From the resolution by the San Francisco Board of Education, to teaching material development and teacher workshops

Q. Hello. Please give a brief introduction about ESJF for the <Kyeol> webzine readers.

We are a non-profit educational organization with a mission to teach history often unjustly relegated to the sidelines. Established in 2017 in San Francisco, California, USA, our founding members consist of activists and current teachers of multiple races. The major topics of our works are threefold: Japanese military ‘comfort women’ which is the most important topic for us; medical atrocities such as the Unit 731 experiments; and history of the early Asian diaspora migration to the USA. All those issues are linked to colonial history.

Q. What motivated you to set up ESJF in 2017?

Having served as a bilingual teacher at public schools in San Francisco, I have always been interested in education. I even developed a Korean bilingual program in 1994 as a teacher for the San Francisco Unified School District.

Three motivations prompted me to link my interest in education to the 'comfort women' issue. First of all, my grandmother was born two years earlier than Kim Hak-sun. When I first learned about the history of 'comfort women' in my youth, I thought my grandmother could have also been a victim. Thus, I have always felt a sense of sympathy and responsibility towards the 'comfort women' issue.

I was shocked by the 2015 South Korea-Japan Agreement on ‘comfort women’ which was not even an agreement, which made me realize the need for accurate history education on 'comfort women'. In fact, in October 2015, just before the agreement was announced, there was a resolution proposed and passed at the San Francisco Board of Education to teach San Francisco secondary public school students about the history of 'comfort women'. I thought it was excellent opportunity, but I heard about the absurd agreement two months later. That compelled me to think that I should teach accurate history to ensure that the truth does not get buried again this time.

It was probably the reason I rushed to set up ESJF. In December 2016, there was a Student Art Exhibition at Chiba Korean Primary & Junior High School in Chiba, Japan. The exhibition included two pieces of artwork that pointed out the problems of the 2015 South Korea-Japan Agreement on ‘comfort women’. Chiba’s Mayor Kumagai spotted them, and cut the funding to the school for the following spring. After learning about that incident, I felt eager to help Chiba Korean Primary & Junior High School as soon as possible. I wanted to support the courageous moves of the two students who rightfully expressed what is wrong is wrong. I wanted to tell the two students that they did not need to feel sorry about the unjust disadvantage that Chiba Korean Primary & Junior High School had experienced. That’s why I established ESJF in 2017 a little hurriedly. The foundation has been providing modest assistance to Chiba Korean Primary & Junior High School since then.

Q. You even created a teaching material for history education on 'comfort women'.

Although the resolution was passed in October 2015, it needed parents' support to be actively implemented within the San Francisco's education system instead of remaining merely as a suggestion. Thus, I began a campaign with parents in January 2016. We sent out a letter to the San Francisco Unified School District demanding that, 'We support the resolution. Please teach it in classrooms as soon as possible.’ The response was excellent. The San Francisco Unified School District requested that, 'We will teach it. However, as we lack the relevant materials, please obtain those for us.' I collected relevant materials and submitted them at the end of 2016.

Nonetheless, I saw no changes in the spring semester of 2017, probably because there was not enough time to systematically sort out and review the materials to create appropriate lesson plans and curriculum. The Unified School District recommended teaching World War II history and the 'comfort women' history together, as those are usually taught in the spring semester by the San Francisco’s education curriculum. After witnessing the resolution that was passed in 2015 not being implemented in the spring semesters of 2016 or 2017, I began to believe that I should just make a teaching material myself. Therefore, I collected and developed materials from the end of 2017 and published the teaching material in March 2018.

Q. How is the teaching material organized?

There are two versions: for the teachers and for the students. The teacher resource guide has three sections. The first section features the background of 'comfort women' history, which deals with the 'comfort women' movement history that began in South Korea and spread to other countries, and the process of construction and production of 'comfort women' memorials. The second section introduces historical records and primary documents related to 'comfort women', while the third section contains lesson plans and activity sheets. The current San Francisco teachers themselves developed the lesson plans, while parents participated in the development of the activity sheets. The student resource guide left out only the lesson plans for the teachers.

