ID :
31105
Wed, 11/19/2008 - 17:04
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/31105
The shortlink copeid
Virginia Tech mass murder still 'very sensitive' issue in U.S.: victims' advocate
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- A Korean student's shooting spree last year at Virginia Tech in the United States is still "a very sensitive subject," with the trauma creating conflict even between the victims and the university, a U.S. crime victims' advocate said Wednesday.
"Mr. Cho is still a very, very sensitive subject," Will Marling, national
director of the U.S. non-profit National Organization for Victims Assistance,
said. "As a victims' assistance organization, we have to be very careful about
that."
Marling was in Seoul to attend the Human Rights Conference for Crime Victims
hosted by Korea's Justice Ministry. Recalling the April 16 shooting rampage that
left 32 people dead and 25 others wounded before Cho took his own life, Marling
ruled out ethnicity as a factor.
"I don't think the issue was ethnic at all," he said. "I don't know Americans at
large, but in working with families, I found their anger was not against Koreans.
Their anger was against a system."
He noted that it was a Korean-American representative who wanted to take out a
memorial stone for Cho, referring to a memorial at Virginia Tech made up of 32
stones, one for each victim.
Calling the case the toughest in his career, Marling said that emotional
conflicts erupted between victims' families and university officials as he tried
to help them recover.
"I will have to say the Virginia Tech massacre, personally, has been very
difficult for me," he said. "I see both the two entities -- the university and
then the families of those who were killed and injured. And I see that they can't
communicate well with one another."
While the university wants to see "closure" on the case, victims' families reject
the very word, as their loved ones will never come back, he said.
Describing the different groups of victims as a series of concentric circles,
with the victims' families in the innermost ring and Virginia Tech students in
the outermost, Marling talked about different present day reactions.
"Some of the students, outside (the circle), shout here, saying, 'We are so tired
of these orange ribbons; they should be gone.' People in the center say, 'Where
are these orange ribbons? They are going away. We don't see them anymore,'"
Marling noted, referring to the ribbons students and neighbors have worn to
signify support for the victims.
"When I met university officials, I said, 'Don't use those words -- closure,
recover, move on ... You are continually offending the people at the center, and
you don't realize it,'" he said.
SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- A Korean student's shooting spree last year at Virginia Tech in the United States is still "a very sensitive subject," with the trauma creating conflict even between the victims and the university, a U.S. crime victims' advocate said Wednesday.
"Mr. Cho is still a very, very sensitive subject," Will Marling, national
director of the U.S. non-profit National Organization for Victims Assistance,
said. "As a victims' assistance organization, we have to be very careful about
that."
Marling was in Seoul to attend the Human Rights Conference for Crime Victims
hosted by Korea's Justice Ministry. Recalling the April 16 shooting rampage that
left 32 people dead and 25 others wounded before Cho took his own life, Marling
ruled out ethnicity as a factor.
"I don't think the issue was ethnic at all," he said. "I don't know Americans at
large, but in working with families, I found their anger was not against Koreans.
Their anger was against a system."
He noted that it was a Korean-American representative who wanted to take out a
memorial stone for Cho, referring to a memorial at Virginia Tech made up of 32
stones, one for each victim.
Calling the case the toughest in his career, Marling said that emotional
conflicts erupted between victims' families and university officials as he tried
to help them recover.
"I will have to say the Virginia Tech massacre, personally, has been very
difficult for me," he said. "I see both the two entities -- the university and
then the families of those who were killed and injured. And I see that they can't
communicate well with one another."
While the university wants to see "closure" on the case, victims' families reject
the very word, as their loved ones will never come back, he said.
Describing the different groups of victims as a series of concentric circles,
with the victims' families in the innermost ring and Virginia Tech students in
the outermost, Marling talked about different present day reactions.
"Some of the students, outside (the circle), shout here, saying, 'We are so tired
of these orange ribbons; they should be gone.' People in the center say, 'Where
are these orange ribbons? They are going away. We don't see them anymore,'"
Marling noted, referring to the ribbons students and neighbors have worn to
signify support for the victims.
"When I met university officials, I said, 'Don't use those words -- closure,
recover, move on ... You are continually offending the people at the center, and
you don't realize it,'" he said.
