Stop Asian Hate - What Korea's Stone Wars Can Teach Us
Happy Lunar New Year y'all! You may think this holiday centers around wishing everyone well. But for two thousand years in Korea's history, the Lunar New Year and the Autumn Chuseok Festival were no-holds-barred opportunities to settle scores. That means instead of letting bygones be bygones, villages went to battle against other villages. Guilds against other guilds. For the ordinary man, justice could not be found through courts. You had to wait every six months for a chance at self service. And the instrument of choice? Rocks.
Though we should not adopt these customs again, history should counter claims in America that 'Asians aren't naturally aggressive or politically active'. No honey, until it was outlawed, Koreans, at least, would be throwing stones after their holiday dinner. The custom is called 'seok-jeon', which loosely translates to STONE WARS. And even in the modern era, you see a very similar resemblance to the ancient stone wars when demonstrators hit the streets.