Q. I am curious to know how people in San Francisco reacted to the teaching material.

It is excellent. When I brought the teaching material to the San Francisco Unified School District in April 2019, the staff in charge distributed it directly to 18 public high schools in San Francisco. Now, the teaching material is spreading across many other cities as it is used for special lectures, workshops, etc. in high schools and universities. Two months ago, I gave a special session at a university in San Francisco. The lecturer told me that the teaching material was so well made that the lecturer would use it in future classes. That is an encouraging reaction.

Q. Are you holding workshops as well?

Right. California's education system allows teachers to have a lot of autonomy. That is, even when the central government recommends teachers to teach something, it often ends at just being a suggestion unless teachers implement it on their own. The suggestion was already communicated from top to bottom: the foundation’s job is to work on it from the bottom up. So we hold workshops using the teaching material we created. Teachers can more easily access the teaching materials when we advise them about specific contents and documents on specific pages during the workshops than when we simply distribute the teaching materials to teachers. We not only provide direct workshops but also give lectures in high schools and universities, and many teachers from other cities as well as San Francisco come to participate in the workshops.

Challenges, support, and unforgettable moments

Q. The process of establishing the 'comfort women' memorial in San Francisco entailed many challenges. Is there any movement opposing or obstructing ESJF’s activities?

I receive some postcards from people who say that they do not like me or the foundation (laughs). It certainly seems like that some historical revisionists in the USA are making their moves. Recently I heard news that a group called the Princeton Institute for Asian Studies, which has nothing to do with Princeton University, would tailor and produce their own version of materials on 'comfort women' and distribute them across California. The news made me realize that we have a lot more work to do in the USA, and we should consistently do our work…

By the way, what I find truly ironic is that, the more Japanese revisionists make these moves, the more aware people become about the 'comfort women' issue. I think the revisionists are rather creating opportunities even though they did not intend it. The mayor of Osaka was severely opposed to the setting up of the 'comfort women' memorial in San Francisco and eventually last year dissolved the sister-city relationship between San Francisco and Osaka that was established in 1957. Ironically, that rather ended up offering the chance for more people to become aware of the 'comfort women' issue.

Another thing I want to mention is that more Japanese people support and help this movement than I expected. I think everyone is helping us in their own ways, either positively or negatively. Eventually, it helps when people oppose us, and it also helps when people support us. That is what I think.

Q. Have you had any special moments while operating the workshops?

Although it was not an interesting anecdote, one incident left an impression on me. Last fall, one Japanese teacher raised his/her hand during a Q&A session after the workshop and said that he/she felt anxious before the workshop as he/she was Japanese. He/she had worried in anticipation that the workshop would mention topics such as Japan's responsibility for war crimes, anti-Japanese sentiment, or the antagonistic relationship between South Korea and Japan. He/she said he/she had really great time because, contrary to his/her anticipation, the workshop provided an excellent opportunity for us, the teachers, to put our heads together to consider how to guarantee human rights through education and live peacefully all together in a world free of war. I was very grateful that the teacher expressed that the workshop helped him/her to understand the 'comfort women' issue more extensively and to then be able to teach the issue himself/herself.

Q. That must have felt like a great reward.

While doing this work, I frequently feel grateful and worthwhile. For example, I attended a teacher workshop and an international symposium hosted by the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan to celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict on June 19. The victims of sexual violence and activists from Congo, Uganda, and Kosovo attended the events. After our presentation was finished, they came to us and asked for the teaching material. I felt truly thankful, as they said that they would use the teaching material as a guidebook when they returned to their home countries.

And Christina Tang was one of the teachers who wrote the teaching material. Tang mentioned that she became aware of the history of 'comfort women' by chance when she was in high school, and promised to herself that she would teach about the 'comfort women' issue if she became a teacher later. Finally she became a high school history teacher and had been keeping her promise for several years even before I met her. Working with such colleagues genuinely touches me and gives me great strength.

Patriarchy, wartime sexual violence, and the #MeToo movement - The 'comfort women' issue is the current reality

Q. The 'comfort women' issue may sound unfamiliar to American students. What are their responses after the classes?

When I give lectures in high schools, the students listen very carefully. The age of the 'comfort women' victims at the time had been similar to those of high school students, and that helps the students to empathize and understand better. Students do not tend to perceive the issue as a political matter between South Korea and Japan, as I explain various other examples of current wartime sexual violence at the class. Rather than that, the 'comfort women' issue seems to be linked with many other topics, such as patriarchy, colonialism, imperialism, and misogyny. Unfortunately these issues are still ongoing in so many countries. I believe while current issues may be linked with wartime sexual violence in Uganda or Congo, it is more effective to teach them by linking them with the 'comfort women' issue in other countries.

