Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) thinks of the Capitol Rotunda because the “most lovely room in essentially the most lovely constructing” in America and a “bodily manifestation of our Structure.” However when he discovered himself standing there on the night of Jan. 6, 2021, simply hours after a violent mob of insurrectionists had, in his phrases, “desecrated and disrespected” the historic monument, all he might suppose to do was drop to the bottom and begin to assist clear up the mess.
Images of Kim’s act of humility rapidly went viral on social media. Now, Kim’s blue J. Crew go well with that he wore whereas committing his well-known gesture might be featured within the Smithsonian’s American Historical past Museum exhibit that tells the story of the Jan. 6 rebel.
What he describes as a easy “act of service” has cemented his place in historical past not solely as the primary Asian American congressman from New Jersey, but in addition as a illustration of selecting up the items of the Capitol riot tragedy and turning a brand new nook.