Well, in order for you to get to know us better, we are rolling out our #meetNAKASEC Fridays where we will profile one person within our network.

Today, we’re featuring Zu Kim, President of KRC’s Board of Directors! We hope you enjoy!

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Q: What’s your name?
A: Zu Kim (ZuWhan Kim / 김주환). My Korean name (sounds rather like Ju-Huan) means “shining broadly”. When I was applying for a visa, I didn’t really know how ‘J’ sounded like so I chose to spell my name with a ‘Z’ instead of a ‘J’ and later learned that these two letters sounded very different. My ignorance gave me a very unique name — and I like it!

Q: Where are you from?
A: I grew up mostly in Seoul, Korea. I came to the States for my graduate study in computer science at USC.

Q: How did you get involved with KRC, KRCC and/or NAKASEC?
A: Around the time I came to the States, I was very interested in singing (rock music, in particular) and wanted to learn pansori (Korean traditional singing). I heard that KRC was offering a poongmool class so I visited to see if they taught pansori, too. KRC didn’t teach pansori and their beginner’s poongmool class did not interest me — but the people at KRC and the work they do did interest me.

Q: What was one of the first actions or campaigns you remember being involved in?
A: In 1997, North Korea was suffering from a terrible food crisis due to consecutive floods. In response, there was a North Korea Food Aid Campaign initiated by Young Koreans United with the UN World Food Program. KRC was also involved in the efforts and through them I became involved. In the beginning there was strong resistance in the Korean American community due to the red complex, but we eventually gained support from many of the community members as people became more aware of the food situation in North Korea. As a result, we and the UN World Food Program raised more than $1 million and a large part of it was $1 and $5 donations we raised at Korean markets.

Q: Why do you do the work that you do with KRC, KRCC and/or NAKASEC?
A: KRC is different from many other non-profit organizations. We identify the community’s issue by providing service, then try to solve it by organizing the community members who are affected by the issue. For example, many Korean American seniors seek help because they do not understand complicated medical welfare documents. So we organized the seniors, identified the issues with them and held many actions and visited the offices of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services to let them know how our community was impacted by the lack of language access. As a result, now they can get important letters translated in Korean and, more importantly, they now know that they can make a difference by organizing. After all, as you can see from our Korean name (민족학교, literally translated to ‘Korean Education Center’), our goal is to empower the community and young people.

Q: Tell us of a memorable moment with KRC, KRCC and/or NAKASEC?
A: KRC participated in a census campaign in 2000 and a temporary census worker was assigned to KRC. I was a volunteer coordinator then, and tried to organize her — she is now my wife!

Q: What hope do you see for the Korean American community?
A: When I see the AKASIA members, mostly undocumented college students who study and work hard, I see bright hope for the community. Sufferings can be a blessing in disguise.

Q: If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be and why?
A: I have many — a rock star at a concert, a little child with no worries, one of Jesus’ disciples 2000 years ago, someone who can fly, and so on. In fact, for some of them, I dream about doing it for real even though I’m already 40. For example, I can plan to have one week in my life completely away from worries.

Q: What is your comfort food and why?
A: My favorite food is bossam (보쌈, steamed pork belly with vegetables) but I am trying not to eat much meat for my health and for the environment. ^^

Meet other folks at KRC, KRCC and NAKASEC!

• Kat Choi
• Tony Choi
• Chan Kho Kim
• Jani Kim
• Shawn Kim
• Cliff Lee
• George Lieu
• Carla Navoa
• Olivia Jee-Un Park
• Doorae Shin
• David K. Song
• Eun Ha Yi

From left to Right: Back Row - Kevin Lee, Ju Hong, Bryan Wright, Carla Navoa, Jamie Kim, Dayne Lee, Brian Lee, Chan Kho Kim. Front Row - Jani Kim, Joyce Yin, Tony Choi, Jane Yoo, Keish Kim, Justin Valas. (Photo Credit: Southern Poverty Law Center)

On Saturday, December 17th, 14 undocumented Asian American youth leaders and allies from California, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia and Washington, DC gathered in Montgomery, Alabama, to join community members and organizers from across the country to oppose HB 56, the state’s harsh anti-immigrant law, and strategize ways to engage Asian American communities in the movement for immigrant rights and the DREAM Act.

