TGIF FEATURE: 10 illustrations of Asian American heroes

ILLUSTRATOR and visual artist Jessica Singh pays tribute to 10 individuals who have broken barriers, brought attention to the injustices faced by Asian American and Pacific Islanders, showcased the richness of their cultural heritage or expanded a shared vision of health and justice for all.

Some are well known, such as actress Mindy Kaling and actor George Takei and others not as well known such as Godwin Higa,  principal of Cherokee Point Elementary School in San Diego, and Jirayut Latthivongskorn, the first undocumented student accepted as a UC San Francisco (UCSF) medical student..

The artworks are commissioned by the California Endowment’s Sons & Brothers Campaign in honor of AAPI Heritage Month.

The 10 illustrations are of:

- George Takei is known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise in the television series Star Trek. He is an advocate for LGBTQ rights and active in state and local politics.

- Jeremy Lin is a professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).  He is the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the league.

- Jirayut Latthivongskorn is the first undocumented student accepted as a UC San Francisco (UCSF) medical student.

- Lian Cheun is the executive director of Khmer Girls in Action, an advocacy group for youth, women, and others in the local Southeast Asian community. She is among the new commissioners, who serve as the Obama administration’s eyes and ears of the Asian American & Pacific Islander community.

- Mindy Kaling is a comedian widely known for creating and starring in the sitcom The Mindy Project, which will play out its next season on Hulu.

- Philip Vera Cruz was a Filipino American labor leader, farmworker, and leader in the Asian American civil rights movement. He was a co-founder of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, which later merged with the National Farm Workers Association to form the United Farm Workers. 

- Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye is the 28th chief justice of California. She was sworn into office on January 3, 2011, and is the first Filipina American and the second woman to serve as the state’s chief justice. 

- Godwin Higa is the principal of Cherokee Point Elementary School in San Diego. He is known for his compassion-based philosophy and elevating awareness around the effects of childhood trauma on students.

- Rob Bonta serves in the California State Assembly representing the 18th District which includes east Oakland and San Leandro. He is the first Filipino American elected to the California State Legislature.

What's really neat is all 10 artworks are in dropbox so you can download the images here  for your own personal collection.

Have a great weekend!

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150th Ann'y: Chinese railroad workers get their due in photo exhibit and in Hell on Wheels

One of the photos shows the Chinese workers laying down tracks for the transcontinental railroad.

YOU HAVE probably seen the historic 150-year old photo when the Golden Spike was driven into the ground completing America's first transcontinental railroad line: Two trains facing each other and hordes of men congratulating each other posing for the photograph. Looking at the original black-and-white photograph closely and you would think the engineering feat was done only by the Irish.

The last few rails completing the railroad were laid down by eight Chinese railroad workers. Where are the Chinese workers in the famous historical photograph?

This month, Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a photo display opened up at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Mayor Kevin Johnson, former NBA star, welcomed a delegation from the Chinese consulate general in San Francisco to help celebrate and commemorate the 150th anniversary the transcontinental railroad and the contribution of thousands of Chinese workers who toiled, dug and blasted their way eastward over the Sierra Nevada and who worked for the Central Pacific Railroad. They eventually met up in Promontory Point, Utah with the work crews coming from the east made up mainly of the Irish and African American workers employed by the Union Pacific Railroad.

I don't know if this was planned five years ago, but this year, the 150th anniversary of the engineering feat, is also the 5th and final season of AMC's Hell On Wheels television series depicting the building of the railroad. The show will finally feature Chinese workers. Oh, the irony.

When the show first started, producers received a lot of flack about omitting the Chinese story. The producers' explanations about cost and limited budget didn't satisfy the critics but this next season, the producers hope to remedy that.

AMC's 'Hell on Wheels' focused on the Irish and African American work crews

"We have three new major characters," said the show's executive producer John Wirth in an interview with the "Calgary Herald." They are primarily coming into the story on the Central Pacific side of the story. There are two sides of the railroad and we’ve spent the last four years exploring exclusively the Union Pacific side of the railroad. 

"We have some Chinese characters and that is what is new this season. There were 15,000 Chinese workers working for the Central Pacific railroad. There were no Chinese labourers on the Union Pacific side of the railroad. But they were primarily responsible for building the California side. So we are going to meet three guys that represent three different type of characters that you would find in Chinese workforce."

Gee, thanks. 

Two of the three Chinese roles have been cast.

