 Welcome to Perspectives of Global Justice Tink-Tek Hawaii, this is your host Beatrice Cantelma. Today we have a very special guest who is also a friend and a big dreamer that I really admire. His name is Jeff Kim and he's an organizer and also the co-chair of the Sierra Club Hawaii Energy Committee and we're going to start this program by talking about the American dream. This is a time that at one point I know that everybody have heard, but what does it really mean? Are we living the American dream that was started and coined in the early 30s, 1930s? Are we living the life that's better than our grandparents and our parents? What kind of legacy and foundation are we living behind for our offsprings? On that note, let's jump right in and welcome Jeff to the show. Hi, thanks for having me. Thank you for having me, Jeff, for being in the show and for granting this time with us. No worries. So do you mind telling a little bit about yourself, where do you come from and how did you end up in Hawaii? Okay, sure. I originally came from Chicago, but lived a lot of places in the mainland and how I came to Chicago. I came to Hawaii, a pretty long story, but the short version is basically I moved here for family. My sister's been here for several years already and basically just kind of all of us sort of grew up apart, growing up. Really the story on that is I went to boarding school starting 13 and my sister 15. So we basically just since then have not all lived together and around when my sister was getting married two, three years ago, we had an opportunity to all move here. Like everybody was in the right position at the time to go to one place and only person who didn't have to or had to stay in one place was my sister because of her work here. So that's how I ended up here. So you've been here in Hawaii for three years now and tell me about your experiences. What did you think Hawaii was going to be like before you moved in here? Because we all have this aloha cultural perspective that is sold for the rest of the world and it's very peaceful, abundant place. And then there's reality where paradise is now always quite easy. So what was your perspective then and now? That's a good question, yeah. I honestly didn't have a lot of thoughts coming in already. Certainly just the stereotypes of oh everything's beautiful sandy beaches and whatever and in the culture of aloha. But yeah, didn't really have a lot of expectations otherwise and also without sounding disrespectful like actually like I wasn't really that excited to come here because this was really like about family, about why I came because I love Chicago and I love winter actually, which I'm like the 1% of the human population that actually does. I love bitter Chicago winters. They're minus 30 winch you if you had to do the winter ones. You're getting me salivating now. And I've never been like a paradise chaser you know and like so given all that you know I didn't really have a lot of thoughts but now that I've been here well for one you know I was very you know soon after getting here I was really impressed you know and just had so much respect for the fact that I found that um yeah like that that aloha really was alive you know and people really did practice this you know this compassion and and just the I mean this is by far the friendliest place I've ever lived and I've lived you know all across the country you know urban rural suburban and yeah absolutely the friendliest place I've lived and the most community oriented and that especially you know is you know really amazing to me given that like you know we live in one of the Honolulu at least is one of the top three most expensive cities you know to live in but unlike New York and San Francisco those other two you know the kind of jobs that we have and the kind of income that you can make here is it's not quite up to par you know and yeah and just just the fact that people have to work so hard you have so much economic struggle yet still are able to maintain that you know that yeah that that community spirit and that and that compassion towards one another and that people still you know really take their time here you know almost it's like I would almost expect just on paper given the economic struggle and the lack of opportunities in relation to somewhere like New York that people would be like really at each other's throats you know super rat race mentality you know but that's just so amazing to me yeah that that it's still you know we're still able to be one of the friendliest places that I've ever lived. Very true so Helen Organizer how do you see that transition from coming from Chicago to Hawaii and do organizing work here in Hawaii what are you finding? Oh just kind of like the differences between Chicago and here in terms of like organizing and so forth yeah I mean I think you know there's definitely pros and cons of both places you know in terms of the scenes certainly like I yeah I you know I definitely have to say that like Chicago has I think a much more you know robust structure in terms of and just access to resources for people who want to get involved but you know something that certainly Hawaii has that I think is a little bit stronger than someone like Chicago is it's just this this community element you know I was like like you know like we like Sir Frider Foundation like you know I like I know and I feel like I have a personal connection with like you know Raffin Stewart there you know like which like in Chicago if it was like organization organization like that it might be a little bit more formal you know and like and yeah and just that just a level of kind of you know ease of access to different community members and organizations and and being able to to connect with them you know on a almost get to know get to be be closer than without like you know as much of a courtship if you will to get to that point so that's one thing I think definitely we have you