 |
The first thing that struck me about Laura Ling and Euna Lee, recently released from prison in North Korea, was their ethnicity. Laura Ling is of Chinese background and Eune Lee was born in South Korea and came to the U.S. to attend university – and stayed.
Now, why were they interested in going to North Korea, and why did they make that alleged illegal entry? Why is an American of Chinese origin interested in what goes on in North (or South) Korea?
Ling is "Asian", so I presume that she is interested in all things Asian, including trying to penetrate the North Korean dictatorship and help the Asian North Koreans in her journalistic capacity. Lee, of course is more of a South Korean than an American. Plus, she’s a documentary filmmaker, and this story is closely related to the country she recently left behind.
But what does this mean in our global world?
We are seeing Somali men from Canada and the U.S. return to Somalia to get jihad training. In fact, two in Australia were recently arrested for planning terrorist activities there.
In Toronto we had thousands of Tamils blocking a busy highway to protest the Sri Lankan government's military maneuvers against Tamils living in Sri Lanka, and to get the Canadian government to intervene on their behalf.
Are we going to see Indians born in the U.S. or Canada with more interested in what goes on "there" than "here?" I’ve already said that Indian writers certainly do. How about those of Mexican background, Nigerians, Muslims?
Ling and Lee, in their attempt to connect their stories with their ancestral continent, actually put the U.S. in jeopardy. I will go out on a limb and say that this was an aggressive move on their part, like the Tamil protestors on the Gardiner Expressway;
“If you’re not going to do anything about it, since your diplomatic and international relations are opportunistic and don’t save people, we’re just going to precipitate the process,” they seemed to be telling the American government.
One other thing caught my attention. Here are two women, who were obviously taking a big risk in their journeys across (or near) borders to make things better for their fellow-Asians, who are married to white Americans. I wonder how their children grow up – Lee has a daughter? Where will their loyalties lie?
I have already written an article titled, "Ethnic stories, divided loyalties" on Indian writers.
