Peer review
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Outline
● The author’s use of rhetorical strategies
Throughout the article, the author has appealed to our emotions by showing us
discrimination within the Asian American communities. The author has constantly
reminded us that many adoptees were not able to find a place they can call home in
America and that they struggled to fit in with the others.
● Supporting evidence and author’s analysis/explanation of said evidence
We were first introduced to multiple Korean filmmakers dedicating their lives to present
their struggles and endeavors.
● Absence or presence of one of the Five Cognitive Bias
Like many others, most Asian Americans decided to identify themselves as Caucasian
which led to self-serving bias within many’s minds.
● Pattern of Organization
This article started with the introduction of the adoption system in Korea and the United
States. With nowhere to go, many children were taken in by different families around the
globe for shelter and somewhere to call home. Despite being a positive act on the surface,
most children were actually suffering for various reasons. Many adoptees have been
looked down upon by fellow Americans and were viewed as objects of pity, assuming
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that they have had many tragic backgrounds. Even worse, some children were treated as
slaves and had many instances of domestic violence. Due to the backlash of abusive
parents and discrimination, and with the number of abandoned children on the rise,
adoption policies within the States have begun to change.
● Author’s tone
The author’s tone is very nonassertive. The entire article was explained very calmly and
unbiasedly. There were little to no personal opinions about the controversy as described
in this article.
● Compare and contrast (2 paragraphs)
Ever since the coronavirus invaded our society, Asian Americans have been blamed for
the issue, despite not having anything to do with it.
Due to the severity of the discrimination, some Asian Americans decided to take on the
issue into their own hands.
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Caleb Chan
Professor Joseph Navarro
ENGL1A First-Year Writing
October 2nd, 2021
The Makings of A Korean American Community
“Since 1953 families in the West have adopted more than 150,000 South Korean children,
and, of those, Americans have adopted more than 100,000.” (“Gathering “Roots” and Making
History in the Korean Adoptee Community”) Many of those adoptees have since identified
themselves as Caucasian and Korean mixed, some even decided to fully identify themselves as
pure Caucasian, which has led to some problems with racial discrimination within the society.
Some tried to return to Korea and search for their identity or birth family, but many failed to
accept that they weren’t able to relate to the traditional Korean culture. Recently, with the sudden
appearance of the coronavirus, many Asian Americans are facing racist remarks and are
experiencing harassment more than ever. Richard Lim and Russell Jeung have noticed the
change in behavior from the other, and decided to cofound “Stop AAPI Hate”, an organization
focused on tracking and discourage the act of discrimination. Volunteers have joined the action
and even hosted a community rally for this movement in downtown San Jose. “While Stop AAPI
Hate does not advocate for increased policing as a response to the violence against Asian
Americans, some government responses to the attacks have funneled resources to law
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enforcement, such as a new federal hate crimes law signed by President Joe Biden last month.”
(“Inside the California organization tracking anti-Asian hate incidents”)
Throughout the article, the author has appealed to our emotions by showing us
discrimination within the Asian American communities. The author has constantly reminded us
that many adoptees were not able to find a place they can call home in America and that they
struggled to fit in with the others. “The historical and political differences in our displacements
make any simple equation between our life experiences superficial at best.” (“Gathering “Roots”
and Making History in the Korean Adoptee Community”) The cultural difference between
native-born citizens and adoptees that moved to America since young have such little
similarities, that the years they spent living in America is simply just an exterior shell.
We were first introduced to multiple Korean filmmakers dedicating their lives to present
their struggles and endeavors. “These films share common themes with other adult adoptee
personal narratives in which a desire for coherence and authenticity is enacted through the
writing and telling of stories.” (“Gathering “Roots” and Making History in the Korean Adoptee
Community”) Eventually, the films were able to reach a larger audience through film events and
Asian American organizations’ promotions. Nowadays, their work is regularly featured at
conferences nationally and internationally to help forge community as well as contributing to the
broader representation of adopted Koreans.
Like many others, most Asian Americans decided to identify themselves as Caucasian
which led to self-serving bias within many’s minds. “For these adoptees who grew up fully
identifying as (white) Americans, racial discrimination provoked a particularly difficult form of
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double consciousness.” (“Gathering “Roots” and Making History in the Korean Adoptee
Community”) Many then started blaming others for manipulating them into thinking they were a
part of society. Nobody is capable of understanding the pain of alienation and racial differences,
not even the most empathetic parents.
This article started with the introduction of the adoption system in Korea and the United
States. With nowhere to go, many children were taken in by different families around the globe
for shelter and somewhere to call home. Despite being a positive act on the surface, most
children were actually suffering for various reasons. Many adoptees have been looked down
upon by fellow Americans and were viewed as objects of pity, assuming that they have had many
tragic backgrounds. Even worse, some children were treated as slaves and had many instances of
domestic violence. Due to the backlash of abusive parents and discrimination, and with the
number of abandoned children on the rise, adoption policies within the States have begun to
change. “Experiences of adoptees who suffered doubly because of abuses by their adoptive
families speak to the lack of adequate accountability on the part of adoption agencies.”
(“Gathering “Roots” and Making History in the Korean Adoptee Community”) The issues were
within the misinformation provided by adoption agencies and the unusual amount of immigrants
in a small period of time. Resistance and marches were held for their voice to be heard, and their
efforts did not go to waste. Ultimately, the Asian community was accepted into the society.
The author’s tone is very nonassertive. The entire article was explained very calmly and
unbiasedly. There were little to no personal opinions about the controversy as described in this
article. “Thanks first to the editors for their careful attention and enduring patience through the
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numerous drafts of this chapter… I am extremely grateful to Jackie Aronson, Tobias Hubinette,
Mihee Cho, Maya Weimer, Hollee McGinnis, and Me-K. Ahn for their reviewing and giving
feedback on earlier drafts of this article. Any errors or omissions are certainly my own.”
(“Gathering “Roots” and Making History in the Korean Adoptee Community”) This was heavily
peer-reviewed by editors and mentioned influencers, further proving that this article is unbiased.
Ever since the coronavirus invaded our society, Asian Americans have been blamed for
the issue, despite not having anything to do with it. “Stop AAPI Hate, a California-based
coalition has recorded nearly 7,000 hate incidents involving Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders nationwide since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.” (“Inside the California
organization tracking anti-Asian hate incidents”) Similar to when Asian Americans first
relocated themselves around the globe and received prejudice from other ethnic groups. While
many people have already accepted the Asian American community as a part of America, there
are still some that refuse to change. Comparing to the past, there are significantly fewer cases but
racism remains a major issue.
Due to the severity of the discrimination, some Asian Americans decided to take on the
issue into their own hands. “Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American studies at San
Francisco State University, co-founded Stop AAPI Hate in March 2020 along with colleagues at
two Asian-American advocacy organizations, Chinese for Affirmative Action’s Cynthia Choi
and the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council’s Manjusha Kulkarni.” (“Inside the California
organization tracking anti-Asian hate incidents”) In the past, Asian American filmmakers have
used their films to demonstrate their struggles and confront other ethnic groups and were
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ultimately able to appeal to humanity’s emotions, halting the discriminations temporarily. Unlike
the films, ‘Stop AAPI Hate’ was not able to gain recognition by major organizations and is very
limited in fundings.
To this day, the issue of racism remains a major issue. Efforts have been made to calm the
problem down, slowly but surely. The population’s attitude has been improving over time, as we
hope for a better future.
Work Cited
https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/college-beat-higher-education/2021/06/trackin
g-anti-asian-hate/