know really going for us here otherwise though I'd say yeah I mean it's just it's just as kind of a different personality if like organizing is like a person you know like Chicago the organizer in Hawaii the organizer like very different personalities overall beyond like just what is like quote-unquote weak or strong and I think here you know we yeah we definitely have a little bit more of a I don't know if we do it I think in body that allows a little bit more you know that's kind of I think Chicago people are get a little bit more in your face you know and and are yeah are more prone to you know and I don't know and I think definitely between those two communities you know I think both can learn from each other you know and but yeah overall if I had to say one thing in terms of like a thing I really love about like the organizer community here and one thing that I think we could do much better at start with the one thing that I think we do well is you know really yeah kind of support each other and be a community you know as as as activists organizers and so forth and something I think we could do better is just be able to have more resources available to especially you know specifically actually towards towards people who are just getting started you know like luckily you know I had a lot of access to training and and just opportunities to just hone my craft in Chicago you know that there's very readily available compared to here but you know I just think if I had to start you know if I never if I just started from here you know I think it would be a lot tougher to be able to really find yeah and just find the access to be able to just get educated at the least you know so and then that's actually something we're working on at Sierra Club to to kind of create a more kind of formalized and like not just one workshop every so so many months or so but like kind of like yeah something like a standing service to be able to help train you know people to get involved that's really wonderful so I know that I hear that you have a plan yeah to go to Washington DC yeah and then you have a plan to travel all over the country yeah and you have a couple of goals in mind as you do this so tell us a little bit about that tell us about that dream that you you know this does all get started okay sure so yeah just for a little bit of context in terms of how these decisions were made you know yeah I'm sure you know everybody knows about the the fire that happened at the Marco Polo building you know down down in you know Capulani in Eisenberg and and I'm a resident of that building and so you know I was yeah I basically since Friday I haven't been you know able to sleep there and be there you know so I've had so many ways been a little bit displaced you know I don't want to even try to like say that I'm experiencing even 1% of like what somebody who is actually houseless you know has to experience but certainly put things a lot of a lot of things in perspective and really made me yeah really just kind of made me think I don't certainly consider myself a materialistic person but after that event happened and realizing oh shoot I'm not gonna be able to go back home for who knows I mean at this point we don't still know because the inspectors have to let us know when it's officially safe you know in terms of all the smoke damage and you know the house so we I don't know when I'll be able to return and yeah it just it did make me kind of think like well on the materialism part right you know like that was a thought that did run through my head immediately was like oh like my stuff like you know and like what stuff do I need you know almost that you know it's like that question right like if you only had could choose if you only fill a backpack and you had to exit a building what would you put in there and actually here is basically what I did bring I brought brought my computer your computer I brought sorry go ahead this is your life now this is my life and then there's one other thing I brought my keyboard and that that is at a friend's house right now that I'm staying with but otherwise is my life and yeah and some clothes I shoved in so computer a notebook a printed copy of the Dowdaging which is I would say my you know if I felt like the Dowdaging asked for a religion to be created that would be my religion but from my interpretation it doesn't you know this is like hey if you find this stuff useful and like you agree with your inspiration it is my inspiration yeah yeah so I it's my it's a philosophy that I really rely on you know and find truth in otherwise computer charges and so forth toiletries brought my water bottle brought a coffee because this is yeah you know it is a luxury but at this point don't want to have this be forever but it is a necessity for me at this point and finally I brought oh yeah hard drives drives and then finally I brought a a banana case or a banana phone without a phone in it but and it's actually only designed if you guys can see it's designed only for Nokia like the 1995 Nokia brick phones and you gotta keep a sense of humor sure yeah context about a banana do you want to tell our viewers how the banana was such a big item in our community a couple of months ago during legislative session well I think it actually be more interesting for you to tell our viewers since yeah let this is a third person you know what do you think yeah you can you how about you can summarize I will cover that in more depth at the second part of the show but the banana to me was really wonderful was to really see a way to call attention to the community about a very special important bill that would help us come out with the footprint and the goals to be energy efficient and green by 2045 and that at the very last hours the bill was killed and not because there was no enough support or because it didn't make sense because of all the political issues and the participants and the lobbyists that did not