Virginia Tech Shootings and Korean Americans

Floor Speech

VIRGINIA TECH SHOOTINGS AND KOREAN AMERICANS -- (Senate - April 26, 2007)

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, the shootings last week at Virginia Tech
touched every American, indeed people around the world. Those who were most deeply affected, of course, were the family and friends of the victims, the students who were injured, the entire Virginia Tech community. Our hearts go out to them as we read each day in the papers across this country about young lives ended too soon. We mourn with the families and their friends and students at Virginia Tech. But the ripples of pain of this terrible incident reach far beyond Blacksburg, VA.

Among the others who care are the people of the Republic of South Korea, Korean Americans and Korean immigrants in our Nation. In Seoul, South Korea, more than 1,000 people gathered last week to sing hymns and pray for the victims. Closer to home in Chicago, in my State of Illinois, leaders of the Korean-American community held a candlelight vigil last Thursday at the headquarters of the Korean-American Association to express their condolences to the families of those who died. These vigils were everywhere--from Illinois to California to Korea. Around the world, sympathy and compassion was felt for the victims, their families, and Virginia Tech and its community.

In addition, a coalition of Korean-American organizations has joined together to form a foundation to assist the families and the Virginia Tech community in this time of healing. The Korean American Coalition, the Korean American League for Civic Action, the Korean American Students Conference, the Mirae Foundation, the Southern California Korean College Student Association, the Korean Academy for Educators, the Network of Korean American Leaders, and others have joined to create the Virginia Tech Memorial Fund to support those who have been affected by the recent tragedy. This is another example of the amazing compassion communities throughout our Nation and the world feel for these victims.

Sadly, some members of the Korean community have also shared feelings of guilt that they are somehow responsible simply because the Virginia Tech gunman, Seung Hui Cho, was Korean. Last week, South Korea's Ambassador to the United States, Lee Tae Sik, spoke at a candlelight vigil in Fairfax County, VA. Through tears, Ambassador Lee said that the Korean-American community needed to repent. He even went so far as to suggest that a fast by individuals in his community, 1 day for each of the victims of the Virginia Tech gunman, would prove that Koreans were ``a worthwhile ethnic minority in America.''

But Korean Americans do not need to apologize for the tragedy at Virginia Tech. To those members of the Korean-American community who have been so pained by this terrible tragedy, I repeat what one young woman said in the Washington Post Special Edition last week. She said:

The actions of Seung Hui Cho are no more the fault of Korean Americans than the actions of the Washington area snipers were the fault of African Americans.

I agree with what she said. The actions of this 23-year-old young man is no more the fault of Korean Americans than the fault of every 23-year-old young man in our Nation. When will we move away from racial tensions that sometimes threaten to break apart our national community? We are all part of a greater community that feels tremendous sorrow and grief, as Americans and as human beings, no matter what our nationality may be.

If there are any glimmers of hope to come out of these horrible events at Virginia Tech, they are, first of all, the great courage, faith, and compassion demonstrated by these Hokies and the extended Virginia Tech family.

One other glimmer of hope is the fear many Korean Americans and Korean immigrants have expressed of being persecuted and blamed are not being realized. Rather than blaming a group of people, Americans of all ethnic backgrounds are showing a deeper understanding of what it means to be one community to mourn together, to work together so that this may never happen again.

One man was responsible for the tragedy at Virginia Tech, but we all share responsibility to do what we can to prevent such a horrific loss from ever occurring again.

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