“My mother founded The Korean Service Center, which is also in the Cedar-Riverside complex, in the 1980s. We grew up in Hibbing Minnesota (Bob Dylan’s hometown). My mother, a Korean war refugee had, while my siblings and I were young, to finish her schooling by commuting because inconveniently the Korean war started when she was in college. She managed not to die. Like your usual lazy undocumented moocher immigrant (yes, we were undocumented, also a story for another day), my mother commuted 200 miles to Minneapolis so she could attend the U of Minnesota get her Master’s in Social Work. My eldest brother was a teen and took care of us during her long educational catch-up period, although we mostly survived on the plasma of no-bake cheesecake from a box. Maybe a lot of non-Asians don’t realize that Buddhists are often trained to fight. They aren’t pacifists. In the Joseon dynasty, it was the monks who were often sent out on the frontline because they were the most badass. In many of the tumultuous demonstrations I’d seen in the 90s in Korea, the Buddhist monks were the first ones throwing themselves at the heavily armed (but not with guns—this is Korea after all) riot police. As a Buddhist myself, that’s the way I am doing it now. Focusing on the feeling—peace, unity—while also protecting my neighbors—and myself and my family. Solidarity from your friends in NYC.
(NEW YORK, NEW YORK)