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Gary Lee? @whoisgarylee1. Ive never tweeted before but today felt like a good day to start.
2. President Trump made a lot of upsetting remarks this week including this one. Where are you from? is a question that many Asian Americans dread. https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/world/2018/1/12/16885546/trump-asian-american-intelligence-briefing
3. This struck a chord with me not only bc Im Korean-American, but also bc I worked at the White House, for President Obama. I left the WH in 2011 for a Fulbright scholarship in Korea. President Obama knew I was leaving to learn more about the culture and language of my parents.
4. On my last day, I went into the Oval Office and POTUS greeted me by saying, "안녕하세요". Hello, in Korean. Im lucky bc @PeteSouza captured that exact moment.
5. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to work in public service. It was a lifelong dream to be in government. But I didn't know anyone in politics.
6. In early 2007, my senior year of college, I mailed my resume and a cover letter in a manila envelope to the Obama for America headquarters in Chicago. Two weeks before graduation, I received a phone call that a correspondence volunteer had found my letter in a mail pile.
7. She gave my letter to her boss, who then called and asked if I wanted to move to Chicago to work on the campaign. That's how I got hired on the campaign. That's how I ended up at the White House. That's how I got to work for President Barack Obama.
8. After my departure photo with POTUS, I left the Oval Office in a daze and ran into @kalpenn in the West Wing lobby. I recounted the interaction with the president and he started tearing up. "Why are you crying?" I asked.
9. He replied, "think about what you just said. How incredible that is. On your last day of work at the White House, after your years of service, the first African-American president greeted you in your parents' native language." I started crying too.
Gary Lee @whoisgarylee
10. My parents could never have fathomed such an idea. My mom came to the US when she was 18, my father when he was 26. They worked multiple full-time and part-time jobs, opened a small business, and at one point, had only $20 in their checking account.
11. They made incalculable sacrifices so their sons could have the opportunities they never had. They sacrificed so we could achieve whatever we wanted to. They could have never imagined that their eldest son would work in the White House.
12. In what other country is that even possible? In what other country are you allowed to dream, and despite all odds, pursue and achieve your dreams? In what country could a chubby, 90s Hip Hop and R&B-loving Asian kid from NM end up working for @BarackObama?
13. What a beautiful, incredible nation of immigrants we are. 🇺🇸
14. Happy Korean-American Day and MLK weekend. As Dr. King said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." -end-
thread:
Link to tweet
also read::
Living the dream
BY Gary Lee
November 17, 2011
https://news.usc.edu/27628/Living-the-Dream/
Glorfindel
(9,730 posts)Thank you for posting it, bigtree.
I think I will tear up as well. Beautiful story.
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)Please?
Wounded Bear
(58,662 posts)Our nation is a better place because you are here.
cp
(6,634 posts)This is what America means to me, something that's seemed, uh, distant this past year.
riversedge
(70,242 posts)Hekate
(90,714 posts)question everything
(47,486 posts)none is adequate enough to describe him.
FM123
(10,053 posts)who have faces that seem to "inspire" folks to keep asking us where we're really from.
yuiyoshida
(41,831 posts)"Do you speak English?"
Lochloosa
(16,065 posts)Or wow, you speak English so well!
TNNurse
(6,927 posts)is that there are too many who would not understand how wonderful it is.
keithbvadu2
(36,823 posts)Where are you from?- How about you, Donald?
Trump Mocks Warrens Native American Heritage Claim, But Falsely Claimed His Family Was Swedish
https://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/trump-mocks-warrens-native-american-heritage-claim-but-false?utm_term=.hrN5grRZ6#.nn8b1XG0m
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/26/nyregion/fred-c-trump-postwar-master-builder-of-housing-for-middle-class-dies-at-93.html
Donald needs to start using his REAL last name, Drumpf.
BadgerMom
(2,771 posts)PunkinPi
(4,875 posts)SCVDem
(5,103 posts)My contacts feel better when wet.
Farmer-Rick
(10,183 posts)It brought tears to my eyes.
We use to be a country founded on ideas not race or ethnicity or what one looks like. Your story gives me hope we will be an idealistic nation again.
Persondem
(1,936 posts)iluvtennis
(19,862 posts)ChiTownDenny
(747 posts)Thank you for sharing your story.
onethatcares
(16,170 posts)and I'm not wearing any.
What a good man the previous President of the United States is.
Cha
(297,285 posts)Mahalo for this, bigtree
President Obama
OverBurn
(950 posts)I had tears in my eyes,I miss President Obamas and his decency 😢😢😢
Motley13
(3,867 posts)Thanks so much, good story and photo too. Made my day!
Tiocfaidh Ár Lá
Blue Owl
(50,404 posts)donald trump: Huge Ass
Lifelong Protester
(8,421 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)He brings shame to the office every day.
A wonderful post!
Upthevibe
(8,052 posts)MLAA
(17,298 posts)Stellar
(5,644 posts)He wanted April Ryan to set up a meeting for him with the black cacus because she enquired about him meeting with them.