REVISION CULTURE
"Figures don't lie! Liars figure!"
Revision of history and facts are becoming more serious problems everyday. Even Dosan's record of significant events has been altered by disingenuous people posing as educators. Changing the actual occurrences and outcomes of peoples' lives are damaging the record of the Pioneer Generation of Koreans in America, Hawaii and Mexico. Recently the detrimental impact of revisionism has increased because of the deterioration of peoples' character. The instantaneous electronic distribution of misinformation spreads false facts at an uncontrollable rate. Educational Institutions, scholars and journalists cannot be trusted sources of facts because they are more egotistical and more unethical than ever before.
Korean and Korean American History
Korean and Korean American history are poorly taught at all levels of education. Too many facts and too much information have been twisted to fit the needs of universities, professors, funders, publishers, businessmen and politicians. The need to educate truthfully is not a factor. Personal gain and financial support are at the forefront of too many universities and scholars' minds. Today students who have taken a Korean Studies class or courses related to Korea in Geography, Political Science, History, Ethnic Studies or Anthropology have a misunderstanding of facts. Harvard University and the University of California are two examples where re-writing history to meet hidden agendas created a bad environment for truth.
For a long long time Harvard has been and still is Pro-Japanese when things concern Korea and Japan. The Pro-Japanese culture at Harvard was clearly present in the early 1900's. The life of Harvard alumnus Edward Vernon Morgan and his Pro-Japanese activities is an example. The pro-Japanese tradition at Harvard is still apparent in the recent Ramseyer distortion of Comfort Women history. Harvard Law Professor Ramseyer's revision of Korean history was supported by President Larry Bakow who is extremely ignorant of the truth. Harvard has, does and will carry out this Pro-Japanese tradition leaving Korea's history in the same harms way it was during the Japanese Occupation. Harvard supported Japan in Japan's war with Russia on the Korean peninsula in 1904/5 . Read Carole Cameron Shaw's The Foreign Destruction of Korean Independence.
The University of California(UC) and UC Riverside consistently create and publish incorrect information. A disregard for the truth about Korean American History and Dosan Ahn Chang Ho is presented in many publications and presentations endorsed by many UC people. Metadata for photographs with altered dates and details have been selectively used to support bogus claims about Dosan's history. In too many instances unauthorized use, unsupported claims and misinformation have been spread through the Internet and Social Media. UC Riverside is creating a false narrative about early Korean Pioneers as it revises Dosan's legacy.
Revisionism of Koreans' history in America is a scam that showcases post 1965 South Korean American immigrants' perceptions of Pioneer Generation history NOT what happened here in America during the Independence Movement. UC Riverside's claims about the past events and conditions of Korean Pioneers who were from One Korea conflicts with the written records found in books, libraries, museums, archives and on the Internet. The people in control of information are South Korean Americans who have no idea what it meant to be a Korean from an undivided country. What is being taught today is South Korean American propaganda not history.
Revisionism of history is rampant around the world. Revisionism has become the harmful norm in every culture and society today. People need to demand the truth.
Ed Chang
Chang is one of the top Revisionists of the Pioneer Generation Korean American history. New York Times and PBS promoted the disingenuous claims about Koreans in Riverside and Dosan's family . Chang has created an in depth incorrect history of Koreans at the Pachappa migrant farm workers camp. Any proper research of history determines Riverside was not a Koretown nor is it the Mecca of the Korean Independence Movement. Chang distorts Dosan Ahn Chang ho's life story for his personal gain selling books and the financial gain of UC Riverside's solicitation for educational funding and donations. The majority of people are not vetting what Chang claims. No peer review of Chang's publishing. has been done.
Carol Park
Park is Ed Chang's cohort at UC Riverside. She is not an expert in Dosan's history, Korean Independence Movement, Korean American Pioneer history or the story of of Riverside as she claims. Her research is mediocre at best. Just like Chang's work, her work is based on limited and revised facts and misleading information. The Colonel Young Oak Kim Center for Koren Studies is misleading the public, media and students about the truth of Riverside's role in the Independence Movement. Colonel Kim was from the anti-Dosan group in the Pioneer Generation. His family and he were pro-Syngman Rhee. They were members of the Dongjihoe. Colonel Kim's father was a lazy drunk and hated Dosan according to Elaine Kim's interview with Col. Kim in East to America. He was part of the group of Dongjihoe who had Dosan arrested in Chicago in 1925. According to Col. Kim: "All Presbyterians were communists." Dosan was Presbyterian. UC Riverside is unethically selling Dosan to fund a Center named after a man who hated Dosan.
Edward Park
Park should not be teaching anything about Korean American early history or the Pioneer Generation. Park is a follower of Ed Chang.'s revisionism. Park stated Dosan Ahn Chang Ho lived on the USC campus in the USC Korean Studies Center. Dosan left America in 1926 and never returned to America. The Ahns moved to USC in 1936. Dosan died in 1938. Dosan was NEVER there. This false claim was perpetuated by USC when Librarian Ken Klein discovered the Ahn house was still standing on campus. USC's misinformation about Dosan living there at the Ahn family house was used for fund raising. When the house was moved to Jefferson it became the USC Korean Studies office. This is an example of unqualified people making incorrect statements based on poor research and bad teaching.
Hung Sa Dan aka YKA
Otherwise known as the Young Korean Academy(YKA). Dosan founded this group in San Francisco in 1913. After Dosan left America in 1926 the YKA started to deteriorate. When he died in 1938 the guiding light was gone. Today it is not the organization designed to teach Koreans good character, to become honest people and responsible citizens. The recent YKA Historical Cultural Monument farce with the University of California, City of Los Angeles Office of Historical Resources, Cultural Heritage Commission, the Korean Resource Center, the Korean Youth and Community Center, the LA Conservancy and District 8 Councilman Harris-Dawson was based on bad facts, corruption, misinformation and shameful ethics. The Korean community collaborated with the Cultural Heritage Commission to create a false scenario about the significance of an old trashed house at 3421 Catalina Street. Many of the YKA members from Los Angeles and Mexico did not tell the truth.
PBS series Asian Americans is full of revised history about the Korean experience in America. The documentary is skewed to a Japanese American perspective. Of the first one hundred twenty(120) minutes the PBS Producers allotted five(5) minutes to Koreans in America. Dosan's family was used as a pawn in those five(5) minutes. What Rene Tajima Pena produced about Asian American history distorts the Korean American story. She also avoids what the Japanese really did to Korea in Korea and in America. There were incorrect claims about Korean land ownership, political activism and naturalization among others. Numerous hours of interviewing at Dosan's daughter's house and the images provided to PBS were wasted. People who have such limited knowledge about Koreans pulled the wool over PBS's eyes.
PBS is not what it used to be. Be careful what you believe when you view its programs. Be on guard whenever PBS produces and airs anything about Korea or Koreans in America.