Eyes Wide Open. How my heart broke when the levees broke

Over twelve years ago, in 2005, I lost my grandfather in a freak accident while he was crossing the road in a pedestrian cross walk. The accident also took place right in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The day after we buried my grandfather, I left his funeral with a broken heart and bags filled with humanitarian aid for Katrina ravaged Louisiana.

Having done volunteer work and disaster relief in other parts of the world, I was shocked to see the amount of devastation that had just taken place in my country.

But this isnt a story about my relief work and my grandfather.

There were two of us on our team who are Asian Americans. My friend is Japanese and I come from Korean, Japanese and Caucasian descent. You might be asking yourself why this matters and where Im going with this. Ill get to that. The entire time we were there, we worked tirelessly, delivering aid, working in supply tents, and doing mud outs in destroyed homes. We also slept in tents the whole time we were in Louisiana.

This trip was also an eye opening experience and the first time Id dealt with open and blatant racism. We were in a gas station trying to find food to eat since most places were closed or had limited hours. We were minding our own business, when a group of local men walked in and started saying remarks to us, as well as calling us the damn Chinese.

My first urge, as any strong headed woman, was to say something back. That is, until the gal working with us, who was from Louisiana, grabbed my arm and said Dont. These are the type of people who will follow us.

My heart broke that day. I was already suffering the heartbreak of burying my grandfather and the heartbreak of seeing the utter devastation in Louisiana. But my heart broke in a different way, because that day I learned that racism is still alive and kicking in the United States.

Little did I know what would take place 11 years down the line. That we would have a senate candidate, named Roy Moore, backed by the President of the United States. A candidate who even called Asians yellows. Little did I know, that it wasnt just an isolated incident, and that racism has actually never gone away and that it would be given an even stronger voice and platform years down the road.

The day the levees broke my heart broke. That day I learned that while I still believe that there is more good in this country than bad, we still have a lot of work ahead of us.