KAGC Student Spotlight: Sharlon Kang, New York University
“Throughout my time with KAGC in the Office of Representative Adam Smith, not only was I able to acquire the knowledge that I sought, but I also gained valuable skills, connected with a network of like-minded peers and mentors, and grew as an individual– both professionally and personally”
I grew up in a household that was apolitical for the most part, save for our routine tune-in to Katie Couric on the nightly news. Other than that, most of my political exposure came from my dad’s idealistic musings about his activist days in South Korea, stories about my family immigrating to the United States a few years before I was born, and experiences that my parents had as part of a Korean-American minority in the South, where running into people who looked like them proved to be few and far between.
Interestingly, although my dad had a history of passionate political involvement, there has always been a separation throughout my childhood between family and politics. As far as I can recall, neither local elections nor bombshell political scandals nor anything in between were the subject of discussion. It became such a norm in my family that I did not even think to develop curiosity until much later as I wrapped up high school and prepared to go to college. As such, I grew up detached from civic engagement and joining the Korean American Grassroots Conference as a fellow has been one of my first experiences of first-hand, meaningful exposure to the world of politics.
For my family, I believe one of the most significant reasons why politics was absent from the dinner table can be attributed to a collective instinct to assimilate and conform to the existing model minority stereotype. From one perspective, immigrating later in their lives from a country that had only achieved independence and quasi-peace within the last fifty years, I can only imagine how the political instability that was associated with the rocky decades since the days of the Korean War ingrained in my parents a poor outlook on politics that naturally translated over to their new identities as Korean Americans. Moreover, settling in an area that had a very small Asian-American population may have generated pressure for them to blend in and avoid causing an unnecessary stir.
Around the time when I was ten years old, my family moved across the country from the South to the Pacific Northwest. This was a significant change– and not just with the weather. In a slight culture shock, the drastic shift I saw in diversity– particularly within the Asian-American community– required a bit of an adjustment period. I went from being able to count on one hand the number of Asian-American students other than myself I encountered at my elementary school to quickly running out of fingers to count on. This soon instilled in me a sense of belonging and shared community and eventually sparked a new interest in my roots, heritage, and culture.
As I progressed through my education and entered college life, my curiosity grew, and I began to seek ways to become more involved in the Korean American community. When I first heard about the opportunity to be a fellow with KAGC and intern for a member of Congress on the Hill, I thought it would be perfect. As an International Relations major, not only had I been seeking a way to strike a better balance between my knowledge of international and domestic politics, but I had also been gaining a strong interest in pursuing a career in public service. Because domestic politics directly inform foreign policy, I decided that it would be beneficial for me to glean a better understanding of the legislative process, as a former supervisor once mentioned to me, “Everything comes back to Congress.”
Organizations such as KAGC are also instrumental in acting as a vehicle to serve those who may otherwise feel that they have no voice. Speaking from personal experience, a lack of information is oftentimes a notable reason for a lack of civic involvement. Throughout my time with KAGC in the Office of Representative Adam Smith, not only was I able to acquire the knowledge that I sought, but I also gained valuable skills, connected with a network of like-minded peers and mentors, and grew as an individual– both professionally and personally.
I will always be grateful to KAGC for facilitating an environment for me to explore what it means to be a Korean American both in and out of politics. As someone who has long grappled with their identity, I would encourage anyone who is eager to learn and has a desire to serve to reach out and get involved. Of course, by no means can I say that I am now an expert and rattle off a million facts about the minutiae of Congress, but I can say that I am a better, more knowledgeable version of myself now compared to before.
Sharlon Kang is a 2023 KAGC Congressional Fellow who worked as a Legislative Intern at the Office of Rep. Adam Smith (WA-9). As a rising Senior at New York University, Sharlon has worked on a research project in Tel Aviv, Israel, and she will return to D.C. again in the fall of 2023 to begin her internship with the Department of State, where she has been assigned to focus on Pakistan.
Click here to learn more about KAGC, the largest nationwide network of Korean American voters for opportunities to share the Korean American identity, discuss the key issues of our community, and get our voices heard, counted, and reflected in public policy.
