The debate about America's racial history spills out of the classroom

The inability for the U.S. to talk about racial inequities continues to divide the nation along familiar racial and political fissures.

Views on whether the public’s increased attention to the history of slavery and racism is good or bad for society are divided by age and education, as well as by race and political affiliation.

Not surprisingly, people of color -- Asian, Black and Hispanics -- want to have more discussions while Whites would prefer not to talk about the impact of racism on the country's history and the problems that have emerged from that legacy.

Asians, Blacks and Hispanic adults overwhelmingly say White people benefit from advantages because of their race. White adults are divided; 47% say Whites benefit the advantages they have, but 52% believe there is no benefit.

Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say increased attention to history of slavery and racism is bad for the country, according to a new Pew Research Center report.

Opinion on the current national reckoning over the history of slavery and racism in the United States casts these divisions into stark relief: Among U.S. adults overall, 53% say increased public attention to that history is a good thing for society, while 26% say it is a bad thing and another 21% say it is neither good nor bad.

The survey, conducted July 8-18 among U.S. adults on Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, finds a wide partisan divide in these opinions: 

Just 25% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say greater attention to the history of slavery and racism is a good thing; far more (46%) view it negatively, while 29% see it as neither good nor bad. 

Democrats and Democratic leaners – across racial and ethnic groups – express overwhelmingly positive views of increased attention to the topic (78% say it is good for society). 

The survey also finds that half of all adults say “a lot” more needs to be done to ensure equal rights for all Americans regardless of their race or ethnicity, while about as many say either that a little (34%) or nothing at all (15%) needs to be done.

Among other key findings from the report:

• There are wide racial and ethnic differences in these opinions: 75% of Black adults say heightened public attention to this topic is a good thing, with 54% saying it is “very good” for society. Majorities of Asian American (64%) and Hispanic (59%) adults also view this positively, though much smaller shares say it is a very good thing, compared with Black adults. Among White adults, however, fewer than half (46%) say greater attention to the history of slavery and racism in the U.S. is good for society, with just 24% saying it is very good.

• Americans are divided over how much progress has been made toward racial equality and how much more needs to be done. While most adults say the nation has achieved at least a little progress toward racial equality over the past 50 years, 48% say “a lot” of progress has been made. Similarly, while most say more needs to be done to bring about racial equality, half say a lot more needs to be done.

• Those who say a lot more needs to be done to ensure racial equality are split over how this can be achieved. About a quarter of the public (24%) says that while there are many inequities in U.S. laws and institutions, necessary changes can be made by working within the current systems, while roughly as many (25%) say that most laws and major institutions need to be completely rebuilt because they are fundamentally biased against some racial and ethnic groups.

• Nearly eight-in-ten Black adults say a lot more needs to be done to ensure equal rights for Americans of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. This includes 58% who say that in order to achieve this goal, most of the nation’s laws and major institutions need to be completely rebuilt because they are fundamentally biased.

• Smaller majorities of Hispanic (59%) and Asian American (56%) adults say a lot more needs to be done to achieve racial equality; just 30% of Hispanics and 24% of Asian Americans say laws and institutions are fundamentally biased and need to be completely rebuilt.

• Among White adults, 42% say a lot more needs to be done to ensure racial equality: 18% say most laws and institutions need to be completely rebuilt, while 24% say necessary changes can be made within the current systems.

• Republicans overwhelmingly think only a little (47%) or nothing (30%) needs to be done to ensure equal rights for all Americans, regardless of their racial or ethnic backgrounds. Just 22% say a lot more needs to be done, with only 7% saying that most major institutions need to be rebuilt because they are fundamentally biased.

• Democrats, by contrast, generally agree that a lot more needs to be done to achieve racial equality (74% say this). Yet Democrats are divided over whether this will require rebuilding most laws and institutions (40%) or can be achieved working through existing systems (33%).

• A 53% majority of Democrats say White people benefit from advantages in society that Black people do not have. While that is little changed in the past year, the share of Democrats expressing this view has increased 15 percentage points since 2016 (from 38% to 53%).

