나눔의 광장

April 21, 2007

Dear Young Korean American Students:

As many of you now know, the gunman who was responsible for killing over thirty people at Virginia Tech was a Korean-American college student named Cho Seung-Hul. This is causing a heightened state of insecurity in the United States and there is a very real possibility that ethnic Koreans and other Asians will now face an uncomfortable situation as unenlightened individuals take forms of displaced "revenge" on people who fall under the same ethnic category.

Given the present state of affairs in the United States, it is advisable that all ethnic Koreans be extra careful in how they interact with the general public. It is very possible that intolerable organizations and individuals will attempt to find clever ways to cause disturbances in the community by exploiting this situation.

Please take prudent precautions to remove references to yourself as "Korean" in places like the web. Extremely public venues serve as favored places for people to troll around and locate easy targets of opportunity to express messages of hate and fear.

If you receive any form of harassment related to the events that occurred at Virginia Tech, please contact the proper authorities. This is a form of a hate crime and must be treated as such. Also bring it to the attention of your peers so that we can all work together to keep our community safe during this period of national tragedy. Do not wait to report such an incident. Each incident must be taken seriously and reported quickly so that those who are in a position to protect the Philadelphia community can act proactively.

Please remain calm and collected. Understand that much of this type of negative communication will be arising due to strong emotional reactions to the tragedy. We are all in a state of mourning and answers do not come easily to explain how or why this had to happen.

Let's keep those who are at the center of this tragedy in our prayers.

Feel free to contact me if I can be of assistance.

Very Truly Yours,

Alex Youngkook Kang

President

Korean American Association of Greater Philadelphia