Korea Daily: “Black lives matter to us, too.” Nalim (Jasmin) Choi (’17, SPH ’18) participates in “Letters for Black Lives” Project

Nalim (Jasmin) Choi (’17, SPH’18) spoke with Korean-American newspaper, Korea Daily, about her participation in “Letters for Black Lives,” a movement among the AAPI community to write letters for their parents (first generation immigrants) to increase awareness around anti-Blackness and structural racism.

Below, find the English translation of the original article, posted on July 11, 2016:

Many Korean and other Asian young adults have spoken in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter movement.

With the recent shootings of Dallas police officers, the police brutality against Black community has been gaining more attention especially through the Black Lives Matter movement. This Black civil rights project gained more support since the Ferguson protests, where the participants have demonstrated against the death of African Americans by police shooting.

From the Asian community, many joined this new project, “Letters for Black Lives” to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. These Asian young adults are strongly urging their parents to join the movement, like how the Black Americans are uniting under the movement. This project first launched on July 8. The letter calls for solidarity from their parents and older relatives (many of whom are 1st Generation Asian Americans) by stating that “Black lives matter to us, too.”

In addition to the original English version, the letter has been translated into Korean and other 24 languages. These letters were published on July 10.In translating the letter, about 200 volunteers were crowdsourced; about 40 of them are Korean.

Nalim Choi (28), a Graduate Student in Boston University and a volunteer of the project said “there still are implicit biases, stereotypes, and discrimination against Black Americans and other racial/ethnic minorities in the Korean community in the U.S.. We are trying to help our parents generation understand the BLM movement, reflect back on discrimination, and increase their racial awareness towards other minorities.” She added that “there is a second letter in the making to cover the 4.29 LA riots, the rights all minorities are able to enjoy due to Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, history of immigration of Korean communities in the U.S., Korean-Black relations, and race/ethnicity specific discrimination that different minority groups experience. Through these letters, we intend to engage a diverse array of communities, including Korean and Black communities, to understand each other and build unity among all.”