Opinion: Honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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By Rebecca Washington-Lindsey

Laguna Beach takes pleasure in celebrating the numerous contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Island Americans who have contributed to our nation and the Laguna Beach community. They represent more than 20 groups from Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, China and India; many of whom are already U.S. citizens. They make up a small percentage of the Laguna Beach community (according to current Census about 3.76% and about 6.3% of students, a small measure of error) they made significant contributions. For example, they are politicians, our neighbors, students, entrepreneurs, and workers in our community. We still value their history, struggles, successes, challenges, and vision.

Brief History

Many Asian Americans and Pacific Island Americans arrived on American soil in the mid-1800’s, and began a long journey, as immigrants, in their fight for equal justice and in do so became major contributors in U.S. history.  It was the Chinese immigrants who made up 90% of the labor force, approximately 15,000 to 20,000 labored and completed the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. There they faced racism, colonialism, and hate crimes. Further, after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, roughly 120,000 people of Japanese descent were forced to live in crowded, unclean concentration camps. Today, Asian Americans continue facing racism and hate crimes.

Brief Contributors

Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Seal Beach), is a first-generation Korean American, who represents the 48th Congressional District of California.  Steel is passionate about such issues as economy, foreign affairs, energy and environment, health, and veteran rights.

Steven Chu, served as Secretary of the United States Department of Energy under former President Barack Obama. Chu has a strong background in scientific experience, and he is a Nobel Laureate.

Our Laguna Beach postal worker: It certainly isn’t unusual for the Laguna Beach postal clerk to greet me with, “good to see you today. What can I do for you today?” In our conversations, I can hear his enthusiasm in being a useful person who contributes to the community.

Although she doesn’t live in our community, we celebrate Grace Lee Boggs a Chinese author, social activists, and philosopher who fought for gender equity.

Judge Fa’amomoi Masaniai is not a Laguna Beach resident, but worthy of being recognized after becoming Washington’s first judge of Samoan heritage earlier this year. He currently serves on the King County District Court.

Many of us use various forms of technology: Web portals, emails, and video-sharing, but you likely would not be able to have access if it were not for several Asian Americans such as Jerry Yang, who co-founded Yahoo! with David Filo in 1994. In 1996, Indian American businessman Sabeer Bhatia co-founded Hotmail.com, which Microsoft later acquired. Let us not forget Taiwanese American Steven Chen, Jawed Karim, a Bangladeshi-German American, and Chad Hurley all of whom founded YouTube in 2005.

Various ways Laguna Beach can celebrate Asian Americans and Pacific Island Americans:

Browse our library for the following books:

Children’s Literature:  Eyes that Kiss in the Corner by Joanna Ho; Amina’s Song by Hena Khan; When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller; and Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore.

Adult Books: Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Kathy Park Hong; Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner; Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad by Gordon Chang; and Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao’s Revolution by Helen Zia.

Our educational institutions should use this opportunity to educate students about Asian Americans and Pacific Island Americans by showing educational videos, organizing an ethnic heritage club on campus, engaging in classroom conversations about all ethnic groups, inviting community members as guest speakers, discussing strategies for eliminating hate crimes to include bulling and racist tactics.  Finally, make certain all ethnic groups are included in the curriculum and text.

Art is a valuable learning tool for increasing and understanding history, struggles, values, lives and hopes of diverse ethnic groups. For example, the Laguna Art Museum would be a good place to showcase art pieces by such notable artists as Tiffany Chung, Noriko Furunishi, Marcus Young and Sieng Lee.

Rebecca is a Laguna Beach resident and former adjunct professor at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

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