Organized by NAKASEC and affiliates KRC and KRCC, they were provided a space to bond, talk about issues they are dealing with in their respective home states, participate in skills-building training and build leadership. At the end of the two days, they not only came away with better engagement tactics for Asian American undocumented youth and their families and also a feeling of deeper connection and bond with each other.

As a NAKASEC staffer, I feel fortunate to have been able to be in that space and have the opportunity to help facilitate dialogue on organizing in Asian American communities but also to listen and exchange what were some, truth be told, incredibly intimate stories with one another.  When I left everyone to head to the airport to return to Washington, DC, to be perfectly honest, I felt a slight pang. I was missing everyone already! The moments of seeing ideas unfold into concrete action plans, of feeling comfortable with everyone even though I’d only known most of them in a face-to-face capacity for a few days, of witnessing the birth of a much-needed community safe space, were all things that I am incredibly grateful to have been able to partake in.

This Asian American youth network is still in its infant stages and there is still a lot of work to be done but after these last two days, I feel more confident than ever that this collective of passionate youth leaders are on their way towards building something extraordinarily powerful. As Carla, one of our youth leaders and organizer at KRCC, said, ‘this is only the beginning!’

Also, take a look at the Top 10 Reasons Why Alabama’s New Immigration Law Is a Disaster for the Rule of Law written by the Center for American Progress Immigration Team. You can also download and read the Korean translation of this blog post.

TAKE ACTION TODAY TO SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH THE “ONE FAMILY, ONE ALABAMA” CAMPAIGN!

The Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice has asked for your support in these ways:

BILLS FOR BILLBOARDS: Contribute to an ad campaign to change the hearts, minds and votes of Alabama lawmakers.   Your donation will help post billboards across Alabama, challenging legislators to repeal Alabama’s heartless immigration law!  We will use images of “One Family, One Alabama, One America” created by people from all over the country, posted on the Alabama Coalition For Immigrant Justice Facebook page! Click here for donation information.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Post a picture or video to Facebook and Twitter depicting what “One Family, One Alabama, One America” means to you. Post your videos, pictures, and drawings to Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice’s Facebook page, Governor Robert Bentley’s Facebook page. Share on other social media sites that are significant to you and your community—this could be your state legislator, your place of worship or a local leader.   Help us spread the message that we are all One Family! Tell us what One America means to you, your family and your community.  On Twitter, follow @ALimmigrant and #CrisisAL for updates, and share your thoughts with @GovernorBentley.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH “ONE FAMILY, ONE ALABAMA”

1)      Host an action/vigil in your community this week.  Plan a faith vigil to stand in solidarity with the“One Family, One Alabama” campaign launch at the historic 16th Street Baptist Church.  Communities across the country can organize local prayer vigils to highlight Thanksgiving.  As we give thanks for our families, please remember and pray for the families of Alabama that have been torn apart by HB56.

2)      Send a message to ask that Janet Napolitano come to Alabama. Ask Sec. Napolitano to come her to come down to Alabama and speak with impacted families and to stop ICE implementation of HB56. She needs to see for herself the damage that anti-immigrant bills are doing to the community here. Click here to send a personalized message.

3)      Keep anti-immigrant legislation from happening in your state! Send a message to your legislators and state governor to stand up and reject anti-immigrant bills in your state.

Thank you for your support, and be sure to spread the word in your community about ways to show solidarity with Alabama today.

Sincerely,

Rights Working Group, in Solidarity with the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice

Our bloggers and support staff during the NOP: Generation 2 April training in Chicago

(From left: Young Sun Song, Youth Program Director at KRCC; David Cho, Josh Joh-Jung, Chris Ly, Olivia Park, former program associate with NAKASEC; Joyce Yin. Behind the camera: Jane Yoo)

It’s a bitter sweet announcement — bitter because we’re sad to say good-bye to our bloggers, but sweet because of their trailblazing efforts to dig up, pitch and write stories that matter to young AAPIs – immigration, identity, organizing and service – has been amazing.

