Freeing a Prisoner, Freeing the Mind

Summary

Is Buddhism at odds with social change? Or is it a way to escape politics and enter a more pure realm of spiritual growth? 

I interview my mother, Jai Lee Wong, about how she went from being a radical organizer who raised me without religion to becoming a dedicated Buddhist later in life. We’ll discuss how she helped spark the landmark Chol Soo Lee movement, the first Korean American organizing effort. Then we’ll talk about the meditation retreat she did in Korea, which was an ordeal, but somehow also freeing.

Jai Lee Wong is a community organizer and activist. Jai’s life experience as an immigrant has informed her commitment to equity and social justice for people of color, immigrants, and women. 

Jai previously worked at The California Endowment as a director of the Southern California Region and a Senior Program Officer. During the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest, she was a consultant at the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, and staffed the Black Korean Alliance. She was also an organizer of the “Free Chol Soo Lee Defense Committee,” a campaign that successfully freed a Korean American immigrant who was wrongfully convicted of a murder he did not commit. Jai’s work has been recognized by the Liberty Hill Foundation, Women and Philanthropy, and the National Women’s Political Caucus.

Ryan Lee Wong is author of the novel Which Side Are You On, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. He’s trained in Buddhism for over a decade, and lived for two years at a Zen temple in upstate New York. He co-facilitates Roots and Refuge, an annual Asian American Buddhist writing retreat. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, the son of a fifth-generation Chinese American father and a Korean immigrant mother, and has organized several exhibitions on the 1970s Asian American Movement.

Find Ryan on Substack: https://ryanleewong.substack.com/ Instagram: @ryanlwong or his website: https://www.ryanleewong.com/ 

Radical Buddhism is a production of Axis Mundi Media, and made possible by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, which seeks to deepen public knowledge of religion. Andrew Gill is the producer, with original music by Scott Okamoto and cover art by Eric Zwierzynski. The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies is our fiscal sponsor.

Free Chol Soo Lee: an award-winning documentary on PBS from 2022, tells the story of Lee’s life, his wrongful conviction, and the movement that freed him. It features my mother, Jai Lee Wong, and many other key figures in the movement. 

Which Side Are You On: my first novel, based on conversations with my mother on organizing, Korean history, and cross-racial solidarity. 

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freire: a classic study of how education can be used to either oppress or liberate people.