The Asian American identity, at its root, is a reactionary creation. Although most people now think of Asian Americans as a constant in the fabric of American society, it was only a couple decades ago that Asian Americans were struggling to even gain recognition by and representation in American society. The myriad of different Asian groups that migrated to the United States, many of which shared little cultural similarities, were subjected to similar levels of discrimination. This shared experience of suffering, rather than a shared historical experience, brought the groups together. Asian Americans comprise about 4.4 percent of the U.S. population, yet only 2 percent of the U.S. Senate and 1.6 percent of the U.S. House of Representatives is composed of Asian Americans. Serving as the “model minority,” Asian Americans have often been overlooked and issues relevant to them left unanswered. Although there was little historical basis for forming the Asian American identity, a pan-Asian coalition quickly emerged in order to effectively advocate on behalf of the community.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) has been a significant achievement in the APA movement both in the United States and at the University. Relatively speaking, APAHM is young. It originated in 1978 when Congress passed a joint Congressional Resolution celebrating Asian American Heritage Week on the first week of May, during which time the first Japanese immigrants arrived in America in 1843 and the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. It was later expanded from a week- to a month-long celebration.
APAHM is an even younger tradition at the University, almost 10 years old since its inception in 1999. Although APAHM is traditionally celebrated in May, it is celebrated in April here at the University to correspond with the academic school year. In the past years, APAHM has consisted of events such as guest speakers involved in APA activism, events joint-sponsored by APA CIO’s, panels, and movie nights. Among the speakers that have presented keynote addresses during APAHM is Neal Katyal, the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States, most famous for serving as the lead counsel in the Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.
With A/APA students comprising roughly 11 percent of the University community and steadily growing in numbers, APAHM’s relevance to the University student body has only grown. On one hand, APAHM serves as a celebration of the cultural identity of A/APA students at the University. On the other, it encourages and provides avenues for active discourse on the state of A/APA affairs and constructions of “Asian-America” both within the University and without. Ultimately, APAHM is one of the foremost vehicles for raising awareness of everything A/APA at the University: from CIO’s, to student resources, to discussions all geared towards A/APA students. Despite the strides made in increasing diversity at the University, we remain a long way from reaching the levels of institutionalized recognition of many of our peer institutions. It took years of dedication and student action for the University to develop an Asian Pacific American Studies minor in 2005. Although this was a landmark achievement, the University still remains one of only a few top 25 Schools lacking a dedicated undergraduate Asian Pacific American Studies program. Even now, Asian Americans only compose 5 percent of the University faculty. Without the institutional clout of its own department, only limited steps can be taken toward increasing the number of professors committed to the Asian Pacific American Studies Program.
The current curriculum taught here at the University and at other universities across the nation do not offer enough opportunities for students to learn about the A/APA history within the context of the United States. When students do read or hear about the A/APA population, they are often only provided with information dealing with how “foreign” populations learned to “adapt” to the traditional fabric of American culture. The message that this history conveys is that the A/APA community is an “outsider” trying to “fit in” to American society despite the fact that they have lived in the United States for well over a century and have played an essential role in its economy, culture, and history.
Accordingly, the traditional APAHM celebration is an attempt to remind and teach us that the A/APA community is not an outsider. Furthermore, their rich history in America should not be read simply as an addendum to the textbook of the history of the United States. Instead, it should be celebrated as an integral and large part of what helped define American history and culture as we know it today.
Jigar Patel is President of the Asian Student Union and Amy Chen is Vice President of Organizations of the Asian Student Union.
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