Pearls of Wisdom

Fort Lee, New Jersey is renowned for its diversity, a melting pot of many cultures in an upscale community.  There is a large Korean community, a Japanese community, a Chinese community, and growing black and Hispanic communities.  We have many children and many seniors residing here.   It is a great place to grow up, learning about multiple cultures and meeting people from greatly varied backgrounds.  As a citizen of Fort Lee for over twenty years, it has been extremely rare that I have heard the word “racism” used in Fort Lee.

Recently, one of the losing candidates for a BOE seat, Paul Umrichin, expressed his views regarding the integrity of one of the winning candidates, Helen Yoon, and her ethics complaint against members of the BOE and the school administrations. Paul questioned Ms. Yoon’s ethics on election day, specifying that she and several Korean News outlets were requested to leave polling stations in six (6) different districts for campaigning within a restricted area.  Now assuming that Mr. Umrichin’s facts are correct, and they appear to be, he is stating factual information. 

In the Patch, citizens are permitted to express views on the various comments regarding an article. One reader of unknown ethnic origin, who only comments under a pseudonym, responded to Paul’s comments.  He/She, who is not forthright enough to write under his/her own name,  accused Paul Umrichin of being a racist because his comments were regarding a Korean candidate and the Korean Press, which appeared to have restricted its news coverage on the BOE election to Korean candidates.  Whether we agree or disagree with Paul’s comments, they appear to be accurate.  That is not racism; that is simply an astute analysis of a situation.  

Living in a community as diverse as Fort Lee, we must have equal rights and opportunities for all citizens.  And if we criticize a member of our community for their actions, regardless of his or her ethnic origin, we should never be accused of “racism."  Rather, all the wonderfully diverse cultures in Fort Lee should work together to make Fort Lee a great place to live and a great place to bring up our children.