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It's not unusual for me to receive messages from people who have stumbled across my work and words from years gone by. But 21 years later?
About a month ago, I received an email from a staffer at a non-profit organization based in the USA inquiring about a speech I gave in September 2003. She learned that this former Washington, D.C.-based education policy analyst is now based in South Korea as the chairman and co-founder of a non-profit empowering North Korean refugees to tell their stories.
She is not alone in finding me after the fact. Some scholars still reference some of my scholarship and activism from two decades ago, particularly my work and words advocating for school choice and helping to create a scholarship program that enables approximately 1,800 low-income children in Washington, D.C., to attend private schools.
Despite my radio show being taken off the air in 2007 due to management's disapproval of my content, I still occasionally receive comments, mostly negative, about it. Furthermore, there have been individuals who have urged me to return to the U.S. to assist "our people" (referring to Black Americans), expressing dissatisfaction with my involvement with North Korean refugees, and asserting that I have a duty to work within the USA.
Not all of the messages years and decades later have been bad. One writer praised me to the heavens for writing in USA Today in 1999 that college athletes should be paid. More than two decades later, college athletes are being paid. And then there are people who later wrote to praise me for encouraging people to stop shaking hands. Much of the world agreed with me six years later after COVID-19 began destroying the world.
Parenthetically, as much as I love the comments years later, I enjoy trying to shake hands with some of the chitchat expats and commentators who previously laughed at me for avoiding shaking hands but now agree with me.
The digital age ensures that individuals can easily reach out to me whether to express grievances or praise about my past actions or statements. Without the Internet, my speech would have only been known by the attendees of my keynote speech to the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association on Sept. 27, 2003. I don’t get angry at people trying to connect with me, I take it as a compliment that my words and work are timeless and worthy of rebuke or praise decades later. Before I die, I plan to set up a digital automatic reply message thanking people for their messages and directing them to my article and video archive.
I write the above as context for the email I received last month asking about a speech I gave 21 years ago. Instead of the usual criticism or opinions, Jennifer Tafuto, senior manager of the education team of the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), asked if I would be interested in leading a webinar on Frederick Douglass, the 19th-century former slave turned abolitionist.
I responded promptly, less than an hour later, shortly before 4 a.m. Korea time. Within two hours, we were engaged in a Zoom call.
A few years ago, this opportunity might have caught me unprepared, for several reasons. One, I had stepped down from the board of trustees of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association due to my prolonged stay in South Korea. That was before the Zoom age, and my non-residency had become an issue for board meetings. Resigning meant I lacked an organization to anchor my interest in furthering Frederick Douglass’s legacy.
Second, my focus was shifting toward the organization I co-founded with Lee Eun-koo, which aimed at empowering North Korean refugees. Three, when I did talk about Mr. Douglass, most people in Korea weren’t interested, and American organizations interested in Mr. Douglass weren’t interested in North Korean refugees.
Thankfully, my usual unwitting unpaid consultants came to my rescue. Some critics accused me of trying to lead a Martin Luther King Jr. movement against North Korea or that I allegedly fancied myself to be a modern-day Frederick Douglass. Both accusations sounded great and inspired me to use lessons from Dr. King and Mr. Douglass to be more impactful. I started re-reading Mr. Douglass in particular. I might not have been prepared for this opportunity if not for the accusations of those critics and trolls.
I agreed to lead the webinar at 6 a.m. Korea time on Feb. 27th with Tafuto as the moderator (scroll down to the bottom of this post for the video). It wasn’t the first time I had such an early morning webinar to accommodate the schedules of event partners and their audiences. Two years ago, I was in the Harvard Extension School’s “Author Spotlight Series” from 2 a.m. Korea time.
Upon revisiting my 21-year-old speech, I found myself disagreeing with some of my past comments and the manner in which I expressed them. Critics may think I have been frozen in time, but I have evolved and sometimes may even disagree with points I made long ago. That’s why I listen to critics' points, even when they show up years or even decades later.
The day before the FAIR webinar, I tossed my script and went with new thoughts. I explained five key points to help people understand the work and words of Mr. Douglass. Recently published books by David Blight and Timothy Sandefur broadened my perspective even more.
I suppose I should write an email to myself criticizing myself 21 years later for updating my thoughts. I won’t stop with criticism as most critics do. Instead, as was said about Frederick Douglass, I will encourage myself to engage in Work-able Words.
Casey Lartigue Jr.,(CJL@alumni.harvard.edu) is co-founder of Freedom Speakers International with Lee Eun-koo and co-author with North Korean refugee Songmi Han of her memoir “Greenlight to Freedom.” He blogs at “Workable Words” at the Korea Times and Patreon.
Digital immortality
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10.03.2024
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It's not unusual for me to receive messages from people who have stumbled across my work and words from years gone by. But 21 years later?
About a month ago, I received an email from a staffer at a non-profit organization based in the USA inquiring about a speech I gave in September 2003. She learned that this former Washington, D.C.-based education policy analyst is now based in South Korea as the chairman and co-founder of a non-profit empowering North Korean refugees to tell their stories.
She is not alone in finding me after the fact. Some scholars still reference some of my scholarship and activism from two decades ago, particularly my work and words advocating for school choice and helping to create a scholarship program that enables approximately 1,800 low-income children in Washington, D.C., to attend private schools.
Despite my radio show being taken off the air in 2007 due to management's disapproval of my content, I still occasionally receive comments, mostly negative, about it. Furthermore, there have been individuals who have urged me to return to the U.S. to assist "our people" (referring to Black Americans), expressing dissatisfaction with my involvement with North Korean refugees, and asserting that I have a duty to work within the USA.
Not all of the messages years and decades later have been bad. One writer praised me to the heavens for writing in USA Today in 1999 that college athletes should be paid. More than........
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