News
(Anna Jung) On August 3rd, the Dream Riders had a community meeting with students and professors of Freedom University at the Athens Latino Center for Education and Services. Everyone was very welcoming and supportive of us and our campaign. In contrast to yesterday’s press conference luncheon, this meeting was more intimate, reminding us of our earlier meeting with SEAC and United For the Dream, when all present shared their stories.
(Dong Yoon Kim) I grew up in Georgia for most of my life. I always wanted to engage in community activism in Georgia, but was never sure. As a student at the University of Georgia, Athens, I became involved with student activism, but did not have the opportunity to do community activism specifically in my own Korean American community. Today, I got my chance to work in Georgia with our Dream Riders and address immigration issues that impact Korean American and AAPI communities.
(Allen Tu) The Dream Riders had an in-district meeting with the staff of Representative Mike McIntyre who represents the 7th District of North Carolina. Representative McIntyre is a fiscal conservative focused on issues related to the agriculture industry and farm families as well as the military and veterans. We were there to share our stories and seek his support for comprehensive immigration reform.
Before the meeting even started, I was not sure how things were going to unfold. The story that I share is a story that I have carried for just two weeks.
(Brandon Licuanan) I peered over the edge of my bunk bed at 6:45 a.m to find that I’m the last one in my room to wake up. The D.C. sun began to shine through the window. In no time, I was showered and dressed in business casual attire; ready for the day’s events. Everyone else was also dressed to kill, and I became excited about participating in my first press conference as a Dream Rider. We checked out of the hostel together and waited for Dong Yoon to drive us to the Capitol Hill at the House Triangle.
(Simon Jun) Yesterday, I saw DC for the first time. It was definitely different from Los Angeles.
Early in the morning, at 10:30 AM, we did market outreach to register Korean Americans and AAPIs to vote and to ask them to sign a petition in support of immigration reform. Sae Hee, led a training session at NAKASEC’s new office in Annandale before we started. I started to get nervous. Speaking to strangers has never been easy for me. Thankfully, I had my fellow Dream Rider, Anna Chung, and together we started asking people to register to vote and to sign our petition for immigration reform.
(Kevin Lee) Today we arrived in Washington DC on an overnight flight at 8:00am EST. We ate breakfast in the car and watched the beautiful DC sunrise inside the van. The Dream Riders which included Simon Jun, Anna Jung, Ga Young Chung, and I visited the Eisenhower Building next to the White House for the AAPI Interns briefing. We were all very nervous as it was our first scheduled event as Dream Riders. I introduced the Dream Riders and asked participants to share their stories. I was surprised that so many people in the audience were either children of immigrants or were immigrants themselves.
Inside: Stories from our Community: Andrew Jung, a US Citizen, shares his story of being separated from his deported parents by our broken immigration system; Political Update: During May, AAPI Heritage Month, President Obama met with AAPI leaders including NAKASEC Executive Director Dae Joong Yoon; Call to Action: Stand with Families, AAPI Mobilization for Immigration Reform in Washington DC June 5th, 2013
From March 22nd to June 10th of 2013, the Korean Resource Center conducted a weekly podcast program to educate and activate the Korean American community on immigration reform. Each week, our organizers and community members will bring stories from the field, community actions in which you can participate, and the latest on immigration reform.
Now with our second ever English & Korean bi-lingual "콩그리시" "Konglish" episode!
Jenny and Green review Davis Guggenheim's new documentary film "The Dream is Now" - Watch for yourself at http://www.thedreamisnow.org/documentary
Political Update - Senate Immigration Reform Amendments
The Good, Bad, and the Ugly
Call to Action - check out and donate to our America is our Home campaign at www.krcla.org/now
The National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) seeks a hardworking, talented, and committed individual to serve as the Policy Director. This position will be based in Annandale, VA.
NAKASEC is a dynamic grassroots-based organization founded in 1994 by local community centers to project a progressive voice and promote the full participation of Korean Americans within the social justice movement. NAKASEC maintains offices in Los Angeles and Annandale, Virginia. NAKASEC has affiliates in Los Angeles (Korean Resource Center) and in Chicago (Korean American Resource & Cultural Center) and works in partnership with local community based organizations across the nation. Major program areas include: Immigrant Rights, Civic Engagement, Civil Rights, Financial Empowerment, Youth Organizing, and Technical Assistance.