Marlon Meyer
Northwest Asia Weekly
Jennifer King
Nothing seems to bother Jennifer King.
The first Asian-American woman to lead the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)’s national network of 10 regional and 68 regional offices believes that many of the distractions and concerns she faces have nothing to do with her identity.
In a recent interview with Asia Weekly, she said that one of the most difficult parts of being in her position may be the first time.
“Usually, you’re the first person who looks like I’m doing something,” said Kim, whose official title is deputy administrator in the Office of Field Operations. “And I think that comes with some responsibilities, but you also have to figure things out on your own. And you don’t necessarily have a mentor who was there before.”
Kim continued, “For a long time, it was male-dominated and didn’t even talk about the Asian-American side. In senior positions, you often have to stand up for yourself.”
So when asked how she handles the condescending behavior, she said she didn’t ignore it, but gave the person the benefit of the doubt.
“You know, be creative. My overall view is to always assume the best intentions for people, and I just focus on what I’m trying to do and what I’m trying to advocate — and the best way to achieve that is what,” she said.
What happened next, however, seemed at the time to almost test the way she handled such behavior.
Towards the end of the interview, someone interrupted what appeared to be the media’s involvement and started talking to her about personal matters. Next, when she was asked to pose for a photo, a large crowd stepped in. She was told to push her hair behind her ears because she looked better that way.
One photographer, despite hearing requests for a headshot, placed her on the pavement so her full body was exposed, wore a skirt, and coaxed and coaxed her with words such as:
“Come on, I’ve seen you laugh better than that.”
But Kim said in a follow-up email that those were “good observations” but “they don’t belong” to the kind of behavior she described.
For example, she said the photographer said these things to everyone.
Still, Kim is open to a variety of questions—in brief interviews, she answers some personal questions, including about her family, her college essay, the book, “1984,” Asian American identity, and Other, more professional issues—made her personable, disarmed, and resilient.
Her work is critical as the SBA distributes aid worth $390 billion to nearly 4 million small businesses during the pandemic through the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.
She was in town for a Korea Export Fair, during which the federal government was working with the Port of Seattle and private businesses to provide additional resources for local companies interested in exporting to the country.
Kim began her advocacy work at the University of Michigan, where she focused on American history and wrote a dissertation on the power of protest music to raise social awareness. She focuses on musicians like Woody Guthrie, Charles Mingus, and Bob Dylan, exploring how their music helped to integrate American society.
“Maybe you’re not a politician, maybe you don’t follow the news, but you like a certain kind of music, maybe you don’t even know what a musician is like, but you hear it, and you kind of think, oh, it’s a musician of a different race , it’s an eye-opener, or it means you go to concerts with people who don’t look like you,” she said.
She also referred to the history of black musicians traveling the South and refusing to perform at unintegrated concerts.
“So there’s a whole musical intersection, especially with the civil rights movement,” she said.
During her college years, Kim was president of the Asian American Association and led numerous student initiatives on issues such as environmental justice, affordable higher education, and voter registration.
“There are a lot of groups around affirmative action policy,” she said. “And working with other groups.”
But the origins of her advocacy go back even further.
Kim himself plays a variety of instruments, including violin and guitar.
In addition to mainstream schooling, her early experiences at her mother’s Korean language, culture and history school for eight years shaped her.
Her mother immigrated to graduate school from South Korea in the 1970s and became a professor of education at many schools in the Midwest. As Kim grew up, she was forced to help at the school her mother started next to her.
“You should see how many bags of material I’ve put together,” she said.
Her father, a psychiatrist, also provided an example of advocacy.
“It was decades ago, and he was going to not only do psychiatry, but to advocate for it,” she said.
After college, she continued to organize and advocate, eventually helping to oversee field organizing plans for the campaigns of U.S. Senator Cory Booker and President Joe Biden.
As the first Asian American woman to hold the position, she also felt the need to provide recognition for public service to newcomers.
“Seeing people in elected offices look like you, the message is, you can do it too,” she said. “When you don’t see yourself represented in the agency, you think it’s not for you. You think either they can’t do anything for you, or your voice doesn’t matter about it.”
At the same time, it is important not to let a single bloc definition of being Asian American overshadow the uniqueness of one’s own culture.
“Being Asian-American is a powerful thing, but it’s important to realize that Asian-Americans are inherently diverse and we are not monolithic. There may be some commonalities between the way we experience America and the way people see us Point. However, there is a lot of cultural diversity within the community,” she said.
It is also not important to ignore the power that cohesion brings.
“Asian-Americans are one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups (the fastest-growing group in the past decade), and we wouldn’t have the political power we have today if we didn’t come together,” she wrote.
King has no objection to taking time to talk about how the Asian American movement was born, whether in academic protests or in the labor field in California and elsewhere, and how it intertwined with the civil rights movement and black power — a topic at Well known in this community.
Among them, she mentions Yuri Kochiyama, a Japanese-American civil rights activist who was a follower of Malcolm X and who was by his side when he was assassinated.
Even though the interviews were less than 30 minutes long and more than half of them took place in crowded halls with throngs of people chatting and laughing nearby, her leadership style seemed to show at times.
When asked if she would answer another question when the time was running out, she readily agreed.
But then, the reporter staggered for a moment, trying to ask a question, but finally gave up and said, “The last question, do you have any questions you want to answer?”
In response, Kim sounds almost like a coaxing older sister (she has a younger brother and an older brother).
“You’re a reporter and you have a question,” she said amiably.
Finally, she suggests sending a follow-up email.
When asked more questions about Asian American identity in an email, she answered those questions before seemingly slipping back into mentoring mode.
“On the topic of Asian American history,” she wrote. “Not sure if you know Northwest Asia Weekly in particular, but I would recommend someone at work to read Asian American history. Helen Zia, Ronald Takaki, and Erika Lee all have great books.”
Mahlon can be contacted by info@nwasianweekly.com.
