Kunchok Dolma ‘21
Interviewed by Christina Luk ‘21
Hi Kunchok! Thanks for joining us on Hot Bench this week. Where are you from?
I’m from Queens, New York. I consider it my first home, even though I came there much later in life.
You were back in New York for winter break, how was it?
Okay. Things are going on, like the vaccine distribution. COVID has been tough—tough for the City, its front line workers and small businesses, but New York is a resilient place. For me, New York is home. New York is my happy place.
When did you start thinking about law school?
When I was fairly young. Growing up in Asia, they ask you at a very early age what you want to be and I decided I would be a lawyer, because there were very few lawyers around. My cousin had spoken about what being a lawyer means, and, even as early as high school, I thought of lawyers as people who advocate for some kind of social good. When I was young, I wanted to be a lawyer to fight for the cause of Tibet. I was idealistic, and I didn’t understand geopolitics. Still, those dreams sparked my interest in international law and international human rights law.
Can you tell us more about the “cause of Tibet”?
Well, Tibet was occupied in the 1950s, so when the rest of the world was being decolonized, places like Tibet and Palestine were being colonized. As a Tibetan, I felt I had to do something on behalf of Tibet. For me, the cause of Tibet has always meant advocating for an independent Tibet.
Is that still part of your goals as a lawyer?
It’s part of me as a Tibetan and as someone who cares about marginalized communities and occupied countries. I have a very strong identity as an immigrant from a working class background, and I have a strong identity as a woman of color and a New Yorker. Those identities inspire my advocacy.
What did you do before law school?
After college, I got a fellowship to work in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Adult Education. I did a lot of community engagement, worked with limited English proficient immigrants, and, after graduate school, I came back to that work once again. I worked in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs(MOIA), where I focused on civic engagement, language advocacy, and language justice. We developed language learning pedagogy based on community based learning models and on pedagogy of the oppressed, where learners are not empty vessels but dynamic co-creators of knowledge.
Is that when you worked on the “We Are NY” videos for the City?
Yes, those videos talk about immigrant life in New York and help immigrants learn about city services and, through community education tools, help them practice everyday English. When I returned to MOIA, I got the opportunity to rebrand the program and we rebranded it to “We Speak NYC.” We created new videos and workbooks focused on worker rights, immigrant rights, mental health, and elder care, among others.
That’s the program you won the New York Emmy Award for, right?
Yes, we won the NY Emmy for “Rolando’s Rights,” a story revolving around Rolando, an immigrant, who learns about paid sick leave and wage theft, and then becomes an advocate for worker rights for his colleagues, community, and family. Season one videos, which were called We Are New York, also won two Emmys. This is the third Emmy for the program, and the first for me.
What’s something you know now that you would tell yourself coming into law school?
I came to law school at a much older age. I think for me, my advice might be more personal, I would say, law school is a conservative elite space that is not designed for working class people of color—I would tell myself that in some way law school reinforces prevailing systems of oppression. For someone like me, therefore, part of the challenge of law school will not be just the academics but navigating those power structures and being cognizant of them. I had friends who had gone to law school and gave similar advice, but it’s one thing to be aware of it, and then another to experience it….
For me, the challenge of law school is also retaining, developing, growing into your authentic self without giving into those power structures. That’s where I think being an older student makes you more resolute, you’re more sure of your journey and more conscious of your choices. That doesn’t mean you’re always making the right decisions, just that you’re more aware.
Thanks for sharing that. Let’s learn more about you. What’s your favorite food?
Mom’s food, Tibetan Momos.
Favorite place in Charlottesville?
My favorite place is the CAT bus, especially the Number 7 Charlottesville Bus. I don’t have a car so I take the bus frequently. On the bus, you meet the everyday people who live and call Charlottesville home. My bus journeys, strangely, keep me grounded to my roots and to life outside the law school.
Anti-Stress Hobby?
Watching British mystery and crime dramas.
What’s a book that left an impression on you?
Disgrace by Coetzee.
If you won the lottery, what would you do with it?
For how much? That’s my first question to you. I don’t believe I will win the lottery, so I don’t buy them … I don’t entertain those thoughts and I(Laughter) I don’t know.
If you could pick one song to play in the background of your life, what would it be?
Oh my god, I think it changes depending on the mood or day, but it would be an old Bollywood song with beautiful lyrics/ poetry.
Oh yeah, you speak a ton of languages, what languages do you speak?
Tibetan, Nepali, and Hindi more or less.
Where’s a place you’ve never been, but would like to go?
Ecuador, I have so many friends from Ecuador who speak about how beautiful it is. The landscape from my research seems a little like Nepal. So yeah, Ecuador.
If you could make one rule that everyone had to follow, what would it be?
(Laughter) I don’t think those kinds of rules exist... It would be “verify your news sources,” given the prevalence of fake news.
Anyone you wanna give a shout out to?
I want to give a shout out to Noreen Reza ’21 for all the advocacy and pro bono work that she does, for her leadership, and for being such an inspiration. She does a lot of good work and with such poise and humility.
We’ve talked a little bit about your journey to law school. Looking back, does anything stand out to you?
I think something that sticks out to me as an immigrant refugee is how the displacement of myself and my family has affected my journey. There’s a struggle that comes from displacement, from being an immigrant and a refugee, and from having to reestablish your roots again and again. It can be consuming. But the community you form around those roots gives you hope for humanity and the good in the world. My journey to law school has not been a straight path. I’ve had to make a lot of stops. Economic and political struggles have always been a part of my life. Redefining myself, my community, my family, and keeping my humanity in all that—all of that is important to any narrative about me.
How do you feel about your roots now?
I’ve learned to plant and replant my roots and strangely feel comfortable with movement. I’ve now put down roots in New York, and I’m still deepening those roots, but sometimes that stillness feels strange and scary. I meant what I said about community giving me hope. My community is the working class community in New York, the immigrant community, and women of color. My advocacy has always been rooted in community and I will always continue that work in some way.
---
kd5tg@virginia.edu