One girl's life, seven months later

The Bakersfield Californian | Saturday, Feb 14 2009 9:31 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, Feb 14 2009 9:32 PM

Janet Kwon has always been interested in the American story. She has always been fascinated by the way immigrants arrive, settle, assimilate and become Americans themselves.

the eyes of a child, and then as a child giving way to a young woman, she watched that story unfold in her own family -- the frustrations and small joys, the obstacles and triumphs. And the work. The hard, never-ending work.

Her South Korean parents, Youll and Shoon Kwon, weren't so much living the American dream as enduring the American gauntlet. But it would be worth it, the Kwons always assumed, because hard work was inevitably rewarded -- certainly, at least, in America.

Then, one day last June, 17 years after Youll Kwon staked his humble claim to self-sufficiency by opening a market with his wife in a working-class southeast Bakersfield neighborhood, his immigrant story collided with a very different sort of immigrant story.

Bakersfield police say Samuel Ramirez Bravo, 27 years old and fresh off the robbery of a Lamont convenience store 12 days earlier, burst into Honey Market, demanded money and, for reasons not yet clear, shot Kwon several times. He left Kwon, 51, mortally wounded.

Janet Kwon says investigators have told them Bravo, who faces a pre-preliminary hearing March 18, is an undocumented Mexican national. Deputy District Attorney Art Norris declined to confirm that.

"Before it happened," said Janet, a 17-year-old Stockdale High School junior, "I was really interested in the whole immigration process. What motivates people to come here? What are their dreams?

"And then I think of this man who killed my dad, an immigrant himself. Before he started robbing people he must have had dreams too. What happened to them?"

Roadblocks can pop up for immigrants everywhere, and the thicker one's accent, the taller the roadblocks can be. Youll Kwon overcame them with work and a resilient spirit. It wasn't in his nature to answer injustices by doing anything other than placing one foot in front of the other. People were counting on him.

He met his wife, then a surgical nurse, in 1985 while serving in Germany in the U.S. Army. They married that same year, moved to Los Angeles and ran a dry-cleaning business. In 1991, anxious to look for opportunities elsewhere, they discovered Bakersfield, where the cost of living was low and the owner of a small neighborhood grocery store was selling.

"He asked us to change the name, because he said he might want to open again somewhere else, using that name, Hello Market," said Shoon (pronounced Soon), who was pregnant at the time with her only child. "So we had to find a new name. My husband said, 'Hey, Honey, what about Honey Market?' Some customers thought my name was Honey."

They worked long shifts at their store, closing only one day of the year -- Jan. 1.

Janet's life was a world apart. She got nearly straight A's in AP/Honors classes, refined her skills as a flutist (she's now in the Bakersfield Youth Symphony), gave piano lessons on the side.

When her father was killed, she wrote a stunningly gracious letter to the editor of this newspaper expressing the same sort of positive outlook that had been Youll Kwon's trademark. She expressed only pity toward his killer.

Saturday morning, Janet allowed herself to sleep in till 10, having drug herself out of bed at 4:30 a.m. the previous morning to study for three tests. "Not fun, not fun," Janet said. Her mother was already at Honey Market by 10, a quarter of the way into another 12-hour shift.

It never stops in the Kwon household. Can't. Least of all for Shoon.

"I want to show people I am strong and I can do it by myself," she said. "I have to keep going. I have to provide for my daughter. Who will hire me now? I am 53. So I try my best. I keep going."

Janet will go to college -- somewhere. With a 4.3 grade-point average and nosebleed-high SAT scores, that seems assured. She dreams of attending a big university. And she dreams of answers, personal and sweepingly societal.

These days her optimism is tempered with an understanding of reality not many her age have seen. "I realize that good things don't necessarily always happen to good people," she said.

But she believes dedication can get her there just the same. Taking any other approach is just not in her nature.

It must be genetic.

Robert Price is at rprice@bakersfield.com.http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/colu ... 91843.html