Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
I was one of the speakers at the University of Southern California’s “Behind the Scenes of K-pop” — an all-day symposium featuring insiders and experts who fostered conversations about the art, culture, business, and the future of K-pop.
If you read the Sunday paper (Chicago Tribune), you may often see a piece by Jae-Ha Kim, who interviews celebrities about their favorite and dream places to travel. Her pieces are titled Go Away With… and the name of the celebrity, which has included Tupac Shakur, Rachael Ray, Britney Spears, Kunal Nayyar, Andi Dorfman, Phil Collen, Joe Morton, Iliza Schlesinger, Lucy Walsh, and Angelique Kidjo.
Thinking about it now, I see so many things that I didn’t as a young reporter. I see their white privilege, which was tinged with racism, sexism and jealousy. How dare an *unqualified* Asian woman whose intelligence obviously was inferior to their own have a more prestigious and higher-paying job than they had? I must’ve gotten my job because I’m a woman. I must’ve been an Affirmative Action hiree. In their minds, I was the reason they didn’t have better jobs.
My bullies were the worst kind of dude bros: educated men who should’ve known better, but who cloaked their misogyny, racism, jealousy and entitlement with words they thought made them appear hip and clever.