• There has been very little change in Republicans’ views over the past five years: Just 6% of Republicans now say White people benefit from advantages that Black people do not have. Nearly three-quarters of Republicans (73%) say White people get little benefit (39%) or no benefit at all (34%) from advantages that Black people do not have.

Read the entire Pew report here.

Virginia selects historical highway markers will include AAPI history for the first time

AAPI historical markers similar to this one will be placed near Virginia's roads.

Virginia residents and tourists will be reminded about the contributions of Filipino sailors and Vietnamese immigrants as they drive the state's highways and byways.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced five new state historical highway markers that highlight topics of national, state, and regional significance to Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) history in the Commonwealth. These markers were submitted by Virginia students through the inaugural AAPI Heritage Month Historical Marker Contest. 

“Throughout history, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities have made significant contributions to our Commonwealth and our country, but too often their stories remain untold,” said Northam last Tuesday, April 3. “As we continue working to tell a more comprehensive and inclusive Virginia story, I am grateful for the efforts of Virginia students and educators in helping elevate the voices of prominent AAPI Virginians with these five new historical markers.”

Launched in May, the AAPI Heritage Month Historical Marker Contest invites students, teachers, and families to learn more about Asian Americans who have made important contributions to Virginia history and submit ideas for new historical markers to the Department of Historical Resources.

“Through the Governor’s historical marker contests and various other initiatives, the Department of Historic Resources is determined to highlight untold stories and I am grateful to all the students and educators who have helped make this vision a reality,” said Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources Matthew J. Strickler. “These students have made a meaningful contribution to our historic justice efforts and worked hard to ensure our markers are inclusive, diverse, and tell the full Virginia story.”

The student winners and descriptions of the five new markers selected for installation are as follows:

• “Filipinos in the U.S. Navy” (Virginia Beach), nominated by students from Cherry Run Elementary School in Burke, Virginia and by the adult English as a Second Language (ESL) program in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
  
  Filipino members of the U.S. Navy have served in Hampton Roads since at least the Civil War. A full Filipino-American community began emerging after the Philippines achieved independence in 1946 and the Navy began recruiting Filipinos for all positions. Today, spurred by the Navy and a large nursing community, Hampton Roads is the second-largest Filipino community on the East Coast. 

• “Kim Kyusik” (Salem), nominated by students from Cumberland Middle School in Cumberland, Virginia.
  
  In 1903, Kyusik graduated from Roanoke College, which today funds a fellowship in his memory. He held several roles in the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea including foreign minister and vice president, and was a representative at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. He was kidnapped by North Korean factions after World War II and died in captivity.

• “Arthur Azo Matsu” (Williamsburg) nominated by students from Cumberland Middle School in Cumberland, Virginia.
  
  Matsu graduated from William & Mary in 1927, where he was the first Asian American student. The son of a Scottish mother and a Japanese father, he became a leader on campus even as Virginia introduced a series of laws in the 1920s to prevent “race mixing.” He became the first Japanese-American football player in the National Football League as a quarterback, after guiding William & Mary’s high-octane offense from 1923–1926 and leading the program to its first postseason win. 

• “W. W. Yen” also known as Yan Huiqing (Charlottesville) nominated by students from Hunters Woods Elementary in Reston, Virginia.
  
  Yen graduated from the University of Virginia in 1900, where he was the first international student to earn a bachelor’s degree and the first Chinese student to earn a degree. One of China’s key early 20th century leaders, he served as premier five times and held a series of important cabinet and diplomatic posts. The University of Virginia now has a dorm and scholarship fund named after him. 

• “Vietnamese Immigrants in Northern Virginia” (Falls Church) nominated by students at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School in Falls Church, Virginia.
  
  The Vietnamese community began solidifying in Arlington’s Clarendon neighborhood during the 1970s, becoming known as Little Saigon by the end of the decade. The fall of the South Vietnamese government spurred a surge in immigration, with the D.C. area becoming the third-largest Vietnamese community in the country. Climbing rents pushed much of the Vietnamese commerce west to the Eden Center in the 1980s, which over the ensuing years has expanded and became at one point the largest Vietnamese shopping district in the country.