Our Generation 2 bloggers – Josh Joh-Jung, Chris Ly, Joyce Yin and David Cho – started their social media journey in April with a 2-day training in Chicago. They then kicked off on a 6-month journey starting with blog posts on May APA Heritage Month and ended in October talking about community organizing.

We thank the bloggers for their dedication and all of your support, RTs and likes throughout the project period! Look out for NOP: Generation 3 coming soon to a computer near you.

In the meantime, check out some of our favorite blog posts from the past 6 months & show us some love by tweeting about us using the #NOPit hashtag.

Blogger favs:

• David – Apes & AB131
• Josh – Where in the World is Josh?
• Joyce – 24 Years Later, A Tiger Cub Speaks Out

Staff favs:

• 7 things We Can Do Rally Our Base to Advance a Progressive Agenda
• What Would You Do for Change?
• 5 Tips on Surviving College: The Undocumented Student Version
• To Shave or Not to Shave
• It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! … It’s Ajumma?!
• I’ve Taken the First Step
• My Family’s Immigrant Experience
• Faces of Our Movement
• It’s Been 10 Years…
• Civic Engagement for Newbies

Me passed out at the Asian American Resource & Cultural Center at UIC after our speak-out for Asian American Studies in 2007

When Jane first approached us about writing our final blog posts about why we are doing work in our respective movements, I thought to myself, ‘Oh, that won’t be too hard to write. I know why. Piece of cake.’

Wrong.

When I initially sat down to write my blog post a few days ago, I can’t lie, it was a struggle. I kept starting, writing a few sentences and would end up scrapping everything I’d written and start over again. I didn’t understand why it was so hard for me. Social justice work is something I’ve been working on since the beginning of college, something I knew I was invested in and dedicated to. I knew this. I knew this in my bones. But articulating ‘why’ just didn’t come easily to me.

It finally occurred to me that, for me, I don’t think there’s ever really been one moment I could say was THE moment when I knew I wanted to get involved in social justice movements. Rather, it’s been an ongoing accumulation of experiences that provided me [and still do] the motivation to do this work. From the not-so-pleasant, like being told I wasn’t good enough because I’m female, to the transformative, like watching AAPI undocumented youth ‘come out’ and share their empowering stories, these are all reminders and driving forces for me.

That being said, I do distinctly remember a moment where my consciousness changed from one of complacency to actually wanting to do something about the inequalities I witnessed on a daily basis. It was junior year of high school. I had to write a mini-critical analysis paper on a topic of my choosing but I couldn’t decide what to write about. When I spoke to my sister, who was then involved in her own fight for Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she suggested writing about the model minority myth. I had no idea what she was talking about. Model minority? What?

But as she explained this concept to me, I realized that that inadequacy I’d always felt in relation to other Asian Americans, that I wasn’t ’smart enough,’ well, it wasn’t just me. I wasn’t just imagining things. What I felt was real. And a whole community of other people had experienced what I’d felt too. This feeling of knowing that you aren’t alone. And that others were actually being active participants in their own lives and not simply sitting around complaining about how dissatisfied they were with life. It acted as a kind of catalyst in my life. It was like I’d woken up.

From that point on, it was a domino effect. I wanted to change things. I wanted to do something. I got to college and I’ve been involved in social justice work in some capacity ever since. I don’t think I have one specific issue area that I care about. While my experience has been primarily focused on ethnic studies, media representation equity and immigration, I care about so many more in addition to those. I don’t think I could choose. I’m passionate about just about all of them!

Looking back over this last year, having been a NOP blogger for phase one and now phase two, I’m so grateful to have had this experience. I’ve never particularly thought of  myself as a writer but NOP has helped me better articulate myself in both writing and speaking. I found that many times as I was writing a blog post, the process would help me sort through my thoughts and even allowed me to have some mini-epiphanies [really!]. It was both a transformative and therapeutic experience for me. And, can’t deny it, receiving kind words from everyone didn’t hurt either. It never gets tiring to hear that someone connected with your writing, especially when it comes from someone you never would have expected.

