Here’s one question no one dares to ask about the tragic death in the Oregon backcountry of CNET editor James Kim:
Did Kim’s heritage play any role in the tragedy?
That’s right — was race a factor in any part of this tragic snafu?
It’s worth mentioning if you read over the Oregon Sheriff’s Report that was released last week.
The report not only has information from Kim’s wife Kati about what the family went through before and during their time in their stranded Saab. The 23-page document also contains information from interviews from the clashing factions that were in charge at a critical phase of the search effort.
It reveals the petty details of how a bumpkin bureaucracy badly bungled the entire affair.
And it leads one to a general conclusion that it wasn’t just the elements that led to the hypothermia that eventually killed James Kim.
The report talks of two neighboring Oregon counties — Josephine and Jackson — and how one had elected a new sheriff over the presiding under-sheriff who was about to lose his job. Then there was also the threat of layoffs in the overall department. And there was a conflict between the search managers of the two counties. The report concludes: “Some notable personality conflicts may have affected communication.”
There was a lot of ignorant pettiness that contributed to a lack of urgency that marred the search for the Kims.
It was all stupid, avoidable stuff.
About the only thing that would excuse it is the presence of an even more stupid, ignorant force: racism.
After reading the report, a revealing detail from Kati Kim suggests it may have been present right at the start — and could have been the key factor that began the family’s downward spiral.
THE GAS STATION ATTENDANT
Picture yourself as the Kims of San Francisco.
You’re ultra-hip. You’re on the cutting edge of tech and social trends. You’re an Asian male-white female couple with biracial children.
And now on the tail end of the Thanksgiving holiday, you’re a hip, upscale family in the Oregon backwoods.
Emphasis on “back.”
You’re the Kims. You might as well be on the moon.
No doubt, the Kims were lost. They left Portland on Nov. 25 and were headed to the Tu Tu Tun Lodge in Gold Beach on the Oregon coast south of Portland.
It was late. Kati told the Sheriff’s investigator they made three cell phone calls to the lodge, the last one a notice that they would be arriving late.
They had stopped in a town called Merlin.
Here’s what the official Sheriff’s Report said:
Kati and her husband, James, did not see any indication that the roads to the coast from Merlin were not being traveled. There were several indicators that led them to just the opposite conclusion.
The Kims stopped at a gas station in Merlin after exiting Interstate 5. After missing their exit near Roseburg, they pulled out an Oregon map that they carried in the car that showed a straight shot to the coast. James went into the gas station with his map to get some clarifications about directions while Kati stayed in the Saab with the girls. James came back to the car frustrated. He thought that the attendant gave “strange directions” and that the man was acting like he didn’t understand what James was asking. Kati felt that he definitely didn’t communicate that it was a dangerous route.”
It’s a passage that didn’t get much play in any of the press accounts on the Sheriff’s report.
Most stories concentrated on the “Swiss Family Robinson” part of the story, how the family rationed food, fuel and set rules about not getting wet, hurt or sick while trying to save themselves.
That’s compelling stuff.
Most stories to date also concentrate on a gate to a logging road that should have been locked.
But the Kims never would have been close to that road had a simple communication been made at the gas station.
The report doesn’t go into further detail. Kati was in the car and only saw James’s confusion.
But what was the communication between the attendant and James?
From Kati’s description, it seems to have been the kind of communication that takes place between a “local” and a “person from somewhere else.”
But throw in the Asian face of James Kim, and what do you get? A form of xenophobia that touches on racism?
Oh, there you go race-baiting again, Emil.
OK. Take away race. Was it just parochial ignorance rearing its ugly head? That’s inexcusable, but perhaps more politically correct than to conjure the thought of racism in Merlin, Ore.
So, ask yourself what if Kati had gone in and asked for directions? Would questions from a white woman garner a more sympathetic, more detailed and helpful response from the gas station attendant?
Or, perhaps the attendant just didn’t care about anything, was surprised to see someone driving in the area, and was still recovering from his Thanksgiving dinner?
From my experience, an Asian American man seeking directions in the burly backwoods of Oregon is a communications breakdown waiting to happen.
Sadly, that appears to be what sent the Kims down the wrong road.
Putting your safety in the hands of a gas station attendant is probably not a good idea.
One look at the map will tell you that these two counties are very sparsely populated, and poor. How much money do you think they should set aside to rescue travellers who make bad decisions? How much should they spend on gates and locks for the many thousands of miles of logging roads in that area, on the off chance that non-locals will blunder their way up one of those roads? Never mind the fact that locals use these areas for recreation.
And is calling the locals “bumpkins” anything better than racism?
This is all a hypothesis based on just one incident for which we don’t even know enough details to know exactly what happened. We don’t even know any of the dialogue that took place between James Kim and the gas station attendant. All we know is that James came back to the car confused, with unhelpful directions, and he proceeded to go where he probably would’ve gone if he hadn’t asked for directions at all. I don’t see how any of this can lead anybody to conclude that race had anything to do with the tragedy. If there was a repeated pattern of Asian-American men receiving bad directions from people in small towns in southern Oregon, then you might have something.
For the record, I’m an Asian American male, and I’ve driven through southern Oregon multiple times, including the town of Merlin and the very roads that the Kim family drove (only I did it when the roads were safe to drive), and I’ve never experienced any form of racism during those travels. I even once received helpful directions from a gas station attendant in the small town of Riddle (a bit further north of Merlin) on how to get back to I-5.
This is just plan crap, I am so sick of people playing the racism card, my friend most americans i know are quite the opposite, kind and loving and wanting the best for everyone, I believe we create what we believe, if this is what you think you are most likely attracting it in your life!
I am a native Oregonian and would probably think James Kim was a Geek and out of his element, thereby seeing his obvious handicap I would do everything to give him good advice to keep him and his family safe. I believe most Oregonians would do likewise.
Definitely false.
How dare you to pull the racism card here? You are trying to accuse people of murder, basically.
I’ve been in similar situation to Kims, after receiving less than stellar directions in North CA. Guess what? We were a young, white couple asking directions from white male police officer. Got bad directions–due to ignorance! Locals often can’t get into your shoes and imagine how it is for you, in a vehicle that isn’t meant for these roads and on roads with unmarked forks. They’re so used to the place, it seems like a piece of cake for them–that’s where stupid directions come from. The thing is that these people don’t owe you… it’s your responsibility to check the maps, road conditions, weather, etc. Of course, there’s no excuse for giving bad directions on purpose and it’s not good to be indifferent/not care/not bother and fail to provide a warning–makes you a bad person, but not a racist or criminal.
No one “sent them down the wrong road”. When it’s night time, and you’re in a rural area that you only know from a map, and it begins to snow and the road becomes increasingly hazardous – you reverse the car and you go back to town, especially when you have children in the car, and especially when you only have a quarter tank of gas. The official report shows that the Kims made a heap of errors in judgement, probably owing to their mostly city-bred life and misplaced confidence.