The Jan. 6 Capitol riot is still difficult to broach with his two young Asian American children. He has trouble finding the right words.
When I saw my kids for the first time after January 6, my oldest hugged me and asked if I was doing well. Kim said that they know something happened, but she hasn't talked to them about it. How does Jan. 6 fall into the larger story of this country? How are we going to talk about it?
A photo of Kim cleaning up the Capitol rotunda after the riot went viral. The act was hailed as a moment of hope by the internet.
He told NBC Asian America that he is still processing his thoughts a year later, as the son of Korean immigrants who uprooted their lives in search of a strong, secure country to call home. He said that the events uncovered a sense of protectiveness over the country his parents wanted.
Kim said that her parents shaped her sense of being a care giver because of their love of country and service. I tried to do a lot of things, like voting that night to affirm the Electoral College vote, or cleaning up the rotunda. That is the same to me. Being a caretakers for our democracy.
Andy Kim plays a word-game with his son as his wife, Kammy Lai, looks on with their younger son outside a polling place in Bordentown, N.J. The file is by Mel Evans.
More than 700 of Donald Trump's supporters are facing criminal charges related to the attack on the Capitol in the year since Kim found himself clearing the damage.
The House committee is going to present its findings in the coming months. Kim wore a blue J. Crew suit as he emptied the garbage bags.
The congressman said he feels a stronger sense of patriotism and love for the country because of the reflection he has done on his parents.
Kim, the son of a scientist and a nurse, said his family's American dream never involved private jets or rockets to outer space. He said that his parents wanted a life of dignity and decency. He remembered how his mother reacted to how they felt about their new country when he was a kid.
They thought we could walk in there. He said that they had the same right to walk into the building as anyone else.
When Kim came across a plaque on the wall that said "The cornerstone of the United States of America was", he was reminded of his parents' awe of the country.
Andy Kim held his son as he finished voting. 6, in Bordentown, N.J.
He said that it took him out of the moment for a second and reminded him of the history of the Capitol building. There will be generations after me that will continue to do the work of this country.
Kim said that the memories have made him look at his work in a different way, shifting his focus to how to heal from the events.
Kim said that the idea that they traveled halfway around the world to live in a place that didn't speak their language, didn't have any friends and family drew them in. I hope that January 6 reminds us of what drew our families here and that that is worth fighting for. It is worth trying to preserve.
Kim mentioned that he was concerned with how the country and government reacted to the riot. He is unsure if the stability his immigrant family sought will be there for his children. The riot represented a long-standing problem in the nation on a number of topics.
The issue was not just about the Capitol storming. He said it was about the divisions in the country. We live in a country where that type of violence against each other is possible. I think we are in a worse situation than we were a year ago. I don't think the Jan. 6 tragedy brought us together as a country.
Research shows that Americans were divided on the events.
A survey done by the Pew Research Center in the days after the riot showed that 48 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents expressed disappointment, disbelief or fear, compared to 27 percent of their Republican counterparts. Roughly half of Republicans felt the same way as 95 percent of Democrats did. Nearly the same percentage of conservatives did not think that Trump was involved in the events.
Republican officials who publicly condemned Trump in the wake of the events became less open to criticism from their own party. The percentage of Republicans who said their party should not be too accepting of those who criticized Trump went from 56 percent in March to 63 percent in September.
Kim said that some of the people who were there decided to spread lies about what happened for their own political and personal benefits. We can't have a shared truth about what happened that day.
Kim feels that the most important lesson of the events is the vulnerability of American democracy.
When I walk around the Capitol, it doesn't hit me that Jan. 6 happened. Kim said that he sees it every day. I want to channel that experience into something productive that will hopefully prevent something like that from happening again.