Byron Mann  play the role of Chang, an influential businessman and labor contractor who works for the Central Pacific. The Hong Kong-raised American actor and UCLA grad is best known for his role as Ryu in Street Fighter and Yao Fe in the TV serial Arrow.

Tzi Ma was born in Hong Kong and raised in New York City. The actor plays Tao, who comes from a village in Guangdong in Southern China, and is now “head man” for a group of Chinese railroad workers. A graduate of a British engineering school in China, his natural leadership abilities and facility with the English language make him essential to his white bosses.

The Sacramento exhibit includes 122 photos depicting the Chinese workers, their camps, stores and the engineering feats that they accomplished. Hundreds of them died laying the 690 miles of track from Sacramento through the Sierra Nevada to Utah’s Promontory Summit, a job that lasted from 1865 to 1869.

Stanford University  is putting together a bigger collection for the sake of historical accuracy with the Chinese Railroad Workers of North America Project. Besides photos, the project will include archeological artifacts and interviews with the railroad workers' descendants.

Not a Chinese worker in sight in this famous 1869 photo of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory Point, Utah.

Loss of face? White House Summit on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Hatchet photo

Al Jazeera America anchor Joie Chen, left, led a panel on the rights of Asian American Pacific Islanders and women during the White House summit on the Asian American Pacific Islanders. 

OOPS! President Obama blundered. His absence at the first-ever White House Summit on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders was noticed by almost all of the 2000 delegates in attendance last May 12 at Georgetown University.

To be certain, there were plenty of his appointees in the house representing Obama and the fact that the event had the "White House's" stamp of approval was important and a historic first unto itself; but all that was missing was The Man, himself.  

Whether or not it was an oversight by White House staff or merely an indication of how far the Asian Pacific community still has to go to stop being invisible, it was a large loss of face, considering how this particular demographic has supported his presidency and even claimed the fact that Obama grew up in Hawaii makes him America's first Pacific Islander president.

The president should have known how important "face" is among the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Someone dropped the ball.

I mean, how would you react if you attended a party at someone's house and the host wasn't there and had to leave for another party?

Nevertheless, if I was doing this blogging business for a living, I would have gone just to rub shoulders with those major policymakers. If you were unable to attend, here's what you missed.

Here are some links to news stories about the event:

• Obama's absence a disappointment; loss of face
• Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders seek unity, stronger voice
• White House celebrates Asian American/Pacific Islander heritage
• Historic panel on trans women of color
• White House hosts first-ever summit on Asian Americans
• What the White House done for AAPI community

A busy week In Washington D.C. for Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders

WHITE HOUSE SUMMIT ON ASIAN AMERICANS AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS
TO HIGHLIGHT UNPRECEDENTED OPPORTUNITIES ON MAY 12

IF you're in the nation's capitol this week, this is a busy week celebrating AAPI Heritage Month.

Starting May 12 the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) will host an unprecedented and historic White House Summit on AAPIs at The George Washington University, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Convening senior federal government officials, community leaders, and members of the public from across the country, the Summit will recognize the growing influence of AAPIs and celebrate the Obama Administration’s policies and programs that continue to support this community.

Now the fastest growing racial group in this country, the AAPI community is growing over four times as rapidly as the total U.S. population and expected to double to more than 47 million by 2060. Recognizing the diverse needs of the growing AAPI population, President Obama re-established the White House Initiative in 2009 to improve the quality of life for all AAPIs through increased access to federal programs. In honor of this leadership, the Summit will be part of the main celebratory week of events during AAPI Heritage Month and will be free and open to the public.

If you're not already registered, don't bother attending. It is filled to capacity.

Later in the week, The Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership will present its Heritage Ball: Redefining Asian Pacific America at the National Press Club. Tickets are still available for that event.

CAPAL is dedicated to building leadership and public policy knowledge within the Asian Pacific American community. Its mission is to promote APA interests and success in public service careers, to provide information and education on policy issues affecting the APA community, and to serve the APA community at large.

Featured speaker is Nani Coloretti, who serves as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). A former staffer for Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom when he was San Francisco's mayor, Coloretti grew up in Honolulu and received her Masters in Public Policy from UC Berkeley.

As the second most senior official at HUD, Coloretti manages the Department’s day-to-day operations, including a $45 billion annual budget and approximately 8,500 employeesNani Coloretti serves as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As the second most senior official at HUD, Ms. Coloretti manages the Department’s day-to-day operations, including a $45 billion annual budget and approximately 8,500 employees.

President Obama signs proclamation making May Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

President Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng with her husband Konrad Ng.

