Ex-Obama Staffer Reflects On Trump's 'Upsetting' Comment To 'Pretty Korean Lady'
Gary Lee, who served as an assistant staff secretary under former President Barack Obama, has shared how President Donald Trump’s reported comments to a Korean-American intelligence analyst embodied the antithesis of his experience with his one-time boss.
Posting publicly on Twitter Saturday for the first time, Lee gave a moving account of his last day working for the Obama administration, contrasting it with Trump’s conversation with the analyst. During the recent exchange, Trump allegedly inquired why the “pretty Korean lady” isn’t negotiating with North Korea for the U.S. He asked the woman, “Where are you from?” and was described as “unsatisfied” when she said that, like him, she’s from New York.
Lee characterized the “where are you from” question, which is often directed at Asian-Americans and spotlights their perceived “otherness,” as “upsetting.” But the son of immigrants also said the incident “struck a chord” with him. He followed with a series of tweets about how Obama, on Lee’s last day at his White House job in 2011, had greeted him in Korean. The story has since gone viral with thousands of retweets.
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://t.co/D7ue8db1Vb pic.twitter.com/rwgrx7OQrb
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
3. This struck a chord with me not only bc I’m 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.
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
4. On my last day, I went into the Oval Office and POTUS greeted me by saying, "안녕하세요". Hello, in Korean. I’m lucky bc @PeteSouza captured that exact moment. pic.twitter.com/sKl5ie0DLM
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
Lee, who said he’d long dreamed of a career in public service, provided some background on the path that led him to work for the Obama administration. He said that before he graduated from college in 2007, he sent his resume and cover letter to the Obama presidential campaign headquarters in Chicago.
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.
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
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.
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
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.
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
Lee also recounted that after Obama surprised him in the Oval Office with the Korean greeting, he ran into actor Kal Penn, who at the time served as the White House associate director of public engagement. Lee said he told him about his interaction with Obama, and that Penn got emotional.
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.
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
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) January 13, 2018
Penn’s reaction and his words, in turn, prompted Lee to begin crying. And in his tweets Lee reflected on his immigrant parents’ own story of sacrifice, and how “they could have never imagined that their eldest son would work in the White House.”
He continued: “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? ... What a beautiful, incredible nation of immigrants we are.”
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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.
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
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.
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
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?
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
13. What a beautiful, incredible nation of immigrants we are. 🇺🇸
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
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-
— Gary Lee (@whoisgarylee) January 13, 2018
Lee appeared on CNN Monday to discuss his tweets, explaining that he felt compelled to share his personal experience. In the Obama White House, he said, “we really celebrated diversity” ― a strong contrast from the message he believes Trump is sending through his stance on immigration.
“We all came together because President Obama inspired this generation of people for this common good and we can celebrate our diversities and that made us so much stronger,” Lee said, tearing up.
He noted that at the White House, he worked with others whose immigrant parents were from a variety of countries. His and his friends’ journeys into public service are “living proof that the American Dream is possible,” Lee said.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