As a result of being a NOP-er, my voice is a little less muffled and I hope to continue blogging on my own. If you’re a blogger or have thought about starting up a blog, I encourage you to think about becoming one of our phase 3 bloggers when the time comes – you won’t regret it!

It’s hard to believe that the ‘occupy _____’ movement is a little more than a month old. Since the first Occupy Wallstreet action on September 17th, 2011, there has been a domino effect across the country. Thousands of people from a variety of backgrounds, experiences and communities have come together to protest, well, a little bit of everything. But it seems like the reoccurring theme is, “we’ve had enough of this economic inequality and corporate greed. We are the 99%.”

And you know what? I can relate to that to some degree. I’m tired of big banks being bailed out, corporations being treated like people. However, after reading the colorlines article about (de)occupying Albuquerque,  the article put this entire movement into a different perspective that I hadn’t even considered: we, the ‘99%’ are also screwing other people over whether we realize it or not. We’ve been screwing over Native Americans since we got here 600+ years ago, occupying a land and oppressing an entire community.

So while I can get down with this ‘occupy ____’ movement to a certain degree, I think  it’s important for all of us to remember that we are not free from a certain amount of privilege either. Yes, the majority of us may belong to the ‘99%’ but in some ways, as much as we might hate to admit it to ourselves, we are also the 1%.

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OMG!!! DX it’s the final blog post for the New Organizing Project: Generation 2!!!!!  Well first off lemme just say thank you all for faithfully reading our blog posts and being patient with us throughout the year. We covered a lot of issues and came a long way since our first blog posts.

So once again, thank ya’ll very much for the love and support. Frealz.

Now for a final post, I wanna let ya’ll know what calls me to the movement. In the other posts we ask you what calls you to the movement. Aight? Lehgo

The up and coming FYSH youth leader & NOP Generation 2 blogger, Josh, when he was just a year old.

Aight so I know some of ya’ll must’ve been wondering, there ain’t exactly too many 18 year olds out there who are really concerned about social change in America. Most folks my age would be worried about which celebrity is going out with who or which game is coming out w/e. So I’ll break it down for ya’ll aight?

What brought me into the movement was the opportunity to make a change in my community and to actually see it happen before my eyes. That is what had me jump into the movement for social and political change. It actually began about a year before I moved to Chicago.

I was talking with a couple of homies and homegirls, we were just kicking it and whatnot. I don’t know how but it got to the subject of college and I was just an idiot about it. Not gonna lie… it wasn’t really a concern of mine at the time. Then one of my homegirls, one of the smartest ones I knew said she wasn’t going to college. I was flabbergasted (ooo nice word right there ) and I was thinking why on earth would she not? She was smart and had so much potential – it just didn’t make any sense.

So I did what any good friend would do. I ragged on her for being lazy. Then she finally told me that she couldn’t go because she was undocumented.

Well, needless to say I was real worried you know? I mean it was sad that my homegirl couldn’t get out of the ‘hood and go to college cause she didn’t have papers. Something about this situation wasn’t right. But back then there wasn’t anything I could do. I didn’t know what I could do. But that all changed when I moved to Chicago and found KRCC. Their mission of education, immigration reform, helping the Korean American community and youth organizing appealed to me. I found my way of giving back to my friends, family and peers.

So as for issues that I am particularly compassionate about? It’d have to be immigration reform, economic reform and basically issues that address the suffering of people living in the United States. But my biggest passion is showing youth that we have a voice even when we are belittled because of our age, race, economic status and neighborhood.

Our generation, our voice and our ideas have the potential to revolutionize the world. We are much more knowledgeable and have powerful tools at our fingertips. Rising up to the challenge doesn’t have to wait until we graduate from college, have a job or after we make a lot of money.

