2018-03-08 Challenge Korea Global Award

I am so proud to be the recipient of the Challenge Korea Global Award. Today I attended the awards ceremony, held at South Korea's National Assembly. It is quite an honor. There are about 50 million people in South Korea, about 2 million of them are non-Koreans. Out of all of those people, I was one of the 10 people to receive an award today (the Global Award).

I'm not a celebrity, singer, actor, politician or rich man. I am just a man struggling to build an NGO in a foreign country empowering North Korean refugees. These days, I rarely leave my office, so I'm not getting this kind of award because of networking. It is the second consecutive year that I've won an award, and last month TNKR (now FSI) was honored as a finalist for the Asia Liberty Award.

Incredibly, we have received a lot of press even though we don't have anyone focused on reaching out to media. We get this kind of attention because of our good work.

I'm not sure that I really deserve this award, but they gave it to me. I'm not giving it back!

At the awards ceremony, I spoke briefly, then invited our volunteers and fans to join me on stage. I gave two speeches this week, one with Q&A lasting 90 minutes, then a speech yesterday that lasted almost two hours with a few questions mixed in. So I was fine with not speaking for long, but certainly could have done so.

Thanks so much for those who joined:

Eunkoo Lee, FSI cofounder. Youngmin Kwon, then-TNKR project manager of the Bring My Father Home campaign. Han So Young, Brian Klein and Shim Young.

www.lovetnkr.org/donate

Get rid of that watermelon!

Part 1: When I was a youngster I used to collect Confederate money, posters and photographs with caricatures of blacks, and "No blacks allowed signs." I loved the money because it was a reminder of how far the sorry Confederacy had fallen. I had one poster of a dark-skinned black boy munching on a watermelon. I would look at that small poster and wonder, "What in the world is wrong with anyone wanting to eat watermelon?" Yes, white people, I'm talking to you. Your parents, grandparents, and other ancestors who thought making fun of blacks for eating watermelon were crazy ! Even people who say that nothing has changed in race relations must acknowledge that the many stereotypes of blacks are no longer prevalent. But then, there are also some ready to remind us of days-gone-by by debunking stuff that doesn't need to be debunked today. According to the Washington Post: The sound you just heard was yet another racial stereotype going kersplat ! Some ...

From nothing to something super special (2023-02-10)

FSI has moved into a better institutional neighborhood where we are the poorest in the area. In August 2022, I was elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Freedom Speakers International (FSI) and in January 2023 FSI achieved incorporation status in South Korea. This has meant that FSI must upgrade operations and structure and I am the one, as chairman and co-president, who will be blamed if it doesn’t happen. I really should not be the chairman, for a variety of reasons, but anyway I am. Eunkoo and I are not the typical executives of a growing organization. In addition to being mainly responsible for building and fundraising for the organization, we are the hands-on leaders who are constantly in contact with North Korean refugee speakers. We look forward to the day we can afford staff to handle many tasks. Until then we can expect to continue having more days like yesterday, even on Eunkoo’s birthday. 2023-02-10 Meeting #1: planning We started Eunkoo’s birthday with a planning...

Living (and dying) in America!

Living in America! Michael Kinsley says it is time to scrap the Star-Spangled Banner. I'm on board with this. Doesn't sound bad, great historical references and all that, but it is even tough to lip- synch it... Kinsley makes a couple of tepid recommendations. My choice? Living in America by James Brown! Can you get more American than James Brown? Drugs. Women. Jail time. Illegitimate children. Car chases. Mixed race. More women. Battle over his estate. Not only should the song be the National Anthem, but the video should also be the National Video... Whistling Past the Graveyard Last night I picked up the June 6-12, 2009 issue of the Washington Afro-American. A page one article in the paper as well as an opinion piece by George Curry document the recent case of the white woman who claimed she was kidnapped by two black men. As I recently asked: Why in the world would anyone believe that such a thing could happen? Why didn't she blame Native American Indians? Looking t...

Column on The Root

I've got a column on The Root. It addresses Bruce Bartlett's suggestion that Republicans should support reparations for slavery. CJL The GOP's Next (Black) Idea? Trading slavery reparations for affirmative action. By: Casey Lartigue | Posted: March 5, 2008 at 11:41 AM Concerned that Republicans haven't tried hard enough to reach out to black voters, Bruce Bartlett, a former advisor to President Ronald Reagan and treasury official under President George H. W. Bush, suggests a shocker: Republicans should come out in favor of reparations for slavery. Republicans for reparations? Bartlett makes the suggestion in Wrong on Race , an expose on the "hidden" racist history of the Democratic Party. Bartlett skewers former Democratic presidents such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Woo...

Random photos from today

I went walking around today. Whereas some people like to go walking in the mountains, I enjoy walking around in the city. Well, not D.C. or other cities with many homeless, crazy and/or armed people walking around... * * * Here's where I had lunch today. About $1.90 for a hamburger hamberger. * * * Ha-ha! Bet you never would have guessed that Batman is a drinking place in Korea! * * * Man Clinic? The Koreans walking by seemed to be very curious about why I was taking a photo of a "Man Clinic." They may know something I don't know...Actually, I wasn't curious enough to go in and find out what it was... * * * Right down the street from the Man Clinic...there's a Love Shop! I love the euphemism. "Love Shop" sounds much better than Sex Shop. I'm guessing that if you don't go to the "Love Shop" to buy condoms that you may need to visit the Man Clinic a short time later? * * * Nobo...

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