Koreans

As we were watching the recent burning of Koreatown, we Korean-Americans learned some sobering and invaluable lessons that will have a profound impact on the entire Korean-American community in the United States for some time to come.

We now know that the system we have trusted with a blind faith and the democratic institutions that we long revered even before we came to this shore are as vulnerable as the institutions that we have left behind.

Uppermost, we came to a new realization that our community needs a new breed of leaders who are capable of solving the complex problems of inter-community relations, are capable of attaining political power with skills in ballot-box politics and can challenge the systems that are not responsive to our needs.

It is clear to us now that we became a scapegoat and our commercial symbol, Koreatown, became a symbol for social conditions that were not of our making. It reminded us of the internment experience of Japanese-Americans; given the right mix of conditions and attitudes, we could repeat the same experience at any time.

Over the years, our community gave huge sums of campaign contributions to various political figures for the broad interests of our community, but in time of our need they were of little use and without avail. We have paid a heavy price for a simple lesson.

H. ANDREW KIM

Vice Chair, Board of Directors, Korean American Coalition

Los Angeles