Social Issues

Discriminatory behaviors often don't draw any legal consequences [in South Korea] and this has led to crimes going unpunished. Moreover, public awareness on discrimination in the country is mostly absent… [Seoul] has been more progressive than one might assume, [but] relative ethno-national and linguistic homogeneity has been the norm for a long time…is hard for Koreans to peel off.

I talk to folk [Muslim Americans] all over the country and I think there is a sense of disappointment. They don’t want to hear the word ‘tolerance’; they want to hear the word ‘respect’. They want to be treated with the same dignity and respect as every other American. They are asking, ‘Why isn’t there more outrage when Donald Trump is attacking a religious community? What would happen if these things were being said about another religious community, any religious community?’ There would be outrage on both sides of the aisle. There is concern about how this trickles down to kids at school being bullied.