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News Preserving Our Past - The need for a Korean American National Museum
2015.07.31 11:31
Preserving Our Past The need for a Korean American National Museum My first museum memory dates back to my childhood, when I visited the Kyungjoo Museum in Korea. It was amazing to see the relics of our ancestors of thousands of years before, such as the earthen ware of the Shilla Kingdom, the celadon of the Koryo Kingdom, and the white porcelain of the Yi Dynasty. Since I immigrated to the U.S., I have had the opportunity to visit various museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Smithsonian National Museums in Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. What I have learned from these visits is that museums are the best means of preserving the history, culture and heritage of the different areas of a nation, and for educating descendants. Now, whenever I visit a city, I have made it a habit to visit local museums to take a glimpse into their cultures. There are several museums here in Los Angeles, such as the L.A. County Museum of Art, the Nixon Library, the Museum of Tolerance which is dedicated to victims of the Holocaust, and the recently opened Getty Center in Brentwood. However, one that especially holds my interest is the Japans American National Museum, located in downtown L.A.'s Little Tokyo. I participated in their work when the first fund-raising efforts began in 1982, and being one of the charter members, I have a special affection for this museum. It emerged as a center for the learning of Japanese culture and immigration history of Japanese descendants in the U.S., who succeeded in building strong roots here, despite their many hardships. This is the only national museum built as a result of the concerted efforts of Japanese Americans, without any support or sponsorship from the Japanese government. Thus, the museum is a great symbol of Japanese American pride. Here, people can learn about the Japanese immigrants who, in the past, were not allowed citizenship nor the right to vote until the 1950's, but are now well-established U.S. citizens. The fund-raising campaign was nationwide, and done without much publicity, making the museum even more impressive and venerable. The new wing of the museum, which opened in January of 1999, took 40 million dollars to build, which was made possible by the 45,000 members and fund-raisers who took part in the project. Having a museum to call one's own would be a symbol of pride for any ethnic group in the multicultural county of Los Angeles. There were only two Jewish museums in the U.S. in the 1950's. By the 1990's, the number has grown to 35. It is now time for Korean Americans to have our own museum. The history or our immigration to the U.S. is not brief nor simple. It reaches back almost 100 years to our ancestors who labored on the sugarcane plantations in Hawaii. Some of our second-generation teenagers are confused about their identities, living in two totally different worlds - one being the traditional Korean family and the other mainstream American society. There are also more than 100,000 Korean adoptees now living in the U.S. Ideally, the Korean American National Museum will serve as a lively educational field in which to teach Korean descendants about their roots, and as an exhibition place where one can see the cultural path Korean Americans have taken. I believe that the museum will also attract great attention, not only from the several nationwide Korean communities, but also from other interested Americans. It will serve as a cornerstone of our immigration history, and a cultural and spiritual center for Korean descendants living in the U.S. Presently, there are people working actively to build a Korean American National Museum. Even she is in her 80's, Mrs. Susan Ahn, daughter of independence movement leader Ahn Chang Ho, is engaging herself with the project. In addition, veteran architect David Hyun, retired U.S. colonel Kim Young Ok, and Olympic Diving Gold medallist Sammy Lee have been leaders of the project from the beginning. There is a saying that the past is our heritage, the present is our responsibility, and the future is our challenge. Building our national museum is our responsibility and a challenge for the next generation. We should make our culture take root on U.S. soil, plant our pride and remember that people like Chief Justice Ronald Moon of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, Dodger pitcher Chan Ho Park, champion golfer Se Ri Pak, world-re-known violinist Sarah Chang and many other eminent Koreans are opening new pages in our immigration history. Building the first Korean American National Museum in Los Angeles, home to the largest population of Koreans outside or Asia, would be achieving the dream of many Korean Americans. I sincerely wish we can begin a nation-wide fund-raising effort, and that all Korean descendants in the U.S. will make a joint effort to see the museum built within the next 10 years. |
