Geum Na-Ra, The Show-Stopper!

Kim Na-hee (stage name Keum Na-ra) is a singer, actress, dancer, and musician who is singing the OST for a Disney movie. Earlier this year, she released an album. I first "met" her in 2011, when she did background vocals for a rap video I was in. She provided the vocals, so I hadn't met her at that time.

* * *

A year or so later, I was at an event, when a cute young lady introduced herself to me. Of course, I thought I was world-famous, because she was talking in Korean about the rap song I had been in. Then, I realized: Oh!!! She wasn't just a casual fan. She was telling me that she was one of the ladies in the rap video. Wait, no! After a bit more trying to understand each other, it turned out that she was the lady singing the background vocals!

If you watch the rap, you can see me at the 1 minute and 2:30 minute marks. The Keynes-Hayek rap battle was big back then, almost going viral, so I had recommended to the CEO of the Center for Free Enterprise that he should do a rap video.

* * *

Over the years, I have bumped into her at other events.

One night I was at a Harvard alumni event... I kept thinking, that lead singer playing various instruments looks really familiar... then I realized, "Hey! That's her! My backup singer from the rap video!"

Yes, it was her!

* * *

Another day, I was watching a musical, I was invited to it at the last minute. It was a one-woman musical about a North Korean woman. So I'm in the audience, watching, then I realized...

"Hey! I know actress!"

I was telling the people I was with that I knew her. Did they believe me? They did after we took a photo after the show!

Yes, Yeonmi Park is on my left!

Yes, that is the producer of the play "Yodok Story."

* * *

In 2016, FSI (then TNKR) had a Christmas party. We had some entertainers that night, but it was clear that Kim Nahee was the show-stopper! She took over the stage with an unforgettable performance.

Here she is warming up, testing the microphones.

Yes, that is with Cherie Yang

With professor rapper Kim Chung-Ho and Nahee.

* * *

Now she is doing an OST for Disney!

Please subscribe to her new channel, watch all of the videos, leave likes and comments! After the pandemic is over, I hope she recognizes the love and support she has received from FSI and will perform at another concert.

www.lovetnkr.org/donate

Get rid of that watermelon!

Part 1: When I was a youngster I used to collect Confederate money, posters and photographs with caricatures of blacks, and "No blacks allowed signs." I loved the money because it was a reminder of how far the sorry Confederacy had fallen. I had one poster of a dark-skinned black boy munching on a watermelon. I would look at that small poster and wonder, "What in the world is wrong with anyone wanting to eat watermelon?" Yes, white people, I'm talking to you. Your parents, grandparents, and other ancestors who thought making fun of blacks for eating watermelon were crazy ! Even people who say that nothing has changed in race relations must acknowledge that the many stereotypes of blacks are no longer prevalent. But then, there are also some ready to remind us of days-gone-by by debunking stuff that doesn't need to be debunked today. According to the Washington Post: The sound you just heard was yet another racial stereotype going kersplat ! Some ...

Scam? Yo Momma!

Note: This was originally posted shortly after Jesse Lee Peterson's book was published, reposted in 2005, and now because of a fight between black customers and a Korean merchant in Dallas, Texas. Scam? Yo Momma! During the summer of 2002 I was an observer to a dispute between the Asian owners of a Chinese takeout and some of their black customers in Washington, D.C. The month-long boycott began when a local activist accused a cook at a Chinese takeout of attempting to cook a piece of chicken he had allegedly dropped on the floor. Despite the best efforts of human rights activist Dick Gregory, popular talk-show host Joe Madison, and Rev. Walter Fauntroy, the protestors were unable to coax any media to report on the protest. On some days there were, by my unofficial count, as many as 100 people chanting songs and marching. But one key person was missing: Rev. Jesse Jackson. It was important to the foot soldiers at the boycott that someone from the media report on...

Park Jin welcoming remarks to FSI (and Casey Lartigue)

National Assembly member Park Jin makes the welcoming remarks at FSI's conference featuring North Korean diplomats. Park Jin | Greeting message to FSI and Casey Lartigue mention - YouTube

From nothing to something super special (2023-02-10)

FSI has moved into a better institutional neighborhood where we are the poorest in the area. In August 2022, I was elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Freedom Speakers International (FSI) and in January 2023 FSI achieved incorporation status in South Korea. This has meant that FSI must upgrade operations and structure and I am the one, as chairman and co-president, who will be blamed if it doesn’t happen. I really should not be the chairman, for a variety of reasons, but anyway I am. Eunkoo and I are not the typical executives of a growing organization. In addition to being mainly responsible for building and fundraising for the organization, we are the hands-on leaders who are constantly in contact with North Korean refugee speakers. We look forward to the day we can afford staff to handle many tasks. Until then we can expect to continue having more days like yesterday, even on Eunkoo’s birthday. 2023-02-10 Meeting #1: planning We started Eunkoo’s birthday with a planning...

Korea Times bloggers' night (2018-12-12)

There are some well-known media outlets in this world that occasionally stumble upon Freedom Speakers International (FSI). But they usually pick themselves up and carry on as if nothing had happened. They sometimes quote or mention us after we help with a story but more likely they don't (especially NPR and the New York Times). The most important media outlet in the world for Freedom Speakers International: The Korea Times. They occasionally write stories about our work. I have a monthly column and a regular blog there. Here's my blog at the Korea Times, "Voices from the North." http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/sublist_728.html And my monthly column. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/sublist_626.html Instead of the Korea Times stumbling across us from time to time, I get regular reminders from editors reminding me to send in my column and blog. I know that many of the people following FSI are clicking around the internet and following many organizati...

The Casey Lartigue Show!

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