want to see that going forward so one of the things that I loved about this banana was to see Jeff Kim is my hero you know as an organizer say let's call the senators and our representatives using the banana you know saying look it makes sense you know to support this and I think it took off and got a good laugh out of people and a lot of good questions to a good way to get people engaged into really thinking and reflecting and now why are we not doing this and what can we do to get involved so I take a quick break and I will be right back okay welcome back to Perspectives on Global Justice Think Tecavae program and this is your host Beatrice Kansai and we're back with Jeff Kim so Jeff you've been living off of your backpack and so you mentioned a couple of other items that you have that you did not show of viewers so you want to tell us a little bit about you know what else is in there that your bare necessities okay sure I guess yeah just to recap we've got my laptop got some hard drives I got another one in the backpack water bottle coffee mug it's a notebook for like scratch paper and such copy of the Dao De Jing that they just printed out and computer chargers I won't bring those out you know toothbrush and toothpaste so that for our viewers there you go he got sensitive teeth thick razor actually no that's like a CVS razor okay I don't I want to get the branding right and then let's see what else I got here got a wallet and you got some money and some credit cards and yeah headphones these are actually quite essential and keys and I was only able to find this one actually was very high on my list I only found one but better than better than none one earplug it just yeah it really helps me focus and that's about it and then I grabbed my keyboard in my keyboard case and so from the perspective of the American dream where it means different things for different people yeah but we always talk about not just being material goods and obviously I mean you're living you know quite a disruption in your life in terms of being displaced since Friday the question I have for you is are you living the American dream oh that's that's good one I didn't think you were gonna ask me that well yeah yeah am I living the American dream well I guess we'd have to define it first right or I'd have to find it at least for my does it mean to you yeah what does it mean to me well yeah so you know like that that is kind of what I said I wanted the general sort of topic to be about right today and yeah and I'm still I'm still figuring it out for myself honestly but that's that is part of like you know why I am pursuing this road trip if you will it is certainly one thing is at least bare necessities you know it's like right at like one point in history it was like oh yeah it's like you know a house a car whatever white picket fence 2.5 kids or something like that you know and yeah and it's like at the very least now that I've experienced you know just a small taste of what it's like to be you know displaced from your home certainly yeah it's being able to have housing you know at the various food water shelter at the very least is a required a baseline requirement for the American dream and but for me I guess you know overall like this much I do feel confident saying is that like because I did do a little bit of like sort of reflecting before the program in terms of answering that question like what is the American dream to me like you know I feel like now that we live in a time in the age of climate change if you will you know whereas yeah I really you know global warming so I really do believe that you know without saying that obviously everybody's different but at the same time everybody's the same in terms of like on a very general sense I feel yeah we all do want the same things we all want to not have to worry about food water shelter at the very least right and then otherwise really simple just be able to have the freedom and access to doing what you love as long as you can do it you know opportunities opportunities yeah and and not just like oh I want this job or that job you know but like really because you know most just for a little context most of my life before I got into like community organizing and advocacy work because I just wanted to be you know just wanted to be the selling a lot of records as a musician you know and and yeah and you know and and definitely like as an artist you know I really that is certainly for me and a lot of my my friends who are the arts community you know like our goal was like we just we want almost at the end of the day we want freedom you know to say what we want to create what we want you know and to like and to be able to spend our time doing those things without worrying about you know economic you know struggle or anything like that about because like you know like a lot of people a lot of my friends who are like musicians had to like wake work some waiting job or something they don't want to do for you know 40 plus hours a week and then they can actually do what they really want you know and I think that storyline can apply to all sorts of people and all sorts of different stories you know so that's one thing yeah so at this point I'm more almost defining what my American dream is by almost almost by more than more needs at first and then also especially given you know a lot of sort of tumultuous political times we're having like almost what we don't want you know like Kanye West Lane you know it's like everything I am everything I'm not made me everything I am you know so I'm kind of starting with that almost yeah it's like at least at least let me figure out what I don't want you know but to finish off with the global perspective the global warming part right and I say global specifically because yeah at this point it's like you know almost to say American dream is irrelevant at this point because you know like yeah we are facing a global crisis you know