Won-Joon Yoon remembered

The Fourth of July was not an occasion for fireworks and picnics in 1999. For some residents, it was a day of mourning and fear.\nWon-Joon Yoon was waiting outside for the service to begin at the Korean United Methodist Church when he was shot twice in the back by white separatist Benjamin Smith.\nSmith was a recent transfer to IU in 1999 after a stormy tenure at the University of Illinois. He was a solicitor for the Peoria, Ill.-based World Church of the Creator. The church is known for its faith in white supremacy.\nYoon was one of 11 victims targeted in a racially motivated shooting spree that left two people dead and nine others injured. The rampage began on July 2 on the outskirts of Chicago with the murder of former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong and ended just hours after Yoon's murder with Smith's suicide during a high-speed chase in downstate Illinois.\nOn the three-year anniversary of Yoon's death, the church's congregation and the Bloomington community gathered to dedicate a monument at the spot where Yoon died. It now serves as a reminder against the hatred and fear that day inspired three years ago.\nA bilingual service was held before the dedication of the monument, and was presided over by the president of the IU Korean Student Association, graduate student Sung-Jin Park.\nYoon's parents traveled from South Korea to attend Thursday's ceremony. Shin-Ho Yoon, Won-Joon Yoon's father, addressed the crowded church on behalf of his family.\n"I praise God, I glorify God for taking away my son," Shin-Ho said. "Because my son was taken, we have gained a lot of you beautiful people, all over the world. We were consoled by many acts of love."\nIU President Myles Brand could not attend the ceremony in person, but was represented by Chancellor Brehm and a letter introduced and read by Patrick O'Meara, dean of International Programs at IU.\nBrand extended his condolences to the friends and family of Yoon, and pleaded for everyone to show support for one another and for diversity in the community.\n"We live in a global world, and the education we provide should reflect that," Brand said in the letter.\nBrehm echoed his sentiments. She asked everyone to remember the occasion of Yoon's death.\n"There is no way to protect the Won-Joon Yoons of this world from the Benjamin Smiths of this world," Brehm said. "We must attend to our words, our minds and our actions. We must learn to see the person and react to them personally, not by their nationality or ethnicity."\nThe family, church and IUKSA all hope that Yoon's sacrifice will not be in vain. Yoon was scheduled to begin studying for his doctoral degree at IU.\n"As our forefathers dedicated themselves to their independence from religious prejudice on this day, let us dedicate ourselves now to achieving independence from racism, hatred, and violence," Brehm said.