Hello everyone! This is PJ Kim'01, one of the many student organizers of the Rally that was held this past Tuesday, November 23, 1999 in Palisades Park, NJ. This is just an update to let all of you know that THE PEACE RALLY WAS A SUCCESS!!! Although the following is a very long message, I would appreciate it if you could forward this out to people on campus who you think would be interested in what happened and what we can do next. I would personally like to thank all of you for your encouraging messages of support before and after the Rally. I would also extend a personal thanks to those of you who were able to make it to the Rally on such short notice. It was really gratifying to know that many of you, from all walks of life, from diverse ethnic backgrounds, from various parts of the country, supported our cause with the signing of petitions and sending of e-mails, as we collectively stood up for our all important right to claim America as our home. We had over 1000 signed petitions from Princeton alone! That's amazing, when you consider the general apathy on our campus.A special thanks goes out to Jane Liu'01, David Choi'01, Peter Kim'01, Matt Lin' 01, Rachel Kui'02, Chen Lee '00, Ryan Gardner '00, Courtney Mills'02, Caitlin Fitz'02, Lee Vartan'00, HyeSeung Song'01, Eileen Bach'01, and anyone else who was involved in manning tables in dining halls and eating clubs to get those petitions signed. We couldn''t have done it without you all. What follows is a message that I and my friends, Ben Choi and John Bang, among many others, would like share with all of you who have asked 'What happened? What was said? And what can I do?'
In short: The Rally was a success. We stood up, over 1000 strong. We spoke out and people listened. Finally. We in Palisades Park will mobilize politically to elect new leadership. More importantly, all of us across the United States have to step up to the plate in our own communities and be leaders, if not active participants. We must realize that bigotry does not differentiate its victims between Black and Asians, let alone Koreans or Chinese. As difficult as it may be, all of us HAVE to ask ourselves, our parents, relatives, and friends to confront their own prejudices and fears . Asian Americans must finally shed-off their outsider image and become important, respected, irreplaceable pillars of their communities. Read on if you are interested in the details of what happened. If you are busy but would still like to be kept updated on developments similar to what happened in Palisades Park or elsewhere, please e-mail me at jhkim@princeton.edu and let me know. Otherwise, thanks again for your support. I hope that the next time you hear from me, it will be to report good news and progress.
According to the Bergen County Record, the official estimate of people who attended at the Rally was 600. The New York Times stated that it was 1000. However, this was far below the actual number of those who attended. With the understanding that official numbers are generated by the Police, who are in turn controlled by the Council and the Mayor, the 600 or 1000 underestimation is simply another way for the local government to try to minimize the significance of the minority voice. We think there were closer to 2,000 people in attendance, with some estimating as high as 3,000. The local Channel 4 News perhaps stated it the best, 'there was an unprecedented number of Korean-Americans who showed up to make their voices heard against racism.' It was an exhilarating feeling to look out upon a sea of people, lined up and down Broad Avenue, people of all different ages and ethnicities, students from colleges in PA, NY, CT, MA and NJ. The streets of Palisades Park rang with the chants, 'We ARE home, We ARE home, WE ARE HOME!' There were speakers from many different organization such as the American Jewish Congress and the National Association of Filipino-Americans, and local elected officials. The Rally was covered in the major NJ newspapers, all of the Korean papers, and even the New York Times. In addition to local TV stations in the NJ, NY and PA, it is anticipated that national networks and programs, such as MSNBC and Dateline, are going to do follow-up stories on the state of racism in Palisades Park. I've attached the text of the NY Times article at the end of this e-mail, along with a text of some of the remarks that were delivered at the Rally.
That very evening following the Rally, we lost the ordinance issue. With only one council member abstaining from the vote, the new ordinance, which uniformly limits the business hours in Palisades Park, was voted in. The first ordinance attempted to limit the business hours in Palisades Park with the exception of one 'Traditional American Diner' being allowed to stay open 24 hours. The ordinance was ruled unconstitutionally vague because of its disparate impact upon the other non traditional American Diner businesses. As this was the basis for our challenge against this former ordinance, the new ordinance which was voted in did away with that distinction, thereby uniformly limiting the hours of all business. But the fact that this unconstitutionally vague distinction is gone from the current ordinance is not what is important. What is important and what remains a concern is the fact that the police will now have another means by which to target Koreans Americans. Palisades Park is dominated by Korean American business. Similar to the use of parking and speeding tickets by the police against Korean American patrons and residents, the new ordinance provides another means of targeting Korean Americans. We don't know whether the motivation is to drive Korean American businesses out of town or whether it is to raise additional revenue for the Palisades Park. However, what is clear and what is of most concern is that the underlying and true motivation appears to be racism.
