What is the goal of this forum?
Chulhyo Kim: We need more dialogue about racism in public places because if you have any kind of migration background, it is quite usual to face racist rants. I was surprised to find how people were exposed to racist behaviour in public places. That is why we try to involve people discussing this issue. Almost everybody around me has been experiencing racism in their daily life.
How should someone react when he or she is a victim of racism?
CK: I don’t know what is the most appropriate reaction because it depends on the situation. In my experience, police didn’t really help. The police took the case but there wasn’t any kind of law to apply. The man who ranted against me was charged with offensive conduct, not a kind of racial thing at all, and I was considered as a witness to that offensive conduct not a victim of racial abuse. This is the limit of the law itself. It is depressing …
Have you any message for the man that abused you on the bus?
CK: I want to see him, I want to meet him and I want to ask him, “Why did you do that?” When I saw him on the bus, he looked quite sad and frustrated. I didn’t have any reason to make him angry but he had his own reason why he had to be angry. I don’t know, maybe he was unemployed or whatever. Ranting racist abuse didn’t help him at all and caused more problems. So we have to sit down together and speak about what was his problem. If I can help him, I am going to help him. I suspect he is suffering because his face has being exposed to the media. It happened because of his actions. It was his fault, but I’m sure he didn’t think it would end like this.
