March Madness

Week of March 22, 2010 Issue 9 no. 1

Greetings! My name is Moo Young Kim and I am the new Adult and Community Program Coordinator. When I joined the YWCA staff over two months ago, I never imagined I would visit Albany and Washington, DC to advocate for immigration reform. This past Sunday, I, a Southern California native turned New Yorker, marched to the beat of Korean drumming to join over 200,000 people rallying for immigration reform at the National Mall. We all gathered for March for America, a movement that demands immigration reform and economic justice for all Americans. For many, this first rally experience left a deep desire to pursue immigration issues. This experience gave me hope for the future. I was nowhere near awkward as the lone representative of the YWCA. I was impressed and fueled with excitement by the beauty of so many young people excited about a cause that not necessarily affected them directly. This made my trip even more valuable. This day did not serve to surface stories of illegal immigration and Latinos, as is typically depicted by the media, but it portrayed stories often neglected by the public. Family separation, newlyweds torn apart, and students forced to leave after receiving their education are only a few struggles that immigrants have faced in America. To have seen so many people of different backgrounds working in a civil manner convinced me of a promising, hopeful future.