KOREAN-AMERICAN VOICES
To celebrate Korean-American Day this month, we wanted to focus the newsletter on Korean-American history and stories. We are deeply honored to share the following pieces from the KCCNYC community reflecting on Korean-American Identity and what it means in 2025.
Click on the links below to read their full essays:
Driving to Flushing to eat at my favorite Korean BBQ restaurant - that’s my first memory of what it meant for me growing up Korean-American. They would hand me a menu that I wouldn’t bother to open because my grandpa would order everything for us anyway. Looking back, food has always been the main connector of my identity with being Korean-American.
“I’m half Korean,” I’d reply, correcting my classmates when they asked about my heritage. I grew up in a small town in Georgia, and most people would just ask outright if I was Chinese. Once, while my brother and I were out shopping with my dad, someone actually congratulated him for adopting us. Without my mom there to complete the picture, we didn’t exactly look like him—he had light brown hair and blue eyes—but still, I thought it was a bold assumption…
Growing up as a half Korean, half white, American in Korea and Japan during the 80s and 90s, and now living in the U.S., has been quite a journey. It's been a mix of navigating different identities and cultures, which has shaped my understanding of belonging.
In a poem titled “Dosan Ahn Chang Ho of Tender Age”, Calvin Reeh shares his reflections on being Korean-American.
