ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between the class resources that Korean merchants bring to minority markets and the ethnic resources that black employees bring to minority markets. The central argument is that a symbiotic relationship has developed between Korean merchants and black employees. In this relationship, Korean merchants bring capital to the black community which is used to finance small businesses and create jobs, while black employees bring ethnic resources which are mobilized to reduce tension with black customers. This relationship grows out of the middleman role that Korean merchants fill in the black community, and it illustrates how Korean merchants and black employees exercise agency in order to cope with the internal colonial conditions they are embedded in. In this context, black employees provide an important mediating function for Korean merchants in the black community. They are instrumental in defusing conflicts arising between Korean merchants and black customers. This mediating role is pronounced in minority markets, since black customers make up the clientele of Korean-owned businesses. In fact, several studies have discussed how Korean merchants hire black employees to reduce tension with black customers.1
