Divided Families Podcast

In this episode, Paul speaks with Oleksandr Shyn, founder of Ukrainian Voices, which works on raising awareness and building solidarity in Taiwan about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has separated countless families such as Olek's. A fourth-generation descendant of Soviet Koreans who were deported by Stalin to Central Asia, Olek also discusses his family history and the stories of Korean diaspora in former Soviet states, including issues of language, identity, and addressing ongoing legacies of imperialism.

You can follow Oleksandr Ukrainian Voices Taiwan on social media at @olekshyn and @ukrainianvoices.tw.

This episode was recorded on June 12, 2023 and edited by Malia Lukomski.

This episode was recorded at the very beginning of creating this podcast, all the way back in January 2020, right before the pandemic.

We had the opportunity to ground our podcast in its roots by speaking with Dr. Jason Ahn, who conceived of the Divided Families Film and helped start Divided Families USA. Listen to Eugene's conversation with Jason to learn about what inspired him to advocate on behalf of families separated due to the Korean War, how he managed the project while pursuing a dual degree graduate program, and how the way we see the world ultimately comes down to a simple matter of perspective.

The full Divided Families Film can be viewed for free on Youtube (https://youtu.be/u670xNcC2Is), and you can learn more about Divided Families USA at www.dfusa.org.

For updates, follow us on Instagram at @DividedFamiliesPodcast, and contact us at [email protected]

In this episode, Eugene speaks with Professor Ndjuoh MehChu, an Associate Professor of Law at Seton Hall Law, about his article, "Help Me to Find My Children: A Thirteenth Amendment Challenge to Family Separation," published in the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties.

Eugene's recent student Note titled "Recognizing the Right to Family Unity in Immigration Law" can be found here: https://michiganlawreview.org/journal/recognizing-the-right-to-family-unity-in-immigration-law/

In this episode, Katherine speaks with Tatiana Kim, who grew up on the island of Sakhalin in Russia. Sakhalin, which is just north of Japan and east of mainland Russia, has been the subject of (and subjected to) several international conflicts. Tatiana describes the mix of Korean, Russian, and Japanese culture and language that makes it unique and results from a history of forced migration and government neglect.

Listen to Hometown Village, the episode of 99% Invisible produced by Tatiana: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/hometown-village/

Note: Katherine is an employee of Stitcher and SiriusXM, which also produces 99% Invisible. This interview was recorded prior to her hiring and her emphatic recommendation of Tatiana's episode is independent of her employment with the company.

This episode was edited by Zo Bailly and produced with the Citizen Diplomacy and Action Fund project, "Stories of Family Separation: Oral Histories of the Cold War."

Sera Koulabdara is the Executive Director of Legacies of War. In this episode, Eugene sits down with Sera in the beginning of a three part series with Legacies of War to provide some background on the Laos bombings conducted during the American "Secret War" on Laos and how it resulted in family separation, both for Sera's family and others.

Today, bombs remain in Laos in the form of unexploded ordnances (UXOs), which continues to pose a safety risk and makes much of the land in Laos unusable. For those interested in advocating for the removal of these bombs and providing victim assistance, here is a list of opportunities:

1. Write to Congress in support of UXO clearance, de-mining, mine risk education, and victim assistance in Southeast Asia. Legacies of War aims to send 6,000 letters to Congress from September 12-16! Together, let's raise our voices and make sure Congress knows where we stand on this important issue. Your actions will save lives. It takes 10 seconds or less to write to Congress by clicking this link: action.halousa.org/campaign/41982/

2. Write to your representatives to join the UXO de-mining caucus -- you can receive a template letter to fill out by emailing Legacies of War at www.legaciesofwar.org/who-we-are or us at [email protected]

3. Legacies of War is currently seeking endorsements for a new bill (www.legaciesofwar.org/advocacy) that will guarantee funding for the next 5 years at the $100m mark for Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This bill is co-sponsored by Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas. To endorse the bill, follow this link: tinyurl.com/mrxd2jkf

For more on Legacies of War: https://www.legaciesofwar.org/

This episode was produced with the Citizen Diplomacy and Action Fund project, "Stories of Family Separation: Oral Histories of the Cold War."

Sera Koulabdara is the Executive Director of Legacies of War. In this episode, Eugene sits down with Sera in the beginning of a three part series with Legacies of War to provide some background on the Laos bombings conducted during the American "Secret War" on Laos and how it resulted in family separation, both for Sera's family and others. Today, bombs remain in Laos in the form of unexploded ordnances (UXOs), which continues to pose a safety risk and makes much of the land in Laos unusable.

