Asian American & Pacific Islander Month celebrates and honors the hard work and sacrifices these ethnic groups have made. Regardless of what your background is, every immigrant understands the difficulties behind becoming successful in the United States. Additionally, there is not much Asian & Pacific Islander representation, so it’s important that we recognize individuals who have done phenomenal work in their respective industries.
With movements going around recently, like the Stop Asian Hate movement, it is even more important that we celebrate AAPI Month. Asian & Pacific Islander’s struggles are often silenced and brushed off.
Below are the ethnic groups that we recognize as part of AAPI Month Celebrations.
Jeanie Jew, a former Capitol Hill staffer first approached Congressman Frank Horton about the idea of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in the mid-1970s. She had witnessed the U.S. Bicentennial celebrations of 1976 and was concerned about the lack of recognition given to Asian Pacific Americans. For Jew, the lack of recognition was very personal: Her great-grandfather, M.Y. Lee, had come to the U.S. from China in the 1800s and had helped build the transcontinental railroad. He and his peers had played a key role in American history but had suffered for it.
In 1977 Reps. Frank Horton of New York introduced House Joint Resolution 540 to proclaim the first ten days in May as Pacific/Asian American Heritage Week. In the same year, Senator Daniel Inouye introduced a similar resolution. Neither of these resolutions passed, so in June 1978, Rep. Horton introduced House Joint Resolution 1007. This resolution proposed that the President should “proclaim a week, which is to include the seventh and tenth of the month, during the first ten days in May of 1979 as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.’” This joint resolution was passed by the House and then the Senate and was signed by President Jimmy Carter on October 5, 1978 to become Public Law. This law amended the original language of the bill and directed the President to issue a proclamation for the “7 day period beginning on May 4, 1979 as ‘Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.’” During the next decade, presidents passed annual proclamations for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week until 1990 when Congress passed Public Law, which expanded the observance to a month for 1990. Then in 1992, Congress passed another Public Law, which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.
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. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.
“Hey, what part of the world are you from?”
“I’m from Asia!”
“No you aren’t… You’re Indian,”
“Yeah, I’m Indian, but I’m still Asian,”
“No, you’re Indian, not Asian,”
This is an exact conversation I (Shreya) remember having with someone when I was younger.
South Asians ARE Asians. Indians ARE Asians. Pakistanis ARE Asians.
This list goes on and on with every South Asian ethnicity. The world tends to forget how diverse Asia really is. There are thousands of languages spoken within this continent and it includes so many ethnic groups. However, East Asians are only considered as Asians, when in reality, there are many different countries other than the few in East Asia.
India is IN Asia. So are Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Pakistan, and a handful of other countries. We are all still Asian.
Although Asians are considered the “Overrepresented” Minority, The Pasupu does not agree with this statement. We do agree that there are many Asian actors and actresses, but again, this depends on how we break down the term Asian. For example, the only popular Sri Lankan actress that is talked about is Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. Hollywood could do a better job in representing many different groups of Asia. This includes not generalizing all South Asians as Indians, or all East Asians as Chinese. Additionally, Hollywood should incorporate some cultural aspects of these characters in TV shows and movies. For example, many people never even knew that Beck from Victorious was half-Indian. Instead of either completely ignoring the culture, or significantly misrepresenting it, Hollywood needs to do a better job in educating.
Here is a list of influential Asian Americans in Hollywood!
Nora Lum, known professionally as Awkwafina gained fame after her 2012 viral YouTube video and has since starred in movies such as ”Crazy Rich Asians,” “Ocean's 8” and “The Farewell.”
Randall Park is an Asian American actor, comedian and writer best known for portraying Eddie Huang's father, American restaurateur Louis Huang in the ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2016.
Alexandra Dawn, "Ali" Wong, is an Asian American comedian, actress and writer. She is noted for her Netflix stand-up specials Baby Cobra and Hard Knock Wife, both of which received critical acclaim.
Here is a link to a list of films that celebrate AAPI month!
Here is a list of influential Asian Americans in government!
Ladda Tammy Duckworth is an American politician and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel serving as the junior United States Senator from Illinois since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented Illinois's 8th district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017
Tulsi Gabbard is an American politician and United States Army Reserve officer who served as the U.S. Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. Elected in 2012, she was the first Hindu member of Congress and also the first Samoan-American voting member of Congress.
Mazie Keiko Hirono is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States Senator from Hawaii since 2013. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Here is a list of influential Asian Americans in STEM fields!
Jerry Chih-Yuan Yang is a Taiwanese-American billionaire computer programmer, internet entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo!
Satya Narayana Nadella is an Indian-American business executive. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014. Before becoming CEO, he was the executive vice president of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group, responsible for building and running the company's computing platforms.
Colonel Ellison Onizuka was a distinguished U.S. Air Force pilot before becoming part of NASA's Astronaut Class of 1978. He became the first Asian American astronaut in space when he completed a mission on Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985. Unfortunately, his life was cut short in 1986 as part of the team aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
All of these Asian Americans have an important role in paving the way for many future asian americans to take up these careers as well. They are inspirational and great role models for asian americans all over the world!
To celebrate AAPI Month, there are many things that you can do! You can support Asians & Pacific Islanders by shopping at their businesses.
Take some time to watch movies starring Asians, or learning about your favorite Asian actors, celebrities, and influencers. Our favorite movies at The Pasupu are Life of Pi and Crazy Rich Asians! Our favorite South Asian influencers are Deepica Mutyala and Sruthi Jayadevan!
Thanks for reading! Come back next week for our next post on sex/health education in south asia!