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced the winners of the historical marker contest.

“The Historical Marker Contest helped me learn more about Virginians who made a big impact, like Arthur Matso, the first Japanese American to play in the NFL,” said Andrew Crenshaw, a rising 6th grader at Cumberland Middle School. “As I researched Arthur Matso, I learned how much he did for the sport of football and for Virginia. He played quarterback at William & Mary and coached football at several Virginia high schools, inspiring students like me to work hard and do their best.”

Virginia’s historical highway marker program began in 1927 with installation of the first markers along U.S. Route 1 and is considered the oldest such program in the nation. Co-managed by the Department of Historic Resources and the Virginia Department of Transportation, the program is an effort to recognize and chronicle events, accomplishments, sacrifices, and personalities of historic importance to Virginia’s story. The signs are known for their black lettering against a silver background and their distinctive shape.

“The AAPI Historical Marker Contest gives students, teachers, and families another way to think critically and intentionally about Virginia history,” said Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Janice Underwood. 

“The incredible students who participated in this contest are helping advance the ONE Virginia mission of telling a more complete version of our shared identity as Virginians, which includes contributions by our diaspora of AAPI residents.”

Virginia has erected more than 2,600 state historical markers. The five new markers will be formally submitted to the Board of Historic Resources in September and are expected to receive approval in the coming months. Once installed, they will be among the first to focus on Asian American and Pacific Islander history in Virginia.

Sunday Read: Who the hell is Chanel Rion and what was she doing in a Presidential press briefing?

SCREEN CAPTURE / CSPAN

OAN White House correspondent Chanel Rion asks her question.

During a press briefing by the White House's Coronavirus Task Force led by Donald Trump, an Asian American reporter asked a question that prompted one reporters to say, it was the "dumbest question I ever heard."

Chanel Rion, a Korean American reporter for OAN (One America News), the unabashedly pro-Trump media outlet asked what appeared to be a staged question intended to give Trump the opportunity to blast the mainstream media.

Before she even started, Trump interjected: “OAN — very good,” he said. “Thank you very much, they treat me very nicely. Go ahead.”

“Mr. President, do you consider the term ‘Chinese food’ to be racist because it is food that originated from China?” Rion asked leaning forward in her chair.

“I don’t think that’s racist at all,” Trump played along.

“On that note, major left-wing media, even in this room, have teamed up with Chinese communist party narratives, and they are claiming you are racist for making these claims about ‘Chinese virus,’” Rion continued, before serving up a question meant to be a softball for Trump: “Is it alarming that major media players, just to oppose you, are siding with foreign state propaganda, Islamic radicals, and Latin gangs and cartels and they work right here out of the White House with direct access to you and your team?”

“It amazes me when I read the things that I read,” Trump replied with a grin, before going on a familiar rant about all the "fake news" he feels have been critical of him.

“I don’t think anybody has done as much as I have done in three years,” he noted at one point. “This administration has done a great job. But the press is very dishonest.”

Rion, meanwhile, wasn't finished pitching softballs. “They are siding with state propaganda,” to which Trump to readily agree that “they are siding with China.”

OAN, a far-rightwing outlet is not respected, even among the other conservative media. Siraj Hashmi of the Washington Examiner, a conservative newspaper, said "This might be the dumbest question I've ever heard."

The camera couldn't catch the reaction of the other reporters in the room, but they were probably straining not to roll their eyes. Later some of themt weeted their reactions.

"OAN is so Far Right, It Makes FOX News Look Balanced" reads a Media Matters headline.

During her time at OAN, Rion (her real name is Ryan) accompanied Trump “lawyer” Rudy Giuliani on his mission to Ukraine to find dirt on the Biden family. She recently ran a story making the wild assertion that the coronavirus was created in a North Carolina lab, which in itself is a talking point of the Chinese government.

Rion claims her family left the US temporarily because they couldn't stand living in a country with Bill Clinton as President. During that time, the live in South Korea, where her mother was born. 

