[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 68 (Thursday, April 26, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5170-S5171]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              VIRGINIA TECH SHOOTINGS AND KOREAN AMERICANS

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, the shootings last week at Virginia Tech

[[Page S5171]]

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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