The State of California recommends teaching the 'comfort women' issue with World War II, while the San Francisco Board of Education suggests teaching it by connecting it to the women's rights issue. Although both are important issues, the most frequently requested ones for lectures these days are the issues such as the #MeToo movement, sexual violence, and the history of the 'comfort women' movement in San Francisco. For these, we start with the issues people want to learn about, and then include basic overviews as well, such as the historical records related to the 'comfort women' issue.

Q. It seems that people in America are paying attention to the testimonies, accusations, and the subsequent human rights activism of the former 'comfort women' as the surviving 'comfort women' victims, in the context of the #MeToo movement.

Right. When I talk about the #MeToo movement, I explain that, even if the term #MeToo had not been used in the 1990s, the 'comfort women' survivors can be regarded as the pioneers of the #MeToo movement. I mention this kind of thing: unfortunately, even though the victims made their accusations in the 1990s, they still have to do the same and engage in movements as well, which is a testament that more people need to work harder. Whenever I talk about sexual violence, I also mention sexual violence experienced by the 'comfort women' as well as sexual violence experienced by women in other countries in other circumstances. As the USA is a country of multi ethnicities, it is very natural to talk about the victims in other countries. Otherwise, people might misunderstand that we are only interested in South Korean victims and not in the human rights of people in other countries. Doing so is not right, anyway.

[FROM HERE] The tremendous movement of the victims correcting the history themselves

Q. Where do you get the energy from to continue with your activities?

The driving force? It is kind of the sense of reward or inspiration I feel while doing meaningful work with like-minded people? I abruptly started writing the teaching material at the end of 2017 and so many people zealously helped me. Eric Mar, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who submitted and passed the proposal to construct the San Francisco ‘comfort women’ Memorial entitled later “Women’s Column of Strength”, and Steven Whyte and Ellen Wilson, who designed the memorial statue, all contributed to the teaching material without expecting anything. The people who designed the teaching material even made improvements themselves without my request. I felt extremely thankful. Two teachers wrote the lesson plans despite receiving only a little honorarium from us, since we are a non-profit organization. They did not even really want to receive the modest reward offered to them later on but ended up accepting it after our persistence. Many people enthusiastically joined us for education without thinking about their own personal benefits. Paintings of butterflies are in the teaching material and on our webpage. It was painted by a teacher named Faye Kwan who wrote the lesson plans. Truly, this project is completely a work of collective effort. I sincerely believe in the importance of collaboration.

Q. Do you plan to expand your work outside education in the future?

Focusing on education is enough for me. I feel quite ineffectual in other areas. I keep working on education because it is what I have been doing so far and can do. Doing nothing while I can do something is not right. By the way, my recent visit to South Korea with my fellow teachers made me feel that American teachers seem to have limited knowledge about South Korea. I guess that for many people, not just teachers, the history of the Japanese occupation of South Korea and the Korean War are often the two major things that come to mind when thinking about South Korea, even though South Korea is actually an immensely wonderful country. Therefore, I would like to enlighten the teachers as often as I can about South Korean history, culture, society, its roles in the international community, and so forth.

Q. Lastly, please share with us the message you want to tell the South Korean readers.

First of all, I would like to deeply thank those who are supporting and encouraging us. My background as a bilingual teacher and my fascination in languages makes me think that everyone's history is important and should be respected just as all languages are equally important and should be respected. ESJF will keep moving forward so that the story of marginalized populations is documented and remembered, and the history of everyone, not just that of the powerful, is taught, in order to build a more just, peaceful, and humane society.

And, there is one thing I feel compelled to tell the readers. The history of the 'comfort women' movement was initiated and led by the 'comfort women' victims in South Korea, and that is highly significant in the context of the movement's history. Since I am Korean, I pay attention to the fact that South Korea is playing a key role in international issues centered on the 'comfort women' problem. However, I think it is extraordinary that the victims of wartime sexual violence took the initiative to correct the history that is often narrated from the perpetrators' perspective. As a Korean living overseas, I feel pleased and proud about letting the international community know that this movement started in South Korea and is being led by South Korea.