He realized the articles he posted in 'The Window of the Ark' column were filled with stories about immigrants and refugees. It was a huge burden. As pastor of a church specializing in immigrants, nothing was being done to justify calling himself an 'activist.' However, at the same time, there were still so many things he needed to share and wanted to share, and he thought it would be nice to share them in this column.
While preparing this month's manuscript, he went on vacation. Of course, the vacation after two years was sweet, but what was most satisfying was reading books without interruption at the public library. While there, he came across a book at the library's gift shop. The author's name was Cathy Park Hong. As soon as he saw the name Park Hong, he picked it up, and after reading a few pages, he thought: 'Oh, he has to buy the book!'
The title of the book is "Minor Feelings" not about unpopular feelings but about her feelings as a minority member of American society—(dissonance that occurs "when American optimism…contradicts your own racialized reality.”)
She is a poet and university professor who has done very well in her new country. Still, as a second-generation Korean, she had to go through all sorts of hardships with her parents, especially the feelings she felt and still feels from the memories that remain, having passed through the LA riots that are engraved on her heart. The part where she expressed her feelings gave the writer a strange sense of deja vu. "Oh, where have I seen this before?"
The place where he saw discriminatory looks was none other than the streets of Dongducheon, where he lives. A "foreign tourist special zone" has been established near the US military base, and many bars and clubs are targeting US soldiers and immigrants. Large signs at these bars and club entrances say: "Domestic nationals are prohibited from entering," and most employees are immigrants. However, the eyes of the native owners looking at the immigrant employees were clearly discriminatory. Not only the business owners but also the small number of Korean citizens living in the tourist special zone looked at them with discriminatory eyes, as if shouting: "This is not your place!"
In the 1960s, during the Cold War, when the United States, in an attempt to promote the status of democracy and capitalism, comprehensively revised the immigration law, abolished the quota system, and opened the door to immigration, many people from Korea also immigrated to the United States. In those days, when it was not easy to communicate in real-time through messengers as we do now, let alone hear voices on international calls, we now know well how much sorrow and discrimination there was behind the occasional letter telling us how well they were doing.
Although it is said that there are now more cases of Koreans standing out in the economic and political fields, Cathy Park Hong clearly conveys that there are still countless barriers that Asians have to face.
If we feel boundless compassion for our 'compatriots' suffering in foreign lands but do not think the same for immigrants living in our neighborhoods, how narrow-minded are we in our view of the world?
There are still many people who are immersed in the 'myth' of a single ethnic group, eugenic 'prejudice,' and Western 'worldview,' and who belittle and denigrate immigrants from Africa, Southeast Asia, and South Asia based solely on their skin color, causing them to feel 'minor feelings.' What would they say to the 'minor feelings' conveyed by Cathy Park Hong?
