우리말 | English
Commemorating the late Han Bong Yoon
May the tears be wiped away from the adopted children, crying for and missing the homeland and friends. May the tears and sighs be gone of our sisters who are forced to do shameful things.
We pray, pray here today.
May the sighs of our grandmothers and grandfathers be warmly released, as they live lonely and frustrating lives, far away from the home of their ancestral spirits, unable to speak and write English.
We pray, pray here today.
May our hopes be raised, of us Koreans in America, who blindly went overseas, to become undocumented, exploited and discriminated against, spending our days in fear and worry.
We pray, pray here today.
May the fatigue be wiped away from Koreans in America who are laboring so hard for economic stability, and may parents be comforted and understood for not being unable to take care of their own children due to their heavy work.
Send back to our homes and community with big smiles our children, who have run away from home because of cultural conflict and problems in the family; Korean youth sent to American prisons for their mistakes; and Korean Americans suffering in mental health facilities.
Excerpted from the Binari New York Korean American Cultural Troupe’s founding ceremony, “When the Blue Mountain is Calling Out,“ November 1985.
Late Han Bong Yoon is well known as the “Last Fugitive” involved in the May 18th Gwangju People’s Uprising of 1980 in South Korea. As a political fugitive, he fled South Korea by stowing away on a cargo ship and arrived in the United States where he received political asylum. Upon his arrival in the United States, he founded the Korean Resource Center in 1983 which is a founding stone of Korean American’s identity education and social awareness movement. He also founded Young Koreans United (YKU) of USA in 1984 and the Korean Alliance for Peace and Justice of USA in 1987 which started progressive Korean American grassroot movement for peace and justice in Korea and in the United States.
In 1993, after South Korea elected its first civilian president by direct popular election, Yoon returned home. Upon his return, Yoon played a leadership role in the formation of the May 18 Memorial Foundation and established the Korea Future Research Center.
Ever since Yoon became an activist in the 70’s under the military dictatorship in Korea, he dedicated all his life fighting for the democracy and reunification in Korea and the world peace, and for all the suffering minorities. As a young man, Yoon’s body suffered from the hardships of struggling against government repression. For 15 years, his lungs have been failing him. Complications from a transplant operation on led to his passing three days later on June 26 as an age of 58. Yoon is survived by Soha Shin, a former member of Young Koreans United of Los Angeles and former social service director of the Korean Resource Center.
Content
- commemorating the late Han Bong Yoon
- Health Access: Community Health Promoters, Immigrant Day, California Health Reform
- Immigrant Rights: Dreams Across America, Access to Public Education, ORAnGE and DREAM Campaign, National APA Mobilization for Humane Immigration Reform, Night of 1,000 Conversations
- Civic Participation: Naturalization Clinics, Mobilize the Immigrant Vote!
- Culture: HanNuRi
- Solidarity: Wilshire Plaza Hotel Workers
- Social Service: Low-Income Tax Clinic, Legal Clinic
- Education: Contamined Fish, Credit, ESL Classes, Summer Youth Empowerment
- Asian Pacific Community Fund Grant Distribution
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