Korean Americans who attended the vote of the Open Council meeting that evening said that they have never before felt so foreign and non American. They felt this way because the non Korean American citizens, the entire Council and especially the Mayor all spoke in terms of 'Us' versus 'Them', the 'Them' being all non Italian Americans or rather non Anglo Americans. What is most discouraging is the fact that the Council and the Mayor denied that racism existed in their town. Yet, under the same breath and in almost the same instance, a elderly women commented to a Korean male in front of a Channel 4 reporter, 'Those garbage Koreans.'
This political defeat has an obvious political solution. The Asian American community in the United States generally suffers from lack of public awareness to the issues that surround their lives. They are apathetic in the political process. Although we lost the ordinance issue, we did win in awakening a sleeping power in Palisades Park. With almost 40% of the population being Korean, there is no excuse for not having Korean Americans on the council, representative of its constituents. How do we achieve this? We will first start with Citizenship processing. Then we will mobilize the new Americans in Palisades Park to register to vote. At the same time, we will develop the right candidates for Council and the Mayor's seat. As much as the LA Riot was a wake up call to Korean Americans to become involved in their local communities, we believe the incidents in Palisades Park demand the same attention. The political task before us is clear and we dedicate ourselves to accomplishing the unprecedented goal of ensuring our voice and representation in the political process.
It is important to note that people did not drive for many hours from all over the East Coast to attend this Rally to get involved in the mere *substantive* political debate of extending business hours. Not one word was mentioned in the Rally about this issue. The real reason for our presence and the justification for extending our voice was to take a stand against the bigots who vandalize stores with graffiti and vocalize their ignorance. We were Rallying against an elected leadership that was, at best, insensitive and, at worst, bigoted in the way they have conducted the political *process*. We were Rallying to call attention to a problem that was in the first instance denied and then being effectively swept under the rug, out of sight of the mass media. So we rallied. And our voices were heard. And now you can be sure that the next time something like this happens, that people in positions of elected leadership will think twice before joining in the laughter or even encouraging this sort of behavior. They will be quicker to publicly condemn such actions because they now know that we will answer their official silence and negligence, and we will do so visibly, loudly, and in NUMBERS!
We want to thank the many of you who are not Asian Americans, but still realize that racism directed towards anyone of any ethnicity is wrong. Your support is absolutely crucial. We are rightfully all in this thing together. On a more particular note, many of you are 1.5 or 2d generation Asian American college students. We believe that this Rally was an important turning point in our relationship with first generation Asian Americans. Our parents worked hard to give us our education, it is now our responsibility to put this education to use for the benefit of all of us, and in particular on their behalf. We need to speak UP for them when their English falters or when someone takes advantage of their unfamiliarity with the political process. We need to speak TO them as well, about *their* responsibilities as citizens to contribute to the civic life of their communities.
We also need to be mindful of how we and our friends present ourselves in public. I have no doubt that there were indeed loud and disruptive Korean Americans who were walking around drunk late at night on the streets of Palisades Park. But as it is wrong to generalize about other ethnic groups, including Whites, it is wrong to make generalizations about all Korean Americans from the shameful behavior of a few. But the fact of the matter is that non-Asian Americans WILL make judgements about ALL Asian Americans based on YOUR INDIVIDUAL behaviors. Fair or not, as a minority, your actions will be held to a different, more stringent standard. Hopefully, this will change with time. Until then, be aware that it is in our best interest to conduct ourselves and encourage others to behave in ways that leaves no room for unwarranted criticism.
Many non-Asian Americans also complain that all Asian Americans come into a neighborhood only to exploit and sell without giving anything in return. We know this may often times be true. We know our parents are often quite busy, but they have to make the time and effort to become integral parts of their communities, not just sojourners who have no stake in what happens in the long run. Many non-Asian Americans complain that Asian Americans can be as racially prejudiced against others as the worst KKK member. Although we may be ashamed to admit it, we also know this may be true. Prejudice exists and that is a fact. But that is no excuse for sustaining such ignorance. Let's educate our own parents and relatives, and most importantly, ourselves, about our own prejudices. When we see a Black man or a Latino woman being harassed by the Police for 'being in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time,' speak up as if it were your own mother or father who were being targeted, for they very well could be the next victims.
Many of you have expressed interest in staying in touch with events and forming an informal e-mail network so that the next time a Palisades Park happens, and we know it will, it will take us less time to mobilize. If you are interested in being kept abreast of these events, please reply directly to me [jhkim@princeton.edu], don't reply to the entire list since it contains hundreds of e-mail addresses. On behalf of the rally organizers, thank you again for all of your help and encouragement. Together we made a difference. We must continue.
On behalf of the many other rally organizers, I am sincerely,