PROGRAM SIX
The Post ’65 Generation
BILLBOARD
ANNOUNCER: Major Funding for this series is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with support from PRI – Public Radio International.
HOST: From NPR…This is Crossing East… Our stories, our history, our America…
SOUND COLLAGE
BILL ONG HING: The United States continues to have this image throughout the world of this land of opportunity. The ‘65 reform laws were very family oriented.
YOLANDA: After we immigrated to United States, we always think about to open a business, a family business.
ESTHER SIMPSON:We were the pioneers and we were the nurses who set up the policies, the procedure that this new hospital was going to use…
WILLIAM CHU:The newer immigrant really bring life to America like in Chinatown.
HOST: I’m Margaret Cho… Up next… the stories of the Post ’65 Generation” on Crossing East…
(NEWS BREAK)
SEGMENT A
HOST: I’m Margaret Cho and this is Crossing East…Our stories, our history, our America. We’re featuring the Post ’65 Generation.
SOUND JON JANG MUSIC
HOST: Composer Jon Jang got inspiration from the jazz artists of the 1960’s. John Coltrane…Miles Davis…their music reflected a time of great change in America.
HOST: Thanks to the achievements of the civil rights movement, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin. A year later, he signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibiting any kind of requirement including a literacy test that discriminated against voters on the basis of race.
That same year President Johnson signed legislation abolishing national origin quotas restricting Asian immigration since the Immigration Act of 1924. The Immigration Act of 1965 removed the last vestiges of racial discrimination in this national’s immigration policies and made it possible for Asians to sponsor and bring over their families. Till then, Asian countries were each restricted to only one hundred immigrants each year. A trickle compared to the waves of European immigration.
HOST: The 1965 Act united families and welcomed highly educated, technical and professional workers from Asia. Many wanting better jobs came from India, China, the Philippines and Korea.
SOUND: STREET NOISE INTO STORE NOISE
DON: This is Trojan Meat Market. And right side have produce section. Walking in and front to the side is the meat department. And also left hand side getting liquor department and wine department.
HOST: Don Myoung runs the Trojan Market in Los Angeles. Don immigrated to America in 1971 when he was 22. A college student in Korea, he worked as a computer technician for a while. But his English was limited so he left the job. His wife, Floria, came a few years later. She was a schoolteacher in Korea but didn’t speak English well enough to get a job here. So they bought a mom and pop store in 1982 in a low-income neighborhood.
SOUND: CASH REGISTER
DON: Two year later I build up the business then I sold it then I buy another liquor store. Then I make good money. Believe it or not half million dollar I make. That time I was early thirty.
Most Korean immigrants after 1965 were college educated, but because of language barriers they had to find new ways to support themselves in the U.S. Today more than one million Korean Americans live in the U.S. Los Angeles has the largest Korean population outside of Korea. Nearly 30 percent are self-employed and businesses like Don and Floria Myoung’s market. Forty-five percent are small grocery and liquor stores.
Chapter One…. “ A Grocer’s Life”
SOUND: CHANGE
DON: Mr. Henry? Yes, I know He’s my good customer.
HENRY: This is a very nice store, very nice store.
DON: People used to be in this area, a lot of USC professor and a lot of good people living. Those people move. And also the other side, has good people living, family people, they moving out. And then start coming in to all the Latino community all coming, 70% coming in. And then you change your business. And I have to using to grocery store and meat market and produce market and I have to go with them. So it’s low profit and hired labor, a lot of hired labor and a lot of work. it’s very difficult to run business. Work like a donkey and try to survival to my life. That’s it.
DON: Get up at home, 6:30. And shower and 7:30. Then coming here twenty after nine. Long drive, I live in Garden Grove. Until stay ten o’clock, seven days a week. Then I go home and after twenty after eleven. Then shower after twelve o’clock. No personal life in run business. I want to quit sometime.
FLORIA: My husband working hard, better than me. I supposed to be just take care of the money and the kids. It’s a long time ago.
DON: My wife come, she work Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. She work three days a week.
SOUND: PENNIES
FLORIA: This business is the penny business. This is a Penny business and everything small, small organized this is successful in a Penny business.
DON: She is a general manager, she handle everything. So I’m just worker and she’s the boss.
FLORIA: Everything watching the employee, supervising the employee, and the merchandise, check everything, receiving the merchandise and the count money and the money just organized, also the paperworking and the working in payment.
DON: I do on my own everything but kind of burned out myself now and she come in kind of fresh and try to such and such and things, she want them more organized than I do. And more detailed organizing. Before I do, it’s not really problem, let them go, let them go. Because I’m already kind of burning here to work seven days work open to close.
SOUND: ISAAC GETS HIS MONEY FROM AMY
ISAAC: My name is Isaac Romero. I’m a representative of Interstate Bran and I come in here and I serve Twinkies and cupcakes to Donny and his store, Trojan Market.
