- My name is Alexander Kim, I am in my mid forties.
I'm a generation X.
Born into the city of Los Angeles
and residing in Orange County, California.
Currently I'm a consultant,
I work with a local government.
In my prior role, I used to work in government
for like 15 years,
so currently working privately
in helping connecting government with community
and businesses and nonprofits.
Just transitioning out from a very busy life
in politics into something I wanna do.
Well, it started when I was in college.
It was the date of -- and many Korean-Americans remember it
as Saigu or the April 1992 LA riots.
They really affected me so deeply
to see my friends' parents'
buildings being burned down
and how Korean Americans were portrayed on TV
because they were just defending themselves.
And I think the portrayal of Korean Americans
was not accurate.
Yeah, so I started taking more classes in political science
because I learned that there were some issues
dealing with society that were needed and the tools
and more Korean Americans needed to be in political offices
because I saw a lot of African-American leaders,
a lot of Latino American leaders
but very few Asian American leaders
within not just in LA, but the entire United States.
That's something that I wanted to take classes to learn
how to be, not so much a politician
but to really educate myself, to be a public servant
in some sort of way,
and really changed my trajectory.
I've learned through college about the importance of working
with different disparate groups
that normally don't work together,
and working in politics I've learned just that
because of that education at UC Irvine,
I got to actually apply those concepts of working
with different groups that would not normally meet together,
African-Americans, Latinos,
Asian Americans, Jewish Americans.
We all have a common belief
that we want the American dream,
and we want to be successful for ourselves
and for, mostly for our children too.
So they could grow up in a society that their parents
didn't have to deal with as much.
My very first job was working
for the city of Los Angeles mayor's office.
I interned in the office when James Hahn
at the time was a city attorney,
I was a law clerk.
I wouldn't have imagined that I'd be offered
such a important role working
and representing the mayor for Koreatown,
but not just for Koreatown,
but actually for a large central part of Los Angeles
that really encompass upon different ethnic groups.
And a lot of -- by default, I became an Asian American
and Pacific Islander liaison for the city of Los Angeles.
We got to learn a lot of different subjects
that really affect pretty much the whole communities
but because of our,
when I'm dealing with an immigrant,
particularly a Korean American immigrant,
it reminded me how my parents had the same issues,
but I was too young to help
but it gave me a chance to fill in that gap
and help the first generation.
My father, you know, was offered an opportunity,
you know, he didn't come from a wealthy family.
He was given the opportunity after his service
to, by one of the United States army generals
because he did such a great job during the Vietnam war.
And took the opportunity to work in Southern California
for the U.S. Corps of Engineers.
And after that opportunity was done,
he wanted to be just like any other immigrant,
to start up his own business
so he bought a ice cream store called Carnation Ice Cream.
They say the best way to make an investment in America
is to buy lands.
We follow the advice of a lot of our,
my dad's mentors to own your own piece of the American dream
which is a land to build a retail center
and to allow other immigrants
to open up their own businesses
and they could enjoy their own American dream.
So in a way it's like its own economic development incubator
that he was able to do in the 1980s
and helping out Latino, Vietnamese, Koreans
that make up a lot of the large majority here
in Orange County
and then middle Eastern as well
to set up their own businesses.
My dad's quote was like "Wow, look at our tenants.
"They drive in the Toyota Datsun
"and they now they're driving a Lexus and Mercedes-Benz."
It's all these little quotes that make me admire my parents.
The work ethic they taught me, working 12 hours a day,
I think it's a common thing among Korean Americans
when you have a mom-and-pop store,
to work very hard
and it's something that I'm glad I went through it
because in the life of politics, working for the mayor
it was often I'm working a hundred plus hours a week,
every night, every weekend.
And those are the sacrifices as a public servant.
Being American means to give back to those around you,
not just yourself,
and connecting with the different ethnic groups
really taught me about how Koreans could learn from
one another.
And you know Koreans are very known to be very isolated.
And I know that's historical and cultural
because the country has always been attacked
with outside countries.
It's a historical PTSD
that we have that prevents us
from interacting with other cultures as much
compared to other Asian Americans.
And this is all based on data, you know
out of all the Asian Americans
Korean Americans are the least to integrate
because of that strong culture, the fierce Korean pride
we call a key pride.
And I wish there was more stronger bonds,
a more stronger bond between Korea and Korean Americans.
And it's something that I've been teaching
a lot of my mentees in government
to not just to be a proud Korean-American
but also a proud, I'm Asian American, American
but also try to reconnect with your ancestral country.
I'm not saying go call Korea
or have a meeting with the Counsel's General's office
(chuckles)
or with the ambassador fly to DC.
That's unrealistic.
I think it's more of once you get connected
to your local Korean American non-profit,
maybe that's a chance to,
as a basic first step to reconnect
because it will benefit you
not just from maybe a financial way
but also maybe in a very psychological way,
a spiritual way that you get reconnected
to the country through the diaspora.
This is some of my self observation
of how I perceive Koreans
and the potential for Korean Americans
to be more successful.
My name is Alexander Kim
and this is my Korean American story.