Metro Atlanta and the United States have witnessed an increasing and alarming number of violent incidents against Americans with Asian faces. Let me tell you about the values of the Asian American community. First, we are not “Chinese” but patriotic Americans of Asian ancestry, we pay taxes, and we volunteer just like many other Americans. We too hate the COVID-19 virus, and we want our children to succeed as proud Americans.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
Asian Americans like me, came to the U.S. due to her love of freedom and democracy, and consider Americans brave and generous. Although we arrived here later than some other immigrant communities, early arrivals helped and mentored us during our settlement period. I call it American Spirit! We worked hard to learn American history, learned to sing our new national anthem, sent our sons and daughters to the military, and many of us converted to Christianity. Although we don’t look like the majority of Americans, we are loyal Americans, helping the United States to be the best country in the world. In fact, we help and mentor those new Americans who arrived after us, one of the ways to pay back what we owe to this wonderful nation.
For myself, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from South Korea, I took advantage of all of the great opportunities afforded every American. Due to hard work and love for America, I am a recipient of the Americanism Medal from The Daughters of the American Revolution, Patrick Henry Trophy from the National Guard Association for mentoring high school dropouts, recipient of the USO Patriot Award, the President’s Service Medal, and I am a frequent speaker to new citizens at naturalization ceremonies where I urge them to be a good citizen of the United States, their new nation. Most importantly, I am just one of many American patriots with Asian faces serving our community and country.
Asian Americans are sometimes perceived of as weak and quiet. That is not true. While we have long histories of teaching our children to be polite to others and to have good manners, we certainly are not a passive nor feeble people. We are people who know that it is sometimes necessary to lose a battle to win a war.
These acts of harassment and harm must stop, as we are just as loyal as any American born in this country. Together, we can rebuild our communities and be as brave and generous as possible.
Sunny K. Park is president of the American Korean Friendship Society, founded in Atlanta in 1996. He came to the U.S. from Korea in 1974 and became a business owner.
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