there is a 1.5 generation of "Korean Americans"?

What is the 1.5 generation?

Korean-born. Raised abroad. Sent away to study by parents desperate to give their children the competitive edge of a foreign education, they describe themselves as feeling neither fully Korean nor American. That is the 1.5 generation.


The Problems they have

1.5 generation Korean Americans are torn between two cultures. On the one hand they speak with a strained English pronuciation, but commonly they aren't really accepted in the States -in some cases even the second generation treats them condescendenly and with disdain- because of their looks; and on the other hand if they return to Korea, they feel like they have no place; no place in a society, based on a very strong family; in a society which defines itself through the ethnic identity.


Cho Seung-Hui and the Virginia Tech Massacre




(notice: 0:54 - 1:04 '...my brothers and sisters...')

The Virginia Tech Massacre was a so called school-shooting, that took place on April 16th. The person running amok was a 1.5er: Cho Seung-Hui. He killed 32 people, before he turned the weapon around for a last shot. Hui was a typical member of the 1.5 generation ( of course besides the fact that he was mentally ill, and a mass murderer), he grew up in South Korea, and had immigrated to the US at the age of eight. He was a senior English major at Virginia Tech.

This murder-suicide is capping the climax in every way. The death toll is enormous, the lenght and the incompetence of teachers, the police and all the people around him is unbelievable.
But its not only an undescribable tragedy, besides that, it's a kind of lifted forefinger that shows the probable consequences of mobbing, parallel cultures ( Now a bit "lobbyism": although it was stated, that he was a fan of shooting video games, there weren't any copies of such games in his dorm. He didn't even have an internet connection and a roommate said, that he wasn't interessted in such games at all) and most of all a torned person without help.

Because of the extended-family concept mentioned above, the Korean Americans fear backlashes motivated by racism and that Cho's actions could be regarded as caused by his Asian culture/heritage.
And most of the Koreans share a sense of guilt and shame. Roh Moo Hyun, President of South Korea, conveyed his deepest condolences to the victims and their families.