To all members of the UChicago community, My name is Matt Jeong and I am the Asian student depicted in the widely-circulated Halloween photograph. First and foremost, I would like to genuinely apologize to anyone who was hurt, offended, or felt culturally or racially discriminated against as a result of my actions. My actions on the night of Halloween were seriously inconsiderate and I am deeply sorry to have caused pain to fellow members of my community. The photograph was insensitive and perpetuated racial stereotypes – something that I have realized, especially in light of recent events, to be extremely dangerous and harmful. Although it was not my intention to hurt anyone at this university, I regret to say that I already have, and I will take full responsibility for the emotional pain that I have caused. I would also like to apologize to all members of the college community – students, staff, and alumni – for intensifying the racial climate over the past few weeks and heightening the racial tension that the university had already been experiencing. I became aware of the seriousness of the photograph and of my mentality as the weeks passed by, and am grateful for having learned a valuable lesson about racial stereotyping. I understand that the use of the photograph was necessary to bring attention to a greater problem afflicting the university, and even though my participation in the movement to highlight racial inequality and intolerance in the university was previously involuntary and on the side of the aggressor, I hope now, after learning much about the racial climate present here, to be able to voluntarily and actively participate in bringing attention to micro-aggression at this university. Furthermore, I hope that recent campus events will not impede the movement for greater racial equality and tolerance on this campus. I have become much more sensitive to these racial issues as a result of recent incidents and I think that I have fulfilled that which I believe to be the motive of the movement: to educate and progress. Of course, although I may never understand the daily prejudices and micro-aggressions that Hispanics and blacks experience and suffer, I will do the most that I can: to remain educated in racial issues and to stand with them in solidarity. Yes, my actions were racist. Yes, I made some stupid and inconsiderate decisions on the night of Halloween. And yes, I have seriously hurt some of the members of the community to which I belong. But no, that is no longer the person I am and I deeply regret my actions and sincerely plead for the forgiveness of the members of my community. I understand that this forgiveness may not come easily or immediately, but I hope that my future actions will be able to somehow compensate for my past ones. Thank you for your time, Matt Jeong
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 05:35:38 +0000