My Saturday Part I - Korean American Day Celebration
January 13th is Korean American Day, a celebration of the arrival of the first Korean immigrants to the USA in Hawaii. To celebrate this day, the Korean American Foundation hosted a small commemorative ceremony in Pawaa Park today at 11:00am. As Vice President of KAC-Hawaii and as a friend of the KAF, I was there as well to help set up and perform other policing duties.
It was my first time actually on the grounds of Pawaa Park (although I've driven by thousands of times) and I had no idea that there was a monument there to commemorate the Korean American Centennial. Here's a picture of the monument:
There are 2 plaques around the monument that explain the journey of the Koreans to the US as well as what the symbols in the monument signify.
The ceremony started at around 11:10am and was emceed by Ned Schultz of the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii.
All of the local politicians of Korean descent were in attendance including former Chief of Police Lee Donohue, Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, Hawaii State Senator Donna Mercado Kim, and State House Representative Sylvia Luke. The first speaker was KAF President Peter Kim.
He was followed by Ann Chung, City Director of Economic Development, who spoke for Mufi Hannemann.
She was followed by Consul General Kang Dae Hyun.
And the last to speak was Donald Kim.
It was a nice, brief, and casual ceremony but I felt proud to be there to help celebrate the arrival of my people to this country. A crowd of approximately 100 people attended and lunch was provided for afterwards by Kay's Catering.
Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for lunch because...
It was my first time actually on the grounds of Pawaa Park (although I've driven by thousands of times) and I had no idea that there was a monument there to commemorate the Korean American Centennial. Here's a picture of the monument:
There are 2 plaques around the monument that explain the journey of the Koreans to the US as well as what the symbols in the monument signify.
The ceremony started at around 11:10am and was emceed by Ned Schultz of the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii.
All of the local politicians of Korean descent were in attendance including former Chief of Police Lee Donohue, Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, Hawaii State Senator Donna Mercado Kim, and State House Representative Sylvia Luke. The first speaker was KAF President Peter Kim.
He was followed by Ann Chung, City Director of Economic Development, who spoke for Mufi Hannemann.
She was followed by Consul General Kang Dae Hyun.
And the last to speak was Donald Kim.
It was a nice, brief, and casual ceremony but I felt proud to be there to help celebrate the arrival of my people to this country. A crowd of approximately 100 people attended and lunch was provided for afterwards by Kay's Catering.Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for lunch because...
posted by Myong Choi at 12:54 AM
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