By Donald Kirk
Harvard professor Cornel West caught the divisions in American life when he warned of both the hopes and concerns of Americans after the funeral for George Floyd in Houston. "We got hope in the form of motion," the renowned African-American philosopher told CNN's Anderson Cooper, "but we've gotta get ready for the backlash."
The idealism and dreams of reform mingle with the fear of violence and killing in the long aftermath of Floyd's death by a policeman in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis. The idealism that suffuses the mood of thousands marching through American streets runs into a wall of revulsion over images of looting and burning as well as overt racism.
When it comes to protests on the streets, the United States has a lot to learn from South Korea. An abiding memory of the Candlelight Revolution of 2016 that forced out the conservative Park Geun-hye as president was that it was almost entirely peaceful. Unruly mobs did not seize the moment, as in American cities.
The ongoing American "revolution" may be broader, more diffused geographically, ethnically and in other ways quite different from the Korean experience and that in other countries. In the next few months, in a presidential campaign like none other, in a pandemic of the coronavirus, protest and violence, U.S.-style democracy faces its severest trial since the American Civil War.
The world is waiting to see if democracy passes the test. A sign of success would be for the U.S. to show that reform is possible as has happened in South Korea since the mass outpourings of June 1987 that led to the democratic Constitution and the system of direct presidential elections beginning that year. Amid all the talk about reform versus mob violence in American cities, Korea's history of democratic reform might be an exemplar.
The outburst of violence across the U.S. has moved past mere vengeance or shock over the vicious killing of a black man by a brutal cop. Emotions in the U.S. go deep into American and world history in a crisis that's not going away. Unrest has been exacerbated by the coronavirus that's led to the loss of jobs, of wages, of the means of survival for millions.
There's no excuse or justification for destroying valuable property, stealing costly stuff from people whose misfortune was to own shops and property where mobs were running wild. But what do many if not most of these thieves and looters have to lose? Many do not have jobs, if they do, they work for low wages, for part-time shifts, gigs with no future and no point. For years, for all their lives, they've been seeing beautiful people on screens, on lovely streets, in sleek vehicles, through windows in stores overflowing with luxuries and in fine restaurants where they're sweeping the floors or washing dishes.
In contrast, the majority of fellow citizens are doing fine on a stock market only slightly rocked by the coronavirus and the protests. That leaves millions who aren't sharing the wealth. The killing of George Floyd in the name of law and order was a spark that triggered the deepest emotions ― the indignity that touched off the rage and hatred for those above them who may not all be wealthy but live in comfort, secure from hunger, able to pay the rent or mortgage and own a car.
Resentment among African-Americans goes back to an era that formally ended with the abolition of slavery in the American South in the Civil War but endures in discrimination, violence and suffering to this day. Blacks, Latinos and Hispanics share a common cause, but so do millions of poor whites who resent them as competitors for crumbs off the table of the rich. They too are victims of social and economic repression.
Koreans have their own keen sense of discrimination for reasons of social class and educational background, income distribution and regional origins, among others. A miracle of Korean history since the bloody Gwangju Uprising of 40 years ago is that it's been mostly non-violent. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets since the 1987 democracy movement, most recently in the Candlelight Revolution. These outpourings of peaceful protest provide a model that Americans would do well to emulate in their own twisting path to reform.
Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com, observes events as a journalist from Seoul and Washington. The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.
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The idealism and dreams of reform mingle with the fear of violence and killing in the long aftermath of Floyd's death by a policeman in the Midwestern city of Minneapolis. The idealism that suffuses the mood of thousands marching through American streets runs into a wall of revulsion over images of looting and burning as well as overt racism.
When it comes to protests on the streets, the United States has a lot to learn from South Korea. An abiding memory of the Candlelight Revolution of 2016 that forced out the conservative Park Geun-hye as president was that it was almost entirely peaceful. Unruly mobs did not seize the moment, as in American cities.
The ongoing American "revolution" may be broader, more diffused geographically, ethnically and in other ways quite different from the Korean experience and that in other countries. In the next few months, in a presidential campaign like none other, in a pandemic of the coronavirus, protest and violence, U.S.-style democracy faces its severest trial since the American Civil War.
The world is waiting to see if democracy passes the test. A sign of success would be for the U.S. to show that reform is possible as has happened in South Korea since the mass outpourings of June 1987 that led to the democratic Constitution and the system of direct presidential elections beginning that year. Amid all the talk about reform versus mob violence in American cities, Korea's history of democratic reform might be an exemplar.
The outburst of violence across the U.S. has moved past mere vengeance or shock over the vicious killing of a black man by a brutal cop. Emotions in the U.S. go deep into American and world history in a crisis that's not going away. Unrest has been exacerbated by the coronavirus that's led to the loss of jobs, of wages, of the means of survival for millions.
There's no excuse or justification for destroying valuable property, stealing costly stuff from people whose misfortune was to own shops and property where mobs were running wild. But what do many if not most of these thieves and looters have to lose? Many do not have jobs, if they do, they work for low wages, for part-time shifts, gigs with no future and no point. For years, for all their lives, they've been seeing beautiful people on screens, on lovely streets, in sleek vehicles, through windows in stores overflowing with luxuries and in fine restaurants where they're sweeping the floors or washing dishes.
In contrast, the majority of fellow citizens are doing fine on a stock market only slightly rocked by the coronavirus and the protests. That leaves millions who aren't sharing the wealth. The killing of George Floyd in the name of law and order was a spark that triggered the deepest emotions ― the indignity that touched off the rage and hatred for those above them who may not all be wealthy but live in comfort, secure from hunger, able to pay the rent or mortgage and own a car.
Resentment among African-Americans goes back to an era that formally ended with the abolition of slavery in the American South in the Civil War but endures in discrimination, violence and suffering to this day. Blacks, Latinos and Hispanics share a common cause, but so do millions of poor whites who resent them as competitors for crumbs off the table of the rich. They too are victims of social and economic repression.
Koreans have their own keen sense of discrimination for reasons of social class and educational background, income distribution and regional origins, among others. A miracle of Korean history since the bloody Gwangju Uprising of 40 years ago is that it's been mostly non-violent. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets since the 1987 democracy movement, most recently in the Candlelight Revolution. These outpourings of peaceful protest provide a model that Americans would do well to emulate in their own twisting path to reform.
Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com, observes events as a journalist from Seoul and Washington. The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.
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