ISAAC: Donny’s very good to the people in this neighborhood and he has a very successful business here. During holidays, Thanksgiving and whatnot he’s cooking outside for the low-income people and he’s very good to them, he’s a very good person. He’s just somebody that cares about his customers. And they in turn come here and shop.
SOUND: CHECKER SPEAKS IN SPANISH
DON: I do equal treatment as businessperson.
SOUND: CHECKER ANSWERS THE PHONE
DON: My father was a businessman. I try to run business because my father owned a bread company in Korea. And that time I try to get married and try to get some airplane fee and quick as possible get married. So I do building maintenance and daytime I go to school and repair computer. But at that time I didn’t speak English so getting job, and I quit myself two months later because so much call office to call repair shop but owner is out and I’m the person myself and I don’t understand what they say, so I getting depressed myself and I quit.
SOUND: CHECKER HANDS OVER PLASTIC BAG
FLORIA: I wished I really my own career. When I’m in college in graduation after I just was teacher 1972, 73, I met him this time. When I come to this country, I wish to do teacher’s aide, I want that kind of job, but I lost. When I come to this country, after two months I have a baby. No choice.
DON: We marry, start a family in this country. And no time to enjoy my life. I just work, work, so far what I see last thirty year. But riot hit me in 1992.
ISAAC: It’s a really tough neighborhood. Very tough. They can turn on you real quick. But after meeting Donny told me all about it. It was really kind of sad, the story that he told me, because he lost his business.
DON: April 29th is riot, Los Angeles riot. That day Wednesday I was day off day, I was stay home. And I see a TV and Trojan on it and then that time they call me. A neighbor, hey Don, your store burning. So my wife cry and my daughter and me cry and I’d no, never experienced a riot. And I didn’t know that they going to burning. Maybe looting and poor people, but I wasn’t respect to get burning.
FLORIA: After riot the other day, next day we came here. All just ash, smoke, all lost, everything lost.
DON: That life changed after that, we thinking so much how we going to be living?
FLORIA: After that, oh, ah me, what can I do? How am I living? We just go to the food stamps. Food stamps they give you only just 180 dollars, we never experience going to the food stamps place. Don made us go on food stamps, they pay 20 dollars.
DON: Then I say what is this letter? And I show to my daughter, honey, what is it? Daddy, you cannot open store. I have to go back to city hall, hey, what is this? City Government give me so much a hard time to reopening. A lot of thing to giving zoning problem and planning problem we have to go through to open store. And city government should have helped us, they didn’t protect good citizens. We are licensable and tax person, good citizen. They didn’t protect us to burning all the store. And they start giving problem to reopen back to store
FLORIA: So then after Don we just opened next door to the business and had to socks and the t-shirts, but nobody come. Nobody came. That lose money too. The riot lose money and that lose money, everything lose. We can’t do anything.
DON: Not even penny have income all year. think of how we’re living. so that’s how I lost my house, everything. So I use a credit card and all kind of what I can I use it. And right after store opening is not like it used to be. They change. A lot of good people move out after riot. I thought I open up the same thing like before. It’s not. It’s completely changed.
ISAAC: But I’ve been serving this store for about eight, nine years and I’ve gotten to know Donny really well. He’s a great person. He really is. I love him and Floria very much. He’s built it up again, he’s doing very well. He’s very successful out here.
FLORIA: After we got more, a stronger mind, my husband get a stronger mind, working hard. Everything more successful.
DON: I’m proud to be living here in this country. I’m citizen here and I’m go into die here. This is my country. I love the country here. But I do have a hard time living here the last ten years, after riots. But still I love country, I learn so much after riots. And I will support the country and I’m born in Korea but my life is here.
SOUND: CHECKER SCANNING
SOUND DOWN
HOST: “ A Grocer’s Life” by Dmae Roberts with contributing producer Mia Kim.
In a moment…a motel family in Chicago… This is Crossing East… I’m Margaret Cho.
ANNOUNCER: You’re listening to PRI – Public Radio International.
MUSIC BREAK
SEGMENT B
HOST: I’m Margaret Cho and we’re looking at the Post ’65 generation…The 1965 Immigration Act made it possible for families to reunite and live together in the U.S. And many of the worked together…
SOUND OF TRAFFIC
HOST: The Apache Motel is located on a busy street in Chicago. It’s one of thousands in the U-S owned by South Asian immigrants.
According to the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, more than a third of hotels and motels in the country are owned by Asian American entrepreneurs like Manu Patel.
He came to the U-S from the Indian state of Gujarat,following his brother-in-law.
Chapter Two. “The Family Business” by Chicago Public Radio’s Catrin Einhorn.
MP: My name is Manu Patel
KP: My name is Kruti Patel
MP: I’m 60 year old
KP: I’m 28 years old
MP: I have a wife, four daughters.
