API assembly!

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, which honors the achievements and contributions of AAPI communities to the US and worldwide, officially began on May 1st. May became an important month for the AAPI community in the US more than a century before the inaugural AAPI Heritage Week was announced. The first Japanese immigrants entered the nation on May 7, 1843, and the transcontinental railroad, built by some 20,000 Chinese immigrants, was finished a few decades later on May 10, 1869. AAPI Heritage Week was not observed for the first time until 1979, when President Jimmy Carter issued a presidential proclamation. Then, in 1992, an amendment was passed by Congress directing Americans to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month for the full month of May with “appropriate ceremonies, programs, and activities.”

Why is it important to celebrate? Asian and Pacific Islander people increasingly use May as an opportunity to celebrate their cultures and bring attention to pertinent concerns. The term “Asian and Pacific Islander” denotes a broad category of people originating from the East, Southeast, and Indian subcontinents of Asia as well as the Pacific islands of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. Whether it is AAPI culture or another culture, one of the most crucial things to learn about respecting it is that the first step in any appreciation of another culture is always self-education. Learning about the struggles and history of another culture, whether through films or reading a few books, is the greatest way to begin your road toward publicly praising it.