K.W. Lee Comes Full Circle at ACC

Those who follow the history of ACC and social justice issues in the Asian community will appreciate that K.W. Lee is now a resident of ACC Maple Tree Village. K.W. immigrated to the U.S. from Korea in 1950 and became an award-winning journalist who wrote for several mainstream newspapers across the U.S.

When ACC was founded in 1972, K.W. was a 43-year-old investigative reporter for The Sacramento Union. He wrote a series of articles about Leo Goto’s pioneering efforts to build a Japanese community and cultural center in Sacramento. This helped Leo galvanize community support and incorporate the Japanese Community Center of Sacramento Valley (JCC), which today is ACC Senior Services.

Peggy Saika, a founding member of JCC, played a key role in the movement that K.W. wrote about. She headed up a study to determine the needs of the Asian community. After eight months of research, it was published on November 27, 1972. It identified housing, healthcare, and independent living for the elderly as key needs of the community, a vision that ACC has since actualized and continues today.
On December 2, 2023, Peggy and K.W., now 95, met at ACC Maple Tree Village to talk about old times. “This was my chance to pay homage to a man who accomplished so much in his life,” says Peggy.

K.W. Lee has been described as the “Godfather of Korean American Journalism” in a recent book, Saigu, Lessons from the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest. In it, we see threads of the type of reporting that K.W. has pursued over his lifetime. It starts with identifying glaring community challenges that give our leaders no choice but to step forward, come together, and create change. K.W. never shrinks away from tough topics. In the 1960s, he reported on the civil rights issues in the South, vote-buying in West Virginia, and the plight of Appalachian coal miners.
In 1973, Peggy and several community leaders were involved in promoting legislation to restore lost Social Security wage credits for Japanese Issei who were denied U.S. citizenship prior to WWII. K.W. covered the story in The Sacramento Union, describing sansei’s as wanting to “right the wrongs against their grandparents.” During that same time, K.W. also wrote about the potential closure of inner-city schools, the lack of programs that served Asian seniors, and gaps in providing health and legal services to our community.

In 1977, K.W. and Jay Yoo, a law student at U.C. Davis, got involved in the case of a young Korean American, Chol Soo Lee, who was imprisoned near Stockton. Chol Soo Lee was wrongfully convicted for the 1973 murder of a San Francisco Chinatown gang member. K.W. wrote a series of investigative articles that spawned a coalition of grassroots activists to come to Lee’s defense and fight to overturn his conviction. Peggy was involved with the effort that began in Sacramento and then started the New York Committee to Free Chol Soo Lee when she moved there in 1978. This national effort mobilized the Korean-American community and other AAPI groups across the country. Chol Soo Lee was freed in 1983.

Peggy’s reunion with K.W. Lee at Maple Tree Village was remarkable. Her sister Gloria Imagire, Derrick Lim, and I were there to enjoy their lively exchange. He got animated and fiery on certain social topics. K.W. is still the outspoken journalist that cemented his reputation. He also has a good sense of humor. During our visit, he expressed several times how grateful he was to live comfortably in such a nice place as Maple Tree Village and to be with people of his generation. He asked us to “interview all of them so history will not be lost!”
One idea that emerged is to host a film about Chol Soo Lee and have a discussion with K.W. about his determination to use his writing skills to inform the public and seek justice.
For the ACC community, it an honor to have K.W. Lee residing at Maple Tree Village and benefit from the fruits of his labor. From the time he first reported on ACC more than 50 years ago, he has come full circle to back to ACC.