Thank ya’ll so much once again, really. Without ya’ll this project wouldn’t have been possible. Being able to blog like this was an opportunity like no other. Felt the spectrum of how far our voice can go and how our opinions and these issues actually matter.

I’m thinking of starting a vlog, for info follow me on twitter.com/joh_boi

Peace, I’m out.

Well, in order for you to get to know us better, we are rolling out our #meetNAKASEC Fridays where we will profile one person within our network.

Today, we’re featuring Kat Choi, Associate Director at KRCC! We hope you enjoy!

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Q: What’s your name?  
A: Kat Kwihyang Choi. My Korean name is rare and means “precious fragrance” in its combination of Chinese characters. But it is pretty hard to pronounce, so my father’s friend in Canada gave me the name Kat (from Kaitlyn I don’t think I was ever known as that).

Q: Where are you from?  Seoul, South Korea
A: Seoul, South Korea.

Q: How did you get involved with KRC, KRCC and/or NAKASEC?
A: I went to do graduate work at UCSD and graduated with the concentration on nonprofit management. A friend of mine forwarded me the job posting from KRCC and I applied for the job without realizing that it was located 2,000 miles away!  I only found that out when I received the request for a phone interview from KRCC. Long story short, I switched my residence from sunny SoCal to chilly and windy Chicago in 2003 and been here ever since!

Q: What was one of the first actions or campaigns you remember being involved in?
A: I vividly remember the Dollar-A-Person Campaign for Immigration Reform NAKASEC and all its affiliates were involved in; it was the second of its kind NAKASEC led after its 1996 success for the restoration of welfare benefits to immigrants.  We went to Lawrence & Kimball – the Koreatown area in Chicago – with a box to ask for $1 donations and entered a jewelry shop run by a Middle Eastern immigrant. I started to do my pitch, but he stopped me and asked the youngest one – one of our high school youth- to speak up.  She mumbled a bit, but with encouragement from the owner, managed to communicate clearly why we were asking for donations, how we would use the money, etc.  He made a big smile, gave $20 to the donation box and commented, “I am glad to see a smart youth like you are working for the community!”  It made her day as well as ours. 

Q: Why do you do the work that you do with KRC, KRCC and/or NAKASEC?
A: As the staff with most seniority, I literally grew up with KRCC and our sister organizations for the past seven years. With KRCC’s growing pains, I also struggled to adjust and expand my capacity to do what is needed.  Then and now, it is always the people I interact with every day – coworkers, clients, youth, board, volunteers, and broader community members – that give me inspiration and excitement to continue my work.

Q: Tell us of a memorable moment with KRC, KRCC and/or NAKASEC
A: I remember massive rallies for immigrant rights (which began as the protest against the Real ID act, unprecedented anti-immigrant bill), in which over millions of people nationwide came out to support immigrant rights and civil liberties in 2006.  Everyone we met while marching on the streets of Chicago were so proud and hopeful for the better future for our families, communities and the country. Mothers and sons marched hand in hand and we had small colorful signs for kids that said “me, too”. It felt not so much like protesting but much more like celebrating our heritage and strength in unity. Hence, it is one of my favorite memories.

Q: What hope do you see for the Korean American community?
A: Active and engaged youth that I see from our youth program and elsewhere.

Q: If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be and why?
A: Ella Baker, no, rather students who worked with her in the summer of 1960-66.  I once talked to a veteran of the civil rights movement who worked with Ms. Baker and he told me about how amazing she was in asking the right questions.  She didn’t offer answers to questions asked nor preached to people. Rather she enabled others to learn from their own questions and come up with solutions.  I hope I can learn that from her.

Q: What is your comfort food and why?
A: Any type of Asian noodle soup – mandooguk, wonton soup or tom yum etc – makes me feel better instantly!

Meet other folks at KRC, KRCC and NAKASEC!

• Tony Choi
• Chan Kho Kim
• Jani Kim
• Shawn Kim
• Cliff Lee
• George Lieu
• Carla Navoa
• Olivia Jee-Un Park
• Doorae Shin
• David K. Song
• Eun Ha Yi