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Mr. Lee And Kaffeinate’s Legacy Will Forever Be Remembered In The Durham, NC Community  

May this writing serves as a proper tribute to a wonderful man, father, and Durham citizen.

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“Yeah, my intuition is telling me there’ll be better days / I sit in silence and find whenever I meditate / My fears alleviate, my tears evaporate / My faith don’t deviate, ideas don’t have a date / But see I’m growing and getting stronger with every breath / Bringing me closer to Heaven’s doors with every step / As we speak I’m at peace, no longer scared to die.” — J. Cole

“Are you seeing this?” read one of the many texts that bombarded my phone Wednesday morning. A gas-line explosion had just blown up the building that my favorite coffee shop, Kaffeinate, was located in.

When I got out of my morning meeting, I began streaming the live video of the firemen aiming to extinguish the flames. I sat in disbelief as I stared at the ruins that occupied the former building of Kaffeinate. It all felt so surreal. I left work at lunch to pick up my dog and walk over to the rubble. Even witnessing the scene unfold at ground zero, I still couldn’t believe what was happening.

Since I relocated to Durham from Austin, Texas, I have spent countless hours writing in Mr. Lee’s establishment.  Mr. Lee, the owner of the coffee shop, and I hit it off right away when I moved here last November. I was aware that North Carolina’s population consisted of less than 3% Asian Americans, so I was rather surprised when such a hip spot and cultural hub of the community was owned by one. In my eyes, Mr. Lee is the embodiment of the American dream.

In one of our first conversations, Mr. Lee told me about a great local grocery store where I could pick up some kimchi. When I visited the grocery store, I made sure to bring him back some kimchi.

On Christmas Eve, Kaffeinate was one of the few establishments open. My fiancé and family still reside in Texas and Hawaii, respectively, and I had to stay in town to close a deal at work. So, on Christmas Eve, I made a dim sum and dumpling plate and was sure to stop by his coffee shop to drop off the food plate to him. By this point, he already felt like family to me.

Mr. Lee was a fatherly figure to so many in the community. I recently honored the fifth anniversary of my own dad’s passing. The Durham School of Arts, serving 6th to 12th grade, is located just down the street. Every morning, I witnessed children of all backgrounds get dropped off at the coffee shop and get some breakfast or hot cocoa on their way to school. In the afternoons, the café would often serve Duke University and Duke University School of Law students working on their various papers or cramming for the next test.

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On the weekends, I met other young professionals, attorneys, medical and law students, artists and coders, downtown workers, fellow apartment dwellers, and parents of all backgrounds with their kids. There were few local establishments that were so welcoming to everyone. The fact that I could write and eat waffles, all with my yellow lab “Izza” by my side always warmed my heart. Like myself, Mr. Lee is a dog lover and owner.

As the weather got warmer, Mr. Lee set out a table with a few chairs on the sidewalk. It became Izza’s sunbathing spot. But on this fateful morning, a contractor would puncture a 2-inch gas line below Izza’s sunbathing spot, which would cause the catastrophe.

Mr. Lee’s modus operandi was a business case in how to foster a diverse community and promote inclusion. He once asked me about a red sign he saw that day: “First, they came for the immigrants…” I informed him of what it meant and how I wrote about these issues often for The Dallas Morning News and Above the Law. After that conversation, he always asked me what I was working on. I would always respond: “Protecting us immigrants.” And he would counter, “Good!”

I had spent a few hours at ground zero talking to others who were also in disbelief. It felt as if we were at a wake. After spending so many mornings at Kaffeinate and with Mr. Lee. We were now mourning Kaffeinate and possibly Mr. Lee. One dead. Seventeen injured, including a fireman, and six in critical condition. Writing this now, I am rattled.

After a couple of hours in a haze, I decided to take Izza on a walk to the Duke campus and around the 1.25 path that surrounds its East Campus when I stumbled upon @kaffeinatenc’s Instagram (now-deleted) post:

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Thank you for all your love and support. We are still looking for Mr. Lee. We will update when we have more news but also please ask that you respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time.

Then I read a witnesses’ statement:

I was sitting at the traffic light… and I smelled heavy, heavy gas. There were people in the building. I saw a business owner put a sign that said ‘Business is closed for the day because of a gas leak.’ As soon as I went through the traffic light, the whole building exploded.

My heart sank. Knowing Mr. Lee, I bet he made sure everyone left the building and that everyone else was safe and accounted for before he closed his shop. He would even take the time to make a sign to alert his customers of why his place of refuge for so many of us would have to shut its doors for the day. Kaffeinate was one of the few retail businesses with a prominent window on that block of Duke Street.

As I write this, we still don’t know the victim’s ID. I pray for Mr. Lee, Kaffeinate’s staff, and the remaining people involved. If Mr. Lee was the one who lost his life, then the Durham community will never be the same. If it was Mr. Lee who passed away, then he lived his last day doing what he loved — serving and fostering an amazing community. If it is Mr. Lee’s family who has to plan a funeral, then I hope we can all have a chance to let them know how much he meant to us here in the neighborhood.

I hope this writing serves as a proper tribute to a wonderful man, father, and Durham citizen. No matter the news, Mr. Lee and Kaffeinate’s legacy will forever be remembered in the Durham community.

Update: Kaffeinate coffee shop owner, Kong Lee, 61, has passed away. RIP Mr. Lee. Coffee shop owner killed in blast remembered. ‘He set the tone for the entire shop.’

Parents help as Durham School of the Arts to reopen for 1st time since explosion

Renwei Chung is the Diversity Columnist at Above the Law. You can contact Renwei by email at projectrenwei@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter (@renweichung), or connect with him on LinkedIn.

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