and I think this is a great opportunity to really think as a global community and kind of think beyond nations think beyond you know ethnicity think beyond all these kind of ideological barriers that we have in our heads sometimes you know so American dream in many ways was coined during depression times yeah by a lot of immigrants actually that came here who did not have that freedom and the opportunities and the ways you know to create a society or to thrive in a society where equality and that lack of fear and the opportunity to choose will not an issue and so here we are in 2017 and are we expanding that American release having opportunity to revise it so so your American dream is kind of undergoing some sabbatical and reflection and you're going to open up living document to you know starting DC why DC you're going to Washington DC yeah okay so so yeah talk a little bit about that so I was going to go to Washington DC anyway because you know I got nominated to go to this candidate training put on the by the P triple C stands for progressive committee for public press of campaign committee for change or something like that and yeah and you know in the mean you know and then also this this kind of incident with the the Marco Polo fire happened and in combination of all these things you know I thought you know what like yeah maybe I'll take this opportunity to sort of continue along this life of displacement if you will and take it to almost the next level and and so I'm going to take a one-way flight to DC actually part of that is because you know like because of all this sort of tumult and kind of rearranging I've had to do from being you know living in the Marco Polo and having to figure other stuff out like haven't had a lot of time to be able to really put together like a fun me camp go fund me campaign or something so I figure you know round-trip ticket thousand dollars that's kind of a lot to ask in a short amount of time 500 maybe that's at least that's better right that's at least half of what that is so more achievable and but also though I do want to be able to challenge myself and basically you know if I am going to be a political candidate one of the biggest parts of being a political candidate you know I love it or hate it is going to be fundraising you know and so what better lesson to learn how to fundraise than to start with zero and see if I can get back to Hawaii with that and I plan to use zero money and there's a like a little blog that this guy started and he called it trade-up for a red paper clip so what he did was he just had this idea he's like you know I got this red paper clip in my hand let's see what I can trade for it and how far I can go with trading up for it so you know just to start out he's like hey like as somebody like hey I got this red paper clip you want to trade something for it some guys like okay I get this pen that looks like a fish like you want that okay cool traded that and kept trading and kept trading within about 16 trades you got a house and that's pretty remarkable to me that just yeah how do you hope to use this experience and then translate that into becoming a political candidate like I am seeing an aspiration aspiring to be a politician someday we'll see yeah I mean it's not official official you're still sort of flotting with the idea yeah figure out this is really your calling right right but which is part of why I want to go to the training to really be able to answer a lot of the questions that I do have what are the questions that you have for yourself right now as far as in this new revised American dream that you're trying to sort out for your life moving forward and in the context of maybe a career shift where you may or you may not choose to be a political figure you know either as a candidate or behind the scenes one of the things that you are still evaluating you know in this journey you mean on the journey towards like defining the American dream for myself well that is I think you're gonna find out as you go through but that part of whether you choose to become involved in the political arena or not so what are some questions that I still have to answer to be able to do that I guess pretty just simple questions just you know figuring out where if that is because all I care to do with my life is just be as effective towards you know specifically addressing the climate crisis possible but overall in terms of just solving problems you know I think that's really what an activist advocate is you know and is a person a problem solver or someone who at least takes out to do so you know so so yeah I just what however at best I can be utilized is what I want so that's kind of part of that's the main question really that's the operative question in terms of answering that for me and there's a lot of different avenues I know I could take that that I think I at this point I see as being similar you know similarly effective so that's that's really what's what's the question and by the way just in case we run out of time this is going to be the item that I'm going to trade up for so hopefully this will manifest into a plane ticket from California to Hawaii in the near future. Well on that note I can't believe how quickly our show came to an end but I would love to see you when you come back from DC or maybe even when you are when you are you know on your way back we can connect about Skype I want to hear you know how things are going with your journey and I know that no matter where you end up professionally that you are an amazing servant leader and that is one of the biggest characteristics that I see there is important not only for politicians nowadays but moving forward but also towards rebuilding of our American dream whatever that means for each one of us in this country and beyond so thank you and well this concludes our program for today and I look forward to see you again next Friday and so until next Friday and who we hope