MP ON SCENE: It’s a small little place. We have 27 units, bout50 plus years.
KP: My dad runs around like crazy everyday.
MP: I am a hotelier, full time, for last 25 year.
KP: He has fiveproperties
MP: I have three independent and two franchise, one is Super 8 and one is Days Inn
MP ON SCENE: I’m going to show you this room. KEY IN DOOR. Let’s see.
25-inch color cable TV, king-size bed, comfortable. Here’s a refrigerator [FADE STARTS] and you have a place to have, eat something…
MP: I am from India, small town called Syadla. My parents were farmers, 1967 I got married, 68 and I had the first daughter, and 1970 I had the second daughter.
Back home, the way our culture is, you have to have at least one baby boy, so in the older age, usually son take care of the parents. Daughter get married, and you’re left without anyone to take care in older age. So we had to try one more pregnancy, and I had a third daughter. We decided that was it, you know, and we were happy. My wife got pregnant, which we did not plan. And I had a fourth daughter.
KP: They had me, another girl.
MP: We were happy with whatever the children we had, but my parents were disappointed.
KP: So his friend was like, ok look, now you got four girls, you’re not all going to be able to survive here.
MP: To give them a good education, we decided that we should go to US.
KP: And so that’s why we came here. More or less because I was born.
PHONE RINGS
MP ON SCENE: Front desk. Yeah, how can I help you? Yes sir.
MP: I started working as a night clerk
MP ON SCENE: That’d be very fine
MP: And then I started working two shift.
KP: And my mom cleaned rooms, and then there was me, a year and a half.
MP: So we started saving money. And the way our community work—we help each other. So I had some money of my own, my relatives helped me some and so many friends of mine, they helped me like $2,000, $4,000, $10,000. One of our family friend own a 30-unit hotel in small town called Kutztown in Pennsylvania. They found out that I am looking for the hotel. So the family friend financed the place for me. That’s how I got in.
MP ON SCENE: BEEPING OF DOORS UNLOCKING. I’m going to take you to my other property, it’s called Budget Inn and Suites.
BEEPING, DOOR SLAMS, KEYS IN IGNITION, SEATBELTS [NOTE: SOUND CONTINUES UNDER FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH]
KP: Growing up in America, being a foreigner, even though I didn’t have an accent, it wasn’t bad until you’re young and you don’t understand why people are calling you Dot Head and Gandhi Lover, and all these things. And you kind of like, ok, why? You never stop to say, ok, because I’m brown. You know?
MP: The hardest discrimination I faced personally, one time, it was a long time ago, I had a customer refuse to check out passed the check out time. Call the police. And police officer told me, let him stay a couple more hours. I said that’s fine with me, but what about, you know, the rent? He said that’s your problem, I ask you to let him stay a couple more hours. And I say what if I not? He say I can find 10 things to arrest you. I say since you’re telling me to let him stay, I’ll let him stay. And he told me in my face, you better. For your own good.
MOM ON SCENE: PHONE RINGS Office, may I help you? Hello?
KP: I grew up in the hotel business, so I decided to actually stay in it. I just started working for Select Hotels Group, and prior to that I was working at home with my parents in their business.
KP, MOM, CUSTOMER ON SCENE: What are you looking for? Red Line. I have to go… Clybourn? Yuh huh. Ok, we’re right here. You can take the Western bus all the way to Clybourn.
KP: There’s money. It’s pretty good money, I can say that. It’s a good investment.
KP ON SCENE: NAT FROM PREVIOUS SCENE
MP: My youngest daughter, she’s a little precious thing for us. She’s still unmarried. We’re looking for…match.
KP: I’m single, yes, I’m single.
MP: About the marriage part
KP: You know, it’s a process I guess in the Indian community.
MP: We have converted ourselves between East and West.
KP: I’m not supposed to be single and 28, it’s not a good thing.
MP: Back home when I got married, my parents decided the bride for me. With our children, if they find somebody of their own choice, that’s great.
KP: I unfortunately, have not found anybody on my own.
MP: If not, they ask us if we can provide them some information.
KP: When I was I think about 22 or 23 I had told my parents, you know, I’m ready to get married. I was done with school, just working at home, and I was like I want to get married. It’s the next step in life anyways, right? One of the things that really surprised me was I thought that growing up here, you would kind of lose that Indian mentality that—of we’re going to live with my parents, and we’re going to do this and it’s like, ok, I’m sorry. I grew up here. And I can’t follow that. Not all the way through. I’ll meet you halfway.
MP: She is a total combination of East and West. She got all the things that our country, our community, our culture says. And she got all the behavior, all the education, all the power from the West. She can clean the house, she can do the laundry, or in a motel, she will take a screwdriver, open up the outlet, and replace the receptacle. With a live wire.