For those interested in advocating for the removal of these bombs and providing victim assistance, here is a list of opportunities:

1. Write to Congress in support of UXO clearance, de-mining, mine risk education, and victim assistance in Southeast Asia. Legacies of War aims to send 6,000 letters to Congress from September 12-16! Together, let's raise our voices and make sure Congress knows where we stand on this important issue. Your actions will save lives. It takes 10 seconds or less to write to Congress by clicking this link: action.halousa.org/campaign/41982/

2. Write to your representatives to join the UXO de-mining caucus -- you can receive a template letter to fill out by emailing Legacies of War at www.legaciesofwar.org/who-we-are or us at [email protected]

3. Legacies of War is currently seeking endorsements for a new bill (www.legaciesofwar.org/advocacy) that will guarantee funding for the next 5 years at the $100m mark for Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This bill is co-sponsored by Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas. To endorse the bill, follow this link: tinyurl.com/mrxd2jkf

This episode was produced with the Citizen Diplomacy and Action Fund project, "Stories of Family Separation: Oral Histories of the Cold War."

Sera Koulabdara is the Executive Director of Legacies of War. In this episode, Eugene sits down with Sera in the beginning of a three part series with Legacies of War to provide some background on the Laos bombings conducted during the American "Secret War" on Laos and how it resulted in family separation, both for Sera's family and others. Today, bombs remain in Laos in the form of unexploded ordnances (UXOs), which continues to pose a safety risk and makes much of the land in Laos unusable.

For those interested in advocating for the removal of these bombs and providing victim assistance, here is a list of opportunities:

1. Write to Congress in support of UXO clearance, de-mining, mine risk education, and victim assistance in Southeast Asia. Legacies of War aims to send 6,000 letters to Congress from September 12-16! Together, let's raise our voices and make sure Congress knows where we stand on this important issue. Your actions will save lives. It takes 10 seconds or less to write to Congress by clicking this link: https://action.halousa.org/campaign/41982/

2. Write to your representatives to join the UXO de-mining caucus -- you can receive a template letter to fill out by emailing Legacies of War at https://www.legaciesofwar.org/who-we-are or us at [email protected]

3. Legacies of War is currently seeking endorsements for a new bill (https://www.legaciesofwar.org/advocacy) that will guarantee funding for the next 5 years at the $100m mark for Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This bill is co-sponsored by Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas. To endorse the bill, follow this link: https://tinyurl.com/mrxd2jkf

This episode was produced with the Citizen Diplomacy and Action Fund project, "Stories of Family Separation: Oral Histories of the Cold War."

Kham Moua is the Director of National Policy at Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC), and in today's episode, he chats with Mai Tong Yang about about the swinging impact of American immigration policies on families who moved from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam to the U.S. in the latter part of the 1900's, many of whom arrived as refugees. To this day, numerous Asian Americans have been forced to repatriate to the countries they were born in, even those who have grown up in the U.S. and may not speak the language of the nations they're sent to. National immigration policy and changing administrations have had a huge impact on the lives of these families.

Learn more about SEARAC:

https://www.searac.org/

This episode was edited by Katherine Moncure.

"In Northern Ireland terms, denomination dictates identity."

In this episode, Paul speaks with Paul McLaughlin, Director of Development at Northern Ireland Mixed Marriage Association, about the long history of mixed marriages in Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland one in five marriages are mixed, but inter-church relationships are still regarded with suspicion and considered a betrayal against one's religious identity. In their chat, Paul and Paul reflect on the role that young people and education has in a country with deep religious divides and how the growing number of mixed marriages show hope for the future.

Learn more about NIMMA:

http://www.nimma.org.uk/

Paul McLaughlin's book, "Mixed Emotion: Real Stories of Mixed Marriage":

https://sharedfuture.news/mixed-emotions-introduction/

Recommended Viewing and Listening:

Derry Girls (Series on Netflix)

Belfast (movie)

99 Percent Invisible, Peace Lines (podcast) https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/peace-lines/

full quote from above:

Paul McLaughlin [On describing mixed marriages]: "It should really be described as an inter-church marriage. But sadly in Northern Ireland terms, denomination dictates identity, with most Protestants regarding themselves as British and most Roman Catholics regarding themselves as Irish."

This episode was edited by Helen Packer.

In this episode, Eugene and Paul look back on the Divided Families Podcast, two years later. The two also reflect on 2021, the current status of the Divided Families Podcast, and plans for producing Season 3 in 2022.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated so far to our fundraiser, and we would appreciate any additional support for as long as our fundraiser is live: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-divided-families-podcast?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer

For updates, follow us on Instagram at @DividedFamiliesPodcast. You can also contact us with any questions or suggestions for Season 3 at [email protected] or on any of our social media pages.