By Keng Long Wong, Courier Staff Reporter
All immigrants have their own individual adventures and stories, and while it is enjoyable to read these stories about how they came to America, it is also important to note which troubles they faced in America as first generation immigrants.
East to America is a collection of 38 different short stories of the Korean American immigrants. The book was first published in 1996, 4 years after the L.A. Riots, in which the Korean American communities were having a big conflict with the African American communities. This book is a great resource for people who want to have a better understanding of the Korean American communities.
There are many things that I could talk about this book, but I’ll just talk about the two type of immigrants, the “Traditional” and the “non-Traditional”.
As same as most of the other immigrant communities, there is a big gap between the “Traditional” people and “non-Traditional” people.
For example, the “Traditional” first generations came to America wanting to retain their own Korean culture, but the “non-Traditional” second generation kids wanted to have a “taste of America”, escape the circle of cultural confinement, and embrace the multicultural society.
There are many “American values” which “Traditional” parents disagree with, and they do not let their children play along with kids of other racial or LGBT groups due to their traditional stereotypes on various subjects.
The “non-Traditional” immigrants feel irritated when the “Traditional” people are being so negative, causing conflict between the “Traditional” people and the “non-Traditional” people.
If you are looking for a book that talks about the generational differences between 1900s immigrants to America, this book is for you.