How the Presidencies of Two Nations Made Me Feel Connected, A Think Piece on the U.S. & South Korea
Two Whack President Jobs: The Beginning of “Making America Great Again” and the Fall of “A Country Where Dreams Come True” — The Presidencies in the U.S. and in South Korea
Tuesday, November 8th, 2016 marked one of America’s most shocking presidential elections in the history of the world — Donald Trump is now representing us as the 45th President of the United States.
Trump supporters are ecstatic, throwing their red, white-supremacy fists into the air and congratulating their fellow frat-bros for being able to keep their precious Trump Org-Golf memberships. The rest of us have fallen unto our knees, stunned and speechless. How could our neighbors and fellow Americans do this to us? Did they not understand that the bigotry, hate and violence in our country won’t improve if we have elected this orange man as our president? As America unveiled the outcome of our newest president, social media outlets went on fire. Within only the first 30 minutes of the announcement, people were blaming those who didn’t vote. Every article on Snapchat, Facebook and other news outlets were filled with numbers and statistics of why Hillary did not win, or how the outcome would’ve been if all Millennials exercised their right to vote that night. The next thirty minutes consisted of many — and I mean many — retweets and posts about being anti-Trump and how Michelle Obama or Kanye West have a chance in 2020. The next hour revealed videos of Trump rallies already occurring, mainly from our trusty democratic California colleges and universities. Any social media channel I went on was filled with rage over who we ended up with as a President. There were also many uplifting comments on platforms, saying that what’s done is done, that we as citizens must fight harder to become a united nation. But the craziest situation that has happened within 24 hours of Trump’s America: our country showed our biggest weakness and our truest colors: we are not united, nor are we ‘one nation.’ We really did take a huge step backwards, repeating our same mistakes. Citizens considered the minority in our country were already sharing stories of discrimination. Kids were told to go sit in the back of the bus. Another saw her home vandalized because of her culture. Muslims were told by their parents to not wear their hijabs out in public anymore. In the 24 hours Trump was elected, our country exposed the hate and bigotry that we tried so hard to prove wasn’t there, but was standing in our shadows all along.
A day after Trump’s win, I received a message from a close friend living in South Korea. She sent me countless videos of protests and candlelight rallies in Seoul. She had told me that Korea was also having an uproar of their own: the citizens of South Korea uncovered evidence that their current president, Park Geun-Hye, was found guilty of being an accomplice in extortion.
She has been using her political power to extort tens of millions of dollars from businesses to a longtime family friend, Choi Soon-Sil, a cult leader who also has a lot of influence over Park Geun-Hye. Although Choi Soon-Sil was arrested immediately, the president stayed quiet at the Blue House, with no public announcement or public apology, for days on end. For five weeks, the country united and gathered in front of the Blue House, standing there with candles lit and holding harsh posters and signs, asking her to step down. Finally, after five weeks of the citizens’ outcries and demands, she announced today, November 29 2016, that she would leave it up to the country’s parliament to decide when she should step down. The fact that she still has not said she would resign and she is instead trying to shift the blame towards the parliament is creating a stir; worse, she wants to create her own laws of choosing her own replacement, even though that is not how the political system in Korea operates.
Both of these historical moments are of equal and important value to me as I resonate with both cultures. It’s amazing to feel the connection I have with both nations, and to feel sympathy and anger as if I belonged to both countries and their upbringings. It reminds me of the impact I have as a citizen of the United States, but also the duty I have to my diasporic motherland. Although diaspora “carries a sense of displacement” or “is about not being there,” as Andoni Alonso and Pedro J. Oiarzabal describe it, I have grown to understand and have my own double consciousness of who I am and learning to optimize both nationalities to my advantage. I feel obligated and feel it is my job to be a voice for both cultures, as both have and always will be a part of my identity.
