KAGC Student Spotlight: Soho, Arizona
By: Korean American Grassroots Conference
Tags: Civic Engagement, Advocacy, Identity, Grassroots, Korean American

If there is any way that we can fight for justice against racism, I learned from my experience with KAGC that it begins with raising our own voices and standing up for ourselves.

When I arrived in Washington, D.C. for the 2020 KAGC U Leadership Summit, my fellow executive officer at KASA and I had no expectations of how this was going to go. I never really had a spark of interest in policy-making, or maybe even the courage, to stand up for what it meant to grasp my own unique identity. After learning about Korean American policy priorities for the first time ever and meeting a Congressman from Arizona, the flight back home caught myself reflecting on what it meant to have pride in my own roots. After much thinking, I’ve realized that the origins of how I began to find my own Korean American identity stemmed from my grandfather.

Soho at the 2020 KAGC U Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C.

During the Korean War, my grandfather was a teenager, whose family could not afford to send him to school. As was common for many families at the time, my grandfather instead made money from assisting with errands at a nearby U.S. military base. He started with doing laundry for the soldiers and learned to fix radios, which soon turned out to be a lucrative job, since only the wealthy owned radios then. Before he reached adulthood, he met Mormon missionaries there who taught him not only the Mormon faith, but also fluent English. It was a significant turning point to him, since it afforded him a high school diploma and college entrance, which my grandfather’s family had not even dreamed of.

With the spurt in Christian believers and economic growth that soon followed, my grandfather got to provide his family with a life of abundance and eventually paved the way for my parents to immigrate to Utah, when I was a child. It is a place widely known for a strong Mormon presence, but little did my parents know that the lack of cultural diversity there would soon affect how I perceive myself.

I’ve come to observe that most Asian Americans grow up in two ways: either in the Asian bubble, or without the community. I was one of many who grew up trying to find my community. Interestingly, in terms of religion, I never felt I was the minority because we all shared a common faith. But in terms of ethnic identity, I always felt shunned at school. Like many Asian Americans, I had the so-called “lunch box” experience. When the kids brought sandwiches to school, and I had kimchi fried rice, which brought an unfamiliar smell that led to tears towards my mother that I no longer wanted Korean food for lunch. My mother soon began to adjust her cooking without any complaints, with reasons I heard later in high school that she felt desperate to protect me and help me “blend in like an American.”

Before I started middle school, my family and I moved to Tucson, AZ and this new town shifted my worldview entirely. There I was suddenly exposed to different religions, and it was very surprising for me to adjust, because I had thought that the Mormon faith was the only dominant religion there was. And, while I had noticed a strong sense of cultural pride in the Hispanic community, but never an Asian American one, especially for Koreans. This time in Tucson, I was a full-on minority. Subconsciously, I became trapped in the “model minority” pedestal, and I felt pressured everywhere to excel in everything I did. I wasn’t even quite sure if it was for myself, or if it was for others.

Throughout middle and high school, I grew up without many Asian-American friends, and I quickly began to accept that I probably would never have any friends relating to my ethnic identity ever. I felt in a way ashamed that I enjoyed listening to Korean music and watching Korean dramas, and I never really explored “western” music until my junior year in high school. I ignored racial remarks from my peers or others outside of school and regrettably accepted these statements of stereotyping Asian-Americans was “normal.” There were times when I wanted to be seen for my personal interests and acknowledged, but I was only celebrated for only being an Asian that. At the high school graduation, I was the only Korean-American, as well as the only Mormon, in my class.

Until I got to college, I had never actively searched for a community that I wanted to relate myself to nor did I have any other interests to do so. It wasn’t until a friend of mine invited me to go to one of the first meetings of a Vietnamese American organization. I went with intentions of only accompanying my friend, but I was genuinely amazed at the number of people there were. I was shocked to see that there were organizations dedicated to promoting their culture and celebrating their ethnicity, especially in a student body that is predominantly white. Soon, I started looking into similar organizations in hopes of one for Korean Americans myself. Even within the small minority that is AAPI population at the University of Arizona, I learned that it is predominantly Vietnamese- and Filipino-Americans, and I felt disappointed to find myself among the double, triple minorities yet again.

