The National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and its affiliates the Korean Resource Center (KRC in Los Angeles) and the Korean American Resource & Cultural Center (KRCC in Chicago) condemn the shooting of Michael Brown and of other people of color across the country. We seek justice for the Brown family and stand in solidarity with the African American community in Ferguson, Missouri to fight racism and address the ongoing systemic problems of police brutality in low-income African American and immigrant communities.
NAKASEC is a civil and immigrant rights organization that grew out of the Los Angeles Civil Unrest of 1992. After the four police officers who severely beat Rodney King were acquitted on almost all charges, the African American community of Los Angeles, similar to Ferguson, took to the streets to express their outrage and demand justice. During the unrest, many small businesses in Koreatown, primarily owned by Korean Americans, were damaged. Instead of responding to their calls for help, the police dispatched officers to guard the predominantly white and wealthy suburbs. Such naked disregard for the mostly working-class African Americans and immigrants in Los Angeles’ urban core awakened Korean Americans; we were a community of color now rooted in the United States, and it was time to build a strong and organized voice to advocate for social, economic, and racial justice. It is with this distinct, but shared experience of a community becoming empowered and coming together that NAKASEC and its affiliates align our work and root our struggle for social, economic and racial justice with the people of Ferguson, Missouri.
NAKASEC and its affiliates are mobilizing and call on the Korean American and the wider Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities to participate in the National Convergence in Ferguson over the weekend of October 10 called by the Organization for Black Struggle and Hands Up United. In the weeks following this tragedy, Ferguson residents have worked tirelessly to advocate for new reforms to the court system and law enforcement policies, which have trapped many low-income African American residents in a cycle of harassment and poverty. NAKASEC and its affiliates extend its support and endorse their local and national demands.
What happened in Ferguson is happening in Los Angeles, in Chicago, in New York City, in Detroit, in Beavercreek, Ohio; all of our cities are Ferguson. Police are systematically targeting African American communities and youth because of their race, and this must stop now. As immigrants and a community of color, we can empathize with the heartbreak that comes with having a family separated by law enforcement.
To contribute to the multiracial movement for racial justice, we call on AAPI organizations and community members to join us in educating our communities and coming to the National Convergence in Ferguson, Missouri on the weekend of October 10. To sign on to our statement, please visit: http://bit.ly/aapis4ferguson.
For more information, please contact Healy Ko at hko@nakasec.org or 323.937.3703. To learn more about the National Convergence, please visit www.fergusonoctober.com.
Demands can be read at http://www.handsupunited.org/.
#AAPIs4Ferguson #HandsUp #Ferguson
Supporters in Solidarity
Organizations
18 Million Rising
API Equality – LA
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
Asian Law Alliance
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA)
Coree Ilbo
Community Organizing Center
McCormick Theological Seminary
MinKwon Center for Community Action
National CAPACD
NAAPIMHA
The New School Asian Student Collective
Reappropriate.co
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
Stanford Asian American Activism Committee (SAAAC)
Individuals
Eugenia Beh
Becky Belcore, KRCC
Kat Choi
Tony Choi
Marita Etcubanez, Kaya: Filipino Americans for Progress, DC Chapter
Christopher Fung, University of Massachussetts, Boston
PaKou Her, 18 Million Rising
Anna Kim
Dong Yoon Kim
Angela Lam
Nhia Lee
Cayden Mak, 18 Million Rising
Gina Masequesmay, CSUN Asian American Studies Department
Liliana Mickle
Sandy Min
Darren Mooko
Grace Park
Eddie A. Rosa-Fuentes, McCormick Theological Seminary
Katie Seitz
Mark D. Stansbery, Community Organizing Center
Susan A. Suh
Katherine Tom, New School Asian Student Collective
Dawn Lee Tu
Lily Vo
Chaoya Yang
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The National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) was founded in 1994 by local community centers to project a progressive voice and promote the full participation of Korean Americans on major social justice issues. NAKASEC maintains offices in Annandale, Virginia and Los Angeles, California. NAKASEC has affiliates in Chicago (Korean American Resource & Cultural Center) and Los Angeles (Korean Resource Center).
