BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (UMNS) -- About 2,700 people gathered at Indiana University's Musical Arts Center on July 12 to mourn and to celebrate the life of Won-Joon Yoon.

The 26-year-old graduate student was killed during a driveby shooting rampage that targeted Asians, blacks, and Jews. Yoon was shot in front of the Korean United Methodist Church on July 4, just before Sunday worship services. The accused gunman, white supremacist Benjamin Nathaniel Smith, later killed himself during a police chase.

Speakers at "A Community Gathering to Heal and Unite" included U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, Assistant to the President Benjamin Johnson, representatives of the Korean community, and state and city dignitaries. The gathering was sponsored by Bloomington United, an ecumenical, community-wide group formed a year ago in response to hate literature distributed by Smith on the Indiana University campus.

The auditorium was filled to capacity, and the multi-ethnic crowd also packed the lobby and overflowed to the outside of the auditorium building.

At the service, the Rev. SeungHo Park, a cousin of the slain student, held out a Bible and a pair of golden-rimmed glasses to the audience. Speaking through an interpreter, Park explained that Yoon's grandmother had given him the Bible just before he began his journey to study in the United States.

"He was holding this Bible and wearing these glasses on the day he was shot," the interpreter said in a strong, emotional voice. "We hear him speak something with his sweet voice. ... (Now) we hear him speak loud and clear: 'I will forgive Benjamin Smith in the name of Jesus; I will forgive America.' " Many hands rose to wipe tears, cradle chins and cover mouths in efforts to stifle emotion.

"Please remember this Bible and these pair of glasses," the translator said, as Park held them above his head. He turned and placed them on the floor of the stage before the large photo of a smiling Yoon, wearing a white jersey, his dark hair framing the glasses. The audience spontaneously broke into applause and quickly rose to its feet.

The Rev. KilSang Yoon of Nashville, Tenn., a Korean-American representative of the United Methodist Church, characterized the grief felt among the participants as deeply inexpressible, a feeling that goes to the pit of the soul.

"It isn't right, it isn't fair," he said. "It takes our breath away. And it is nothing more or less than the very Spirit of God working in us. Let us hear it and listen to it."

He cited an overheard remark, made in an effort to make sense of the senseless tragedy: "Someone said Won-Joon happened to be at the wrong place and at the wrong time. How can we say Sunday service was the wrong place and the wrong time?"

He also addressed the slain man's parents, sister, cousin and other relatives. "Some of us Koreans are very stoic," he told them. "But I would like my brothers and sisters to cry today, tomorrow, and in the days ahead, until -- until you are comforted." He added to the audience: "I know you will be with the Yoons in the days ahead with your prayers. We need each other."

Attorney General Reno told the audience that she has "seen the strength and courage of Americans in Oklahoma City, in Jasper, Texas, in Billings, Montana. People have stood up to hatred and those who hate."

Hate is learned, but it can be "unlearned," Reno said, and the Department of Justice is developing a program for middle schools to uncover attitudes of hate and prejudice. She said she is committed to strengthening laws against violent hate crimes.

Johnson brought a message from President Clinton: "Hillary and I join with all those gathered at Indiana University in expressing sympathy," he said. "It's important to teach young people to have tolerance and respect. … Our diversity is not cause for division but is one of our greatest strengths." In the message, Clinton urged passage of the hate crimes prevention act.

Near the end of the service, the family members gathered on the stage. Overwhelmed, Yoon's father spontaneously recited the 23rd Psalm, his voice strong and hoarse with emotion, the cadence of his Korean English giving the well-worn words new texture and depth. He repeated the last line of the verse, raising his Bible in both hands above his head and smiling exuberantly.

"My son dwells in the house of the Lord forever!" he exclaimed.

Earlier, Yoon's mother was assisted to the stage, the scuffling of her feet the only sound in the cavernous auditorium. With her head bent, wearing a mantle of sorrow, she lit a Candle of Remembrance.

At the conclusion of the service, that single candle was used to light all the small white candles carried by hundreds of participants who marched in silence to the site of the killing, in front of the church. There, participants joined hands in silence as the Rev. Byung Chill Hahn, pastor of the church, prayed that the shooting would be the last hate crime in Bloomington. The service ended with participants singing "Let There Be Peace on Earth" as the candles slowly burned out and their smoke rose into the sultry Indiana night.

In an interview after the service, Ann Glass, district superintendent of the United Methodist Church's Bloomington District, said the Yoon family is well on its way toward healing.

"They have modeled Christianity in crisis in a new way for us," Glass said, "in their openness to show mercy and forgiveness."

Glass had met several times with the family. "In private conversations when many of us were absolutely dissuaded, he (Yoon's father) showed us a deep faith," she said. "They are moving on."

*Matz is interim director of communications for the United Methodist Church's Indiana Area. Communications associate Eunice Dharmaratnam, serving in Indiana as the United Methodist Communications Racial and Ethnic Minority Fellow, also contributed to this report.

Also see:

United Methodist Killed in Bloomington, IN
by Sharon Maeda, July 6, 1999.