According to Media Matters, before joining OAN in May 2019, Rion worked as a pro-Trump editorial cartoonist whose illustrations promoted anti-Muslim bigotry; Seth Rich conspiracy theories; the book of a virulent anti-Semite; and a call for “armed citizens” to defend the country against purported coups and assassination attempts by the “violent left.”

TGIF Feature: CBS' 'Sunday Morning' features the building of the transcontinental railroad

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

Descendants of the Chinese workers who built the Transcontinental Railroad made sure that Chinese were not omitted in the recreation of the historic photo.

In case you missed it, last Sunday, CBS's Sunday Morning did a feature on the transcontinental railroad built 150 years ago. Most of the 6.5 minute segment was devoted to the Chinese workers who built the western portion of the railroad through the rugged Sierra Nevada mountain range.

The 20,000 Chinese men who worked on the transcontinental railroad were largely overlooked in US history books. The iconic historic  photo of the railroad's completion left out any of the Chinese workers.

Hundreds of descendants of the Chinese workers were determined to correct this oversight and participation was prominent in several May 10 ceremonies and events commemorating the  1505h anniversary of completion of the railroad  at Promontory Point, Utah to ensure that their ancestors receive the honor they deserved.

The popular low-key and often inspiring program hosted by Jane Pauley airs at 9 a.m. on CBS stations.

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So, where were all the Chinese workers when famous transcontinental railroad photo?

There's not a Chinese owrker in sight in the historical photo.

On the 150th anniversary of the last spike driven in to complete one of the grandest infrastructure jobs in the history of the United States, let's take a look back a bit.

One of the greatest examples of marginalizing  or omission of minorities in the history of the United States is the famous photo taken upon the completion of transcontinental railroad.

Despite having up to 12,000 Chinese working on the western portion of the railroad that connected the eastern and western parts of the U.S., not a single Chinese is in the historical photo.

It's the same photo that appears in all the U.S. history books taught in school. By ommision, the photo teaches students that the Chinese workers didn't work through the Sierra Nevada, blasting tunnels and carving mountainsides to lay the tracks for the Central Pacific Railroad.

It turns out the Chinese were out to lunch.

A report from  the San Francisco Newsletter, May 15th, 1869, described the final moments of the celebration at Promontory:

"J.H. Strobridge, when the work was all over, invited the Chinese who had been brought over from Victory for that purpose, to dine at his boarding car. When they entered, all the guests and officers present cheered them as the chosen representatives of the race which have greatly helped to build the road ... a tribute they well deserved and which evidently gave them much pleasure."

There was only one photograph that gave any indication of Chinese involvement in laying down the last few rails of the railroad. A stenographic view was taken by A. J. Russell titled "Chinese at Laying Last Rail UPRR."

The view clearly shows at least one Chinese worker and a partner with rail-laying tools appearing to adjust the last rail laid (from the CPRR side), with a wooden track gauge stick still in place while two others look on.

The final tasks of laying down the rails and connecting East and West -- as the stereograph depicts -- was described in the report from End of Track, November 9, 1868, as quoted in the Southern Pacific Bulletin, August, 1927:

"Long lines of horses, mules and wagons were standing in the open desert near the camp train. The stock was getting its breakfast of hay and barley. Trains were shunting in from the west with supplies and materials for the day's work. Foremen were galloping here and there on horseback giving or receiving orders. Swarms of laborers, Chinese, Europeans and Americans were hurrying to their work. On one side of the track stood the moveable blacksmith shop where a score of smiths were repairing tools and shoeing horses and mules. Close by was the fully equipped harness shop where a large force was repairing collars, traces and other leather equipment. To the west were the rails and line of telegraph poles stretching back as far as the eye could reach. The telegraph wire from the last pole was strung into the car that served as a telegraph office. To the eastward stretched the grade marked by a line of newly distributed earth. By the side of the grade smoked the camp fires of the blue clad laborers who could be seen in groups waiting for the signal to start work. These were the Chinese, and the job of this particular contingent was to clear a level roadbed for the track. They were the vanguard of the construction forces. Miles back was the camp of the rear guard–the Chinese who followed the track gang, ballasting and finishing the road bed. Systematic workers these Chinese – competent and wonderfully effective because tireless and unremitting in their industry ... The rails, ties and other material were thrown off the train as near to end of the track was as feasible, and then the empty train was drawn back out of the way. At this point the rails were loaded on low flat cars, and hauled by horses to end of track. The ties were handled in the same way. Behind came the rail gang, who took the rails from the flat cars and laid them on the ties. While they were doing this a man on each side distributed spikes, two to each tie; another distributed splice bars; and a third the bolts and nuts by which the rails were spliced together. Two more men followed to adjust and sent back for another load ... Back of the track builders followed a gang with the seven more ties necessary to complete the foundation for each rail. These were put into position and spiked by another gang, which also leveled up the track and left it ready for the ballasters. ..." 

