The Tragedy in Binghamton, NY
A 41-year old Vietnamese man named Jiverly Wong shot and killed 13 people and himself at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, NY, on Friday April 3, 2009. For more on this tragedy, please follow this link.
What struck me about this story is not just the fact that the man was Asian, but in trying to uncover the reasons why he killed, I came to think a lot about the larger issue of his unemployment, anti-immigration sentiment, and the intolerance of others toward people with limited or no English skills. For now, I am not going to speculate on his state of mind but I am just going to focus on these three issues.
In terms of unemployment, everybody is hurting there and the damage that is caused by this is felt all over the country. Mr. Wong is not alone there. However, what makes his situation worse is the fact that he had limited English skills. From my workplace, I see countless workers coming to the office with limited English skills, waiting and hoping to find better jobs for better pay as well as seeking ways to advance their careers through job trainings and English classes.
However, job trainings and English classes can be tough to get into with long waiting lists at community organizations as well as a time commitment for class that may or may not be met. I see my students having to leave my Citizenship class 10-15 minutes early because they have to go to work. OF course they want to stay but they have no choice. They have to work to provide for their families and loved ones.
Let’s think about this for a moment, Mr. Wong was unemployed and had limited English skills. He really has no choices (similar to the students I teach at my workplace). The only thing he job he can take is a dead-end cooking or cleaning job. Does this justify killing 13 people? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! However, does it raise the issue of providing more services in terms of job training/career advancement and English classes for people in his situation? Absolutely. Is this need being addressed. Yeah, in some ways, but it being small operations means that money is always an issue.
So why does the government not help these agencies? This brings up issue of immigration. Community organizations and agencies similar to the American Civic Association won’t ask for government money because some of their students are undocumented so they have to rely on other funding to provide these services. They are caught in a bind here. Should they accept undocumented individuals or accept government money? They, being humans that have a heart and conscience, choose the former because undocumented individuals do live and work here (no matter what they government wants to do with them) and they deserve access to these services.
No matter how Mr. Mitt Romney, Mr. Lou Dobbs, or others spin it, there is no distinction between legal and illegal. The only difference is a card and documentation saying that a person has a right to be here. Here’s the point all those Republicans are missing. Who can really seriously tell whether you are legal and illegal unless the people see your card. Those people would just see a person’s skin color with limited English skills and assume that they must be an illegal immigrant. Now I am not sure of Mr. Wong’s immigration status, but I can bet that %$^$^# up people saw his face and limited English skills and said good for him… another illegal dead along with the rest of them. Additionally, people often just see your skin color and assume that you do not know English. I will never forget when I was interviewed to go to private school that the admissions officer was surprised that I did not speak with an English accent. In some ways, it’s a compliment, but it speaks to the larger picture of prejudice and intolerance.
As for the last problem with intolerance. Sadly, intolerance still exists in the Obama era, and there is not much people can do about it except to educate others and hope for the best. I was in Washington DC last year and a couple of fifth graders visiting the Air and Space museum made fun of the Chinese language, and I just couldn’t let that go. I had to speak to the adult in charge of them to let them know it was wrong and I did not appreciate it one bit. I told a friend of mine after the encounter that if I had let that go, then I would be guilty of breeding intolerance and hate. There was no way I was going to let that happen so that’s all a person can do. Hope to get them young so that they don’t do it when they are adults.
I hope that this article fully explores the deeper problems associated with this tragedy and that there is still a lot of work to be done in this world to combat these problems.
Last 5 posts by chunfai
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Tags: Immigration, News.
2 comments
Chunfai, thanks for speaking on this tragic incident and about the larger issues involved. It reminds me that the state of adult education and community services in our society need improvement, and that, although I don’t particularly like to look at it this way, caring about each other and our communities is one of the best ways to prevent violence. I feel like it’s strange to say this because caring should be natural and integral to ourselves and our communities for, among many things, strengthening and empowering us all, not focused upon as a means of preempting violence. Caring often starts with awareness and empathy, so I hope that as more people become conscious of the plight of others and realize that we can understand each other despite our differences, we will care deeply and express our care by creating and embracing the opportunities to help each other, as you have done here and do all the time in your work.
amen. the power of community reminds me a meeting i partook in with activists interested in prison abolition wanting to form an alternative system of solving and dealing with social problems via community, counseling and alternative strategies. there is so much potential in community, prison abolition aside (i actually am not for it until a reliable, effective alternative exists). however, i still wonder if we have the capabilities to prevent incidents as extreme as this one or any of the other mass shootings that have occurred in the past decade. i know the post is focused on community issues as opposed to jiverly wong’s unfortunate actions. however, i do wonder in the name of engaging ourselves with our own society and not leaving power of knowledge or voice up to the so-called “experts” (criminologists, psychologists, sociologists, whatever), how to understand jiverly wong. what of life drove him to that severe point of violence, and how did it go unnoticed that he might have been not sound, not well? sometimes we notice things or get vibes from people and ignore them. especially in america where everyone keeps and protects their individual space and sense of entitled way of life and the right to not have anything to do with others….how can we learn from him, not just from his situation?