But I was determined to slowly bring together Korean Americans on the campus, so I started putting together an executive board for the Korean American Student Association at the University of Arizona. Co-founding and serving as President for the first KASA in my school was one of the most challenging experiences in my life, partly because that was the first-ever leadership position I ever held. That was the case for most of my board members, too, and in the lack of much examples to look up to, all of us had to roll up our sleeves and learn as we went. During the past year, I was tested immediately with patience, transparent communication, overcoming disappointment, keeping other board members motivated, and a hard lesson in humility.

The inaugural Korean American Student Association at the University of Arizona, co-founded by Soho in 2019.

From lack of sufficient funding to host events to attracting the Korean American students on the campus, who had not been aware of our organization, to try to build something from scratch with no guidance in competition with those with 20+ years of history, I had to face with a lot of tough decisions as a sophomore, including foregoing a minor in music.

Fast forward to today, despite all the challenges and obstacles, I find this experience ultimately rewarding. From one, I became a “pretty assertive when I want to be” person from an “I’m too shy and I’m not meant to be an aggressive” person.

One of the highlights within the first year of KASA was when the Korean American Grassroots Conference contacted us for an invitation to the 2020 KAGC U Leadership Summit. My fellow executive board officer and I immediately took up the offer, coming to D.C. with an open mind, not really expecting what to learn. For the first time in my life, I was exposed to what it meant to be a Korean American, as well as an opportunity to be educated on the fact there are actually policy priority issues pertaining to our community.

Soho attended the 2020 KAGC U Leadership Summit with her fellow board member of KASA, Jasmine.

As part of the 2020 KAGC U Leadership Summit, we got to meet dozens of Korean Americans from all across the country, which was a refreshing opportunity that I had never imagined would be available. There, we also got to go on Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress. One person I met was Congressman Paul Gosar, who represents a part of Arizona near my home. The conversation we had with him was certainly a unique experience. I didn’t know what it would be like to speak with a member of Congress in person, but also his views on many of the issues that I care for differed vastly from my positions.

A dentist by profession, he and I found a common ground in the need to update the public policy in healthcare, especially in a place like Arizona. We also discussed the importance of U.S.-Korea alliance, a topic in which I was surprised to find so much agreement between him and me. Before we left, we also pitched to him a bill to help intercountry adoptees with citizenship, to which he expressed a strong opposition and a list of concerns. Being challenged by another view from the opposite aisle, especially one from Representative Gosar, in a way made me excited because it made me curious about how well I could articulate what I stood for.

Soho with Rep. Paul Gosar (R, AZ-4) during the 2020 KAGC U Leadership Summit

To my surprise, a few weeks after that meeting, I heard from KAGC that Congressman Gosar has announced his co-sponsorship to the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2019. Everyone who attended that meeting with me shared a reaction of shock and awe. I could only imagine how much follow up and additional work KAGC must have taken on after our meeting to change the Congressman’s mind and make this happen. I feel some kind of gratitude and appreciation to KAGC that there was an organization out there that worked hard to advocate for their community.

For myself personally, KAGC also provided me with an opportunity and guidance that helped me see myself breaking the boundaries out of my comfort zone to reach and see what we can do for the community.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, being an Asian American proved to be incredibly challenging, and if there is any way that we can fight for justice against racism, I learned from my experience with KAGC that it begins with raising our own voices and standing up for ourselves.

I ignored racial remarks from my peers or others outside of school and regrettably accepted these statements of stereotyping Asian-Americans was “normal.” There were times when I wanted to be seen for my personal interests and acknowledged, but I was only celebrated for only being an Asian that.

Soho is a sophomore at the University of Arizona, where she majors in public health and founded its first-ever Korean American Student Association. While she served as the president of KASA, Soho got a chance to attend the 2020 KAGC U Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., discuss the Korean American experience with 56 other students from across the U.S., and together brought up the key issues of our community with members of Congress. Click here to learn more about KAGC, the largest nationwide network of Korean American voters, and its upcoming 2020 National Conference, for a rare opportunity to share the Korean American identity, discuss the key issues of our community, and get our voices heard, counted, and reflected in public policy.