ABSTRACT
Ethnicity is an adaptive coping tool, and it involves active or creative responses on the part of immigrants. To survive as meaningful units of self-identification ethnic groups must constantly strive to identify and validate the social boundaries which define them. The construct of conflict defines African American and Korean American identities in opposition to each other. It neatly positions Korean Americans as white, relative to Blacks. Using Koreans as a protector of American individualistic economic ideology creates serious problems however: Korean Americans, not white Americans, became the primary instigators of racism against African Americans. Whereas some Asian American students withdraw or lash out when faced with overt or subtle racism, others redouble their efforts to excel. Racism is expressed not just in negative stereotypes but in other forms of preference, through the division and allocation of resources, and through the general maximization of the differences between groups.
