April 19, 2007

The Behavior of the Korean Community Compared to the Muslim Community: A Glaring Distinction

There's a glaring distinction between the behavior of Koreans in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, carried out by a Korean - and the behavior of Muslims in the wake of any of the hundreds of killings in public places that have been carried out by Muslims.

The Koreans immediately responded with vigils and prayer services mourning the shootings.

From the LA Times:

When the spotlight settled on Seung-hui Cho on Tuesday, Korean Americans in Los Angeles wasted no time denouncing the crime, holding a candlelight vigil and prayer service — extending, in effect, a collective olive branch to a society they worried might judge them harshly.

From another LA Times article:

When Pyong Yong Min heard early Tuesday that the gunman suspected of carrying out the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history was a South Korean national, he wept.

"First, I cried for the families of the victims, then I cried for U.S.-Korea relations," said Min, president of the nonprofit Korean American Foundation of Los Angeles. "Then, I thought why must we — the Korean people, who have been such close allies of America for so long — have this burden on our hands?" For Min and many Korean Americans in Los Angeles — home to the largest Korean population outside Asia — the involvement of one of their own in the Virginia Tech massacre made the incident all the more painful.

"As if the killings weren't bad enough, it was one of our children who did it," said the Rev. John J. Park, president of the Council of Korean Churches in Southern California.

Park and more than dozen community leaders gathered at a hastily called meeting in Koreatown to offer condolences and to discuss what the Korean community should do in response to the tragedy. The leaders also expressed a sense of shame and responsibility because of their shared ethnicity with the gunman.

...At a prayer service Tuesday afternoon, the Rev. Dong Sun Lim, founding pastor of the Oriental Mission Church in Koreatown, was more blunt than the president. "All Koreans in South Korea — as well as here — must bow their heads and apologize to the people of America," Lim said.

...The afternoon service and candlelight vigil, held at the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles headquarters, drew about 80 people who prayed, read from Scripture and lighted candles in memory of the fallen students. "The victims are in the arms of God," Lim said.

"We don't know why this happened," he added. "Yesterday was the most shameful and tragic day in the 100-year history of Korean immigration to the United States. All we can do is pray."

From Newsweek:

Inside the United States, social-network users set up online forums with names like "Don't Hate Koreans Because of Cho Seung-Hui" and "Cho Seung-Hui Does NOT Represent Asians." Some spoke of launching a fund-raising drive for the families of those who died in the most deadly school shooting in U.S. history.

..."The Korean community as a whole is in shock," says John Cho, the Los Angeles-based assistant editor of the Korean Times (and no relation to the gunman).  "Something like this has never happened to us."

From NBC:

Washington Korean TV is sponsoring a vigil for the Korean community at the Fairfax County Government Center at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

The Korean community has behaved very honorably in response to this tragedy, and has done great credit to itself. 

But there has never yet been any similar outpouring from the Muslim community in America to events in America or around the world when Muslims kill in public places in the name of their religion.

There have been few, if any, comparable prayer vigils.

There have been few, if any, comparable prayer services.

There have been no fund-raising drives for the families of those who died.  

There have been no public statements from Muslim religious leaders that any such event was "the most shameful and tragic day in [our] history."

There have been no public calls from Muslim religious leaders that "All [Muslims] must bow their heads and apologize." 

This distinction provides compelling evidence that the Muslim community in America does not oppose, but tacitly supports, such murderous actions committed in the name of their religion.

Muslims who want to speak out against such murderous actions committed in the name of their religion must be sought out and encouraged. Muslims who do not want to speak out against such actions must be identified as radicals. From Daniel Pipes:

When I suggest that radical Muslims are the problem and that moderate Muslims are the solution, the nearly inevitable retort from most people is: "What moderate Muslims?"

"Where are the anti-Islamists' demonstrations against terror?" they ask me. "What are they doing to combat Islamists? What have they done to reassess Islamic law?"

My response: Moderate Muslims do exist. But, of course, they constitute a very small movement when compared to the Islamist onslaught. This means that the American government and other powerful institutions should give priority to locating, meeting with, funding, forwarding, empowering, and celebrating those brave Muslims who, at personal risk, stand up and confront the totalitarians.