Now, a cynic might say -- a conspiracy theorist might say -- the lunch was a ruse so the Chinese would be occupied while the famous photograph was taken so that the Irish and other white workers would get the credit. There's no other evidence to support this theory, but, I'm just saying ...
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California students petition for Asian American Studies course

Asian American high school students in Irvine, Calif. can't wait until college to learn how Asian Americans helped build this country.

Over 700 signatures have been collected for a petition to have the Irvine Unified School District offer an Asian American Studies course for high school students, which make up about 60% of the student body.

The online petition was created by and led by the Korean American Young Leaders, a youth empowerment program run by the Southern California city's Korean American Center.

"All our social studies, literary and history courses are taught from a Euro-American perspective," reads the petition. "There are no schools within IUSD that offer an Asian American Studies or Ethnic Studies class. Most students are not aware of contributions that were made by Asian Americans to the fabric of this country. This lack of awareness among Asian Americans and the general population has resulted in Asian Americans often being disenfranchised."

"As students, we believe this is important in promoting diversity and intercultural understanding. This class will provide all students with an opportunity to learn and understand Asian American history and our contributions to the United States while allowing students to take pride in their dual cultural heritage," continues the petition.

The students might have some legislative help in their endeavor. 

Last week, Assemblymember Jose Medina, D-Riverside, introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 331 to mandate Ethnic Studies as a graduation requirement in all California high schools. This follows Governor Brown’s veto of AB 2772 last year, which would have created a pilot program for select school districts to require Ethnic Studies.

“Knowledge of our history plays a critical role in shaping who we become," said Medina, a former teacher. "When I was growing up, the history of those who look like me was not represented in the classroom. As a former Ethnic Studies teacher, I saw firsthand how much more engaged my students were when they saw themselves reflected in the coursework."

Assembly Bill 331, introduced Jan 31, would require the students in grades 9-12 to take an ethnic studies course in either social studies or English starting in the 2023-24 school year. The Instructional Quality Commission would develop the course curriculum with input from ethnic studies professors at universities and colleges, along with representatives from local education agencies and teachers with experience or educational backgrounds in studying and teaching ethnic studies. The class could run either one semester or a full school year, depending on what the individual school district decides.

According to a 2016 study from Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, students who took part in a pilot ethnic studies program at San Francisco high schools had higher GPAs and better attendance rates and more credits earned than those who didn’t.

“Taken at face value, these findings provide a compelling confirmation of an extensive literature that has emphasized the capacity of [culturally relevant pedagogy] to unlock the educational potential of historically marginalized students,” the report said.

School district officials said they are open to hearing the students' concerns.

"California is one of the most diverse states in the country and we should celebrate that diversity by teaching a curriculum that is inclusive of all of our cultures and backgrounds," Medina said. "Ethnic Studies provide students an opportunity to learn about histories outside of the Euro-centric teachings most prominent in our schools. At a time when the national climate drives divisiveness and fear of otherness, Ethnic Studies can play a critical role in increasing awareness and understanding."

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Heart Mountain Internment camp to function as a classroom

In many ways, Heart Mountain functioned as a small town. Childred recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

ASAM NEWS

IN NORTHWEST WYