Limited Reflections on Hyun Park and Race
One of my favorite parts of school outside of classes, is the variety of speakers that give talks on campus. Imagine having free admission to TED talks throughout the week, all conveniently held on campus. That’s essentially what it is but for some reason many students don’t see them that in that manner. I highly recommend occasionally perusing the curated Events page at http://events.berkeley.edu/.
I find them to be inspiring and a nice complement to the routine of schoolwork. School does provide a strong foundation for future vocational work, yet because of it’s more abstract nature, it often times leaves us disenchanted and eager for something else to occupy our minds with. These speakers and their tales of the real world are refreshing.
Today I had a chance to listen to Hyun Park. (http://www.pgecorp.com/aboutus/our_team/HPark.shtml)
He has served as the General Counsel of Pacific Gas and Electric for nine years, overseeing a legal team of over one hundred and seventy five. He shared how he came to America as an eleven year old not knowing an ounce of English. He vividly remembers looking around the classroom full of strangers thinking that it must all be a bad dream. The teacher had no idea what to do with him so he sat in the back leafing through a Curious George picture book. (ESL programs as we know them today only exist due to the enormous efforts of Civil Rights activists in the 60s and 70s.) In the span of one year he switched schools four times. At the time he found himself miserable but in hindsight, this arduous experience strengthened his personal resolve and independence, helping him dismantle obstacle after obstacle in his long corporate law career.
He mentioned how on one occasion while he was an associate up for review, one of the partners brusquely scribbled, “Can’t speak English.” on his assessment. These reviews are critical to climbing the ladder and if it weren’t for the presence of non-bigots and the strong relationships he had built with them, his career may have been stymied. Hyun asked us if we had ever heard of Jerry Kang. (http://jerrykang.net/bio/)
Jerry is a law professor at UCLA, and has done a lot of research in the field of implicit bias.He shared with us an experiment in which Jerry had recorded himself giving a legal deposition. They played this audio to different groups of participants. One group heard the audio accompanied with a picture of a white man. Another group heard the audio accompanied with a picture of a person of color. The white man consistently received better ratings despite the exact same audio being played. Jerry takes research like this and elevates the conversation surrounding stereotypes and type-casting to a scientific level, confirming what social scientists have been speaking of for decades already. It’s an interesting to note how this interdisciplinary approach reflects the co-play between his Physics and law degree, both from Harvard University.
It was an absolute pleasure listening to Hyun share his career and the trinkets of wisdom he has accumulated along the way. The only criticism I have pertains to his stance on racism and sexism. I asked him whether people of color and woman face structural difficulties in corporate law in America today. He responded by saying that he’s never really thought about it and simply puts his head down and works hard. He recognizes that implicit bias exist but that “it’s a part of human nature.” This sentiment is a lazy one. It is the product of an individual who has not grasped the reality that our social world is socially constructed, and actively maintained. I feel that he is capable of expressing such a neutral sentiment towards the existence of the bamboo and glass ceiling, only because he has experienced a great deal of personal fortune in not having to deal with these obstacles in ways others do. It is a shame that immersed in the comfort of his own success, he cannot discern the realities of our social landscape.
But a sophisticated consciousness surrounding our social world is difficult to come by and thus I must temper my criticism with equal part understanding and sympathy. Colored intellectuals have only just arrived on the scene. I look forward to the day our communities can engage with these issues with confidence, poise, and peace. Hyun Park has achieved so much and is vitally inspiring to so many. I will surely be following his career and wish him well in his future endeavors.