A big congratulations is due to SEARAC (www.searac.org) who received the Standing Up For Justice Award from the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium. The Woods Fund of Chicago and the Midwest Honam Fellowship Association were also recognized.
I first ran into the staff and volunteers of SEARAC in Washington D.C. back in 1997. Over the years, I have to say their work and contribution to the quality of life for Southeast Asians in America, no matter what stage of their journey, has always been inspired and guided. Their work always embraces a refreshing and progressive perspective. There are many days I wish they had more resources to empower and enable the different communities scattered in diaspora across the US, and I hope this recognition serves as a reminder of how much they achieve for all of us. Here's to their continued service as we all strive to continue forward.
The National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) was founded in 1994 during a political turning point for Korean Americans. The LA Civil Unrest of April 29, 1992 and the subsequent anti-immigrant wave in Congress, precipitated by Prop 187, posed tremendous challenges to Korean Americans as people of color, working families and immigrants. The state of America at that time led a group of local grassroots community based organizations to come together to form NAKASEC with the purpose of projecting a national progressive voice on major civil rights and immigrant rights issues and promoting the full participation of Korean Americans with the greater goal of building a national movement for social change.
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