Tag: blm

You were born on the first day of spring, the sign of something new. I remember holding you to my chest to cherish your very existence. If ever there was a time when love could be touched, it was then.

Being an ally means spreading awareness, signing petitions, donating if you have the means to do so, and calling out racist behavior. Being an ally as an Asian American means doing all of the above, while also looking at the specific ways in which we have either perpetuated or been compliant in allowing racial injustices towards the Black community to continue. Now more than ever, it is important for us to step up in support.

As a second generation Korean American, I grew up in Chicago with a single father that had a love affair with alcohol and the American dream. My mother committed suicide when I was too young to understand.

To pass the time, I have started doing Pilates, taking frequent naps. For three weeks, Tom insisted I watch Pulp Fiction. I’ve eaten close to a thousand Oreos in the past month and a half. This is not hyperbole.

I’ve marched in Brooklyn and know the boost of excitement when a car supportively honks its horn or people cheer from their windows. But I also wondered if my support was noteworthy because I’m a middle-aged Asian woman. Do I represent a community that has not shown their appreciation, love, support and camaraderie with the black community.

This morning I asked my mom if she wanted to go to the LA protests with me. I wasn’t sure what she was going to say or if I was dishonoring her by asking this question because of our family’s painful memories connected with the LA Uprising decades ago. In the ‘92 Uprising, we lost our family business, which led to bankruptcy and set off a series of devastating circumstances in our family’s history. But surprisingly, my mom responded, “Of course, we must go. I was going to ask you to go together.”

I have a lot of thoughts about participating in the protest yesterday. I also want to make it clear this is the perspective as an Asian American male.

The protest, was incredibly powerful and the amount of love and desire for change was impossible to not have reverberate through your entire body. From the speeches given by the organizers, to the actions of the fellow marchers. A nurse was walking through the crowd handing out gloves and hand wipes, others stood along the way giving out water. It was beautiful.

A statement made by the staff of KoreanAmericanStory.org in response to the murder of George Floyd by officer Derek Chauvin.

Ahmaud Arbery. 
Ahmaud Arbery.
Ahmaud Arbery.