A brand new Congress

A lot of things are happening now in our country and communities. Our brothers and sisters who are living unhoused, are being criminalized for having no home. Our black and brown sisters are being murdered by our own police without being able to receive any justice. Our own family members, friends and neighbors are being detained and/or sent back to their countries to face death and hunger, the very reasons that compelled them to flee and seek refuge here. Our youth are trapped in a school-to-prison pipeline with no one caring enough to take them out, and put an end to the systemic issues and the institutionalized war against race and poverty. And our people and communities are suffering in deep financial distress, with no light at the end of the tunnel and bootstraps to pull themselves up with.

Yet, our current elected officials vow that they’re fighting for the people, that they’re fighting for change. But do we see any change happening?

How much further will we continue re-electing the same elected officials while expecting different results, and big change to happen? Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?

In a congressional district as poor as ours, things must radically change. Now. And we can’t afford to re-elect an elected official and wait another 2 years for nothing to happen.

How do people live in a district where the per capita income is $12K-$15K in many parts and the average rent for a 1 br apt is $2K+/month? They can’t. That’s why it’s normal for a couple families to live together in a 1 br apt in our district, and that’s why it’s become the norm for one to work 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet. But is life supposed to be like this? Is it supposed to be this hard? Are we supposed to toil and work like ants till the day that we die and have our last breath?

What’s clear is that something’s not working in our country and government, and if we don’t stand up, speak up and make change ourselves, it’s inevitable that things will continue to get worse as our elected officials continue to ignore our 35+ year wage stagnation and ever increasing widening wealth gap disparity, and as they continue to pocket corporate PAC money, and prioritize bailing out corporate interests and their corporate donors, over and at the expense of the peoples’ interests and lives.

We need a brand new Congress where our representatives are required to hold weekly office hours for their constituents, and meet and talk with them before legislating in DC, and not the other way around, where our representatives are legislating in DC first, and then coming back to report to the constituents, in their hard-to-find-and-access Tele-Town Halls, about they managed to secure some crumbs for them. We need a brand new Congress of representatives who aren’t afraid to stand up for their constituents, and go against the grain and against party leadership. We need a brand new Congress of people who actually connect with, love and care for the people, and make it their utmost priority to do so, over anything. For when we elect new leaders who aren’t afraid to fight for the people and push for big, bold legislation and change in our community and country, that’s when we can start to see change happening. And it’s already begun. We are in a time of revolution right now, where Congress is about to change and our people are about to replace its career politicians with people who aren’t afraid to fight for and prioritize the people, above anything else. We just need to wake up the sleeping giant, the American people.

In our district, there are nearly 700,000 constituents, and of those, 300,000~ who are are registered voters. With the highest voter turnout in our district being the Nov 2018 General Election, in which we had 150,000~ constituents vote, less than 1/4 of the people in our district decide who our federal representative will be. Imagine what it would be like if at least half of the people in our district voted and had a say in deciding who our federal representative would be. Imagine what it would be like if all of us cared enough to study the candidates and issues that we’re voting on. We could bring so much change to Washington, and to our communities. It’s time to active the sleeping giant, the American people and the people in our district. We can’t afford to re-elect a career politician whose corporate donors outnumber his individual human donors by several folds, and who has failed to address the financial distress, poverty and lack of affordable housing for the constituents in our district, both housed and unhoused.

It’s time for change, and a brand new Congress.

David Kim

Hello!❤️ My name is David (full name: David Yung Ho Kim), and I’m an attorney (music, immigration), author and community activist here in Los Angeles (MacArthur Park Neighborhood Council General Board Member) and I am running for Congress in California’s 34th Congressional District against the current Congressman, a corporately funded, establishment Democrat. And as we are running an entirely grassroots campaign against this corporately funded incumbent, your donations and support are greatly appreciated! ❤️ I was born in Arizona, April 1984, shortly after my parents immigrated to the U.S. from Korea. And as there was no real need for my parents to learn English because they mostly communicated in Korean with each other, with us, and with members of their immigrant church community, I took care of any and all household tasks that required English in any way, be it talking on the phone with the gas company about charges that were made to the gas bill, disputing a late penalty fee that was posted to our phone bill or talking on my parents’ behalf at parent-teacher conferences. And it was at such a young age, that I began to talk on behalf of other people like my parents, advocate and voice other’s concerns and questions, and assume the role as in-between mediator, that I naturally became an attorney for the main part of my career. Getting there wasn’t an easy journey because of the financial hardships, domestic violence and racism that we experienced, but it was definitely a journey that I can look back at and be grateful for. After having worked as an attorney in various practice areas of law, I’ve met and talked with thousands of people and clients. Some of my experience includes working in the Public Integrity Division of the LA County District Attorney’s Office on cases against corrupt public officials, litigating wage and hour claims on behalf of my clients in labor and employment litigation, negotiating or advising my clients with an entertainment contract-related deal when I owned my own entertainment law practice, serving as in-house counsel for entertainment companies, appearing in immigration court on behalf of my clients advocating for their stay and asylum here in America, fighting for injured clients with their workers’ compensation claims, and now serving as an elected neighborhood council board member for my physical community. With this background, I’ve learned two things: How hard the struggle of life can get What people’s suffering really looks like. And we have an opportunity to change all of that. We have masses of people hurting and suffering financially, working multiple jobs to barely make ends meet. We also have the opportunity and calling to address the harsh realities that we have neglected for so long in our country: a 30-year wage stagnation, the increasing income inequality tragedy, decreasing rates of unionization, lack of affordable housing, lack of affordable healthcare, lack of equal access to educational opportunities, the increasing financial bubble crisis of student debt and much more. And because we are Americans who live in the land of the free and the home of the brave, it is now time for us to reclaim our power; to be more courageous than ever before in standing up for our freedom and showing our love for ALL PEOPLE. It is time to recognize that race, color, background or socioeconomic status does not lessen the precious value of a soul. Our people are tired, and they’re financially distressed. It’s time that we give all our people bootstraps to pull ourselves up with. Real bootstraps, not false promises like a social safety net that a majority of its intended recipients do not receive. We are saying NO to elected officials who pocket big checks from banks, corporations, Big Pharma, Big Oil and student debt collectors. And we are calling out the lip service we’ve been fed: where Universal Medicare is promised, but our Congressman is pocketing Big Pharma money. Where Tuition-Free Public College is preached, but our Congressman is receiving donations from debt collectors. It’s time to be more vigilant and more aware of who we are actually electing into office. We can’t afford to re-elect an official whose interests and decision-making are tainted by corporate interests and money when masses of our people are suffering day after day. That’s why I’m asking you to stand with me in fighting for the financial Freedom, Love and Justice of all Americans. If we stand together, we will restore the American Dream. With much love,