When the Seeds of Youth Flower:
From Childhood to 2020
2020: Seeing with the Past
To say that 2020 was a year unlike any other is an understatement. We have borne witness to myriad iterations of turmoil, which came in the form of a global pandemic, protests for racial justice with the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement, substantial efforts for activism and organizing, a historical election cycle, and other events that unfolded in the international landscape. As we begin to close out this unprecedented year, our narrators share their responses to what transpired this past year. Furthermore, they shed light on how their reactions to and perspectives on 2020 were guided by experiences from their childhood and upbringing. Have they lived through a similitude of events comparable to 2020 in their early years? How did childhood serve as a scaffolding for their respective approaches to 2020?
Browse below to hear more from our narrators who share their insights and weigh in
on the salient issues of 2020.
Kang-min Lee
In South Korea, as compared to the United States, the police have much less force and presence in society. Kang-min’s thoughts about the role of police have been shaped by what he has known growing up in SK, and he expressed shock and disappointment against the recent incidents of police brutality. At the restaurants he has worked at, he has witnessed his South Korean co-workers’ racist behaviors and words against their fellow Latinx workers. And the hate crimes committed against Asian Americans in the past year, not just in the United States but throughout the world, concern him greatly.
Ann Rubin
Ann's job has been one of the most prominent things affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in her life. As a high school teacher, online teaching has strained her relationships with colleagues and students. One of Ann's biggest concerns is how teachers will now support students when they are so far apart. She talks about the negative toll the last few months has had on her mental health, citing feeling like a failure to her students. But Ann ends while talking about her student's and school's response to the racial justice movement at the beginning of the summer of 2020, and how the way we think of equality and education can never be the same.
Myung Hwang
Myung emphasizes the unprecedented nature of 2020—unparalleled to any other year in her seventy years of life. She looks back on her experience living through the Korean War when she was only five years old, which ultimately shaped her attitude towards the events that transpired in 2020. Having survived the War, she chooses to remain optimistic about overcoming the adversities presented this year. Myung further offers insights into the election cycle by drawing upon the political activism to secure democracy during her upbringing in Korea. She extrapolates the student activism and demonstrations that she witnessed to underscore the salience of young voters partaking in civic engagement and contributing to democracy in the U.S. She finally weighs in on the protests for racial justice and brings in the problems of inequality and discrimination in Korea for a comparative framework.