ON APRIL 30, President Obama signed the proclamation marking May as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. 

When Clinton became President, because of his personal history and closeness to the African American community and its causes, he was often called the first black president. This was - of course - before President Obama. 

When President Obama became president, because he was born and grew up in Hawaii (with a short stint in Indonesia), he was and is still being called - the first Asian American president. True, he has a closeness to Asians and Pacific Islanders never found in any other president. Heck, he counts Asians among his close family. His sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng is part Indonesian. She is married to Konrad Ng, director of the Smithsonian AsianPacific American Center.

The celebration of heritage began in 1978 as a week-long observance. In 1980 President Bush extended it to a 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.

Below is the complete proclamation.

ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH, 2015

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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

The rich heritage of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders spans the world and the depths of America's history.  Generation after generation, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have forged a proud legacy that reflects the spirit of our Nation -- a country that values the contributions of everyone who calls America home.  During Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, we honor the perseverance of those who courageously reached for their hopes and dreams in a new land, and we celebrate the important impact the AAPI community has made on our Nation's progress.

From the more than one million immigrants who journeyed across the Pacific and arrived on Angel Island to the Chinese-American laborers who risked their lives to link our coasts by rail, the determination of this vibrant community represents the best of our national character.  In each chapter of our country's story -- in places like Selma and the grape fields of Delano, during the moments where our Nation's destiny has been decided -- AAPIs of all backgrounds have set inspiring examples as leaders and trailblazers, united by a common hope for civil rights, equal treatment, and a better tomorrow for all Americans.

Through times of hardship and in the face of enduring prejudice, these women and men have persisted and forged ahead to help strengthen our Union.  Native Hawaiians have fought to protect their treasured traditions, language, and lands.  And AAPI patriots have defended the beliefs for which we stand.  Seventy years ago, the United States and our allies secured a lasting peace throughout the Asia Pacific region and much of the world -- a victory achieved in part by thousands of Filipino Americans who fought valiantly but were denied compensation, and also by Japanese Americans who served this country even as the freedom of their loved ones was denied.

Fifty years ago, the United States opened new doors of opportunity to more Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants through the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, ending the arbitrary and outdated policies that unfairly limited the potential of entire regions.  This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, which brought new Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian communities to this country.  But as we recognize the enormous progress America has made, we must also acknowledge the many struggles AAPIs continue to experience in the face of persistent inequality and bigotry, including barriers to equal access to education, employment, and  health care.  South Asian Americans -- especially those who are Muslim, Hindu, or Sikh -- too often face senseless violence and harassment due only to the color of their skin or the tenets of their faith.  And to this day, many AAPIs continue to live in the shadows and are separated from their families due to our broken immigration system.

My Administration is committed to addressing these unmet needs and the ugly discrimination that still exists.  I was proud to re-establish the White House Initiative on AAPIs soon after I took office, to foster opportunities for increased access to and involvement in Federal programs.  As part of that effort, my Administration is expanding its regional network of Federal leaders and hosting community meetings across the country to better understand the needs of the diverse AAPI community.  Last year, I announced my intent to take actions that would allow more high-skilled immigrants, graduates, and entrepreneurs to stay and contribute to our economy, and I continue to call on the Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.  To highlight the tremendous growth of the AAPI community and my Administration's commitment to increasing opportunity for AAPIs everywhere, this month we will host the White House Summit on AAPIs -- an unprecedented and historic all-day convening of senior Federal officials and community leaders from across the country.

As we commemorate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we pay tribute to all those in the AAPI community who have striven for a brighter future for the next generation.  Together, let us recommit to embracing the diversity that enriches our Nation and to ensuring all our people have an equal chance to succeed in the country we love.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2015 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.  I call upon all Americans to visit www.WhiteHouse.gov/AAPI to learn more about our efforts on behalf of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-ninth.

(Signed) BARACK OBAMA

White House Summit on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

PLANS ARE being made to observe Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month this May and the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders is compiling the list of activities being planned throughout the nation. If you want your event included in the list, click here. 

In case you missed the second National AAPI Community Google+ Hangout last week, here's the link: View the Hangout here.

Below are links mentioned on the Hangout where you can check out some of the activities highlighted by the Summit on Asian Americans and Pacific Islander on May 12:

· White House Summit on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

· Federal Agency Accomplishments Report

· Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and #APAEverywhere

If you have further questions, please email the AAPI office at WhiteHouseAAPI@ed.gov. For WHIAAPI updates, please like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter: @WhiteHouseAAPI.

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