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Reflection on AAPI Heritage Month

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May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a national observance that honors the perseverance and legacy of Asian and Pacific Americans and celebrates their contributions to the nation. The theme for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month is “Advancing Leaders Through Purpose-Driven Service.”

AAPI Month honors culture ranging from Chinese, Japanese and Korean to Samoan, Indian, Filipino and Polynesian. The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, with the immigrant Chinese workers laying the tracks.

In 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-450 (PDF, 285kb) which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.

Having been part of the American story since its earliest days, Asian Americans are now the U.S.’s fastest-growing racial group with the potential and power to shape our nation and the policies that affect us; this is a time when we celebrate the diversity of our community, past, present, and future. We all mark this moment in different ways. For many of us, it is about reflection and awareness, including the nuances within the AAPI community, the false “model minority” stereotype casting all Asians as privileged and academically high-achieving; neglecting or overlooking the sectors that fall all across socioeconomic spectrum of disenfranchised subgroups remaining largely invisible.

Presently, as AAPIans, we are fighting and strongly participating and standing against racism and hatred in this country. We stand for the eventual freedom in which all women in America are accepted, respected, and empowered.

We will tell more stories about the AAPI community, their struggles and successes, stories about heritage and culture, pride and faith, sacrifice and resilience.

Ultimately, we will tell stories celebrating what it means to be Asian and Pacific Islander and American, with our voices shouting in unison.

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