‘We should not become invisible,’ says Minister Jackson

The Korean-American group suffering from hate crimes against Asians met a reliable ally. Jesse Jackson who is considered as a living godfather of black civil rights visited the Korean-American Association center in Manhattan, New York on Tuesday (local time). Jackson emphasized that immigrants should take proactive actions against racial discrimination and hate crimes during a meeting attended by the leaders of the Korean-American society, including Charles Yoon, the president of the Korean American Association of Greater New York.

“We should not become invisible. We should become more visible by raising our voices,” said the minister to the Korean-American society that has not been raising their voices in the U.S. despite recent hate crimes. “That’s how we can protect our rights and interest.”

Jackson is a major leader of the black community as a successor of Martin Luther King Jr. He worked along with Martin Luther King Jr. for a civil rights movement for black people and was present where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in a motel in Memphis in 1968.

Jackson emphasized that minorities in American society can increase their power through solidarity among races. He asserted that the black community that has been historically discriminated against for a long time and the Asian community can come together to increase their political power as a majority, not a minority, in society. “We are a majority,” he chanted several times along with the participants of the meeting.

Jackson proposed the Asian and black communities hold a large-scale rally in Madison Square Garden in New York this spring and the Korean-American community’s participation in the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a civic group founded by him. Jackson said there is a long history of hate crimes against Asians in the U.S. and emphasized that they should fight against it.

“It means a lot to the Korean-American community that a well-known human rights activist is visiting and speaking to us,” said Yoon on the event.


Jae-Dong Yu jarrett@donga.com