Korean, and then I fill in English words where I don’t know Korean words. This created a lot of frustration and anger at times because of all the miscommunication that would happen. There were so many times when I would just try to talk to my parents but there are words that I just didn’t know and vice versa. And we would just have yelling matches and it always felt like this battle. So growing up I felt this huge disconnect from my brain and my mouth like I felt like I couldn’t say exactly what I was feeling.”
Question 1: “I know you were born here, but is there anything you had to adapt to in America that was different from some of the things you grew up with at home?”
Response 1: “Well, I don’t know if this answers the question, but I do remember my parents making us go to Korean school on Saturday, and there was this one instance with a teacher that really stuck with me. She was telling us that when people ask us what our ethnicity is, we need to say that we are Korean-American. Korean always has to be first. And I remember being very unsettled by it because I felt like in my heart that I was American, so I raised my hand, and I told her my piece, and she said, ‘No, you are always going to be Korean. You are Korean-American.’ And I just said like, ‘Why can’t I just be American? I was born here, and I speak the language, I don’t understand.’ I just felt like a big distance between my culture and what I was brought into. I associated being Korean as a negative thing because number one, the bullying sucked, and in number two, I would see the way people would treat my parents because of their accent. People lose their temper, people get frustrated, people treat you like you are an idiot when you have an accent, and it just really frustrated my family.”
From my interview with Andrew Tran, I felt like I learned a whole new side of one of my close friends. As I mentioned in the introductory paragraph, we have known each other for about eight years, but he never really opened up about his cultural background in detail.
I learned about the struggles he faced as a kid – whether amongst his classmates, at home, or out in public, and how he used those experiences as a catalyst for growth and motivation. It also made me aware of the privileges I have had in my own life. When he told the story about being at lunch, and the kids making fun of one of his favorite foods, I was so shocked. I couldn’t imagine that shame and how that may have affected him at such a young age.
My perspective changed on, of course, not only Korean Americans but all ethnic backgrounds and the struggles they face in America. I interviewed one person, with one story, from one particular background. So, to imagine the many other ethnicities and people with stories of their own, I can’t imagine how American culture has hurt or affected those with different backgrounds.
All things considered, however, Andrew wanted to affirm at the end of our interview how proud he is now to be Korean-American, and that he understands that sometimes it is just hard for Americans to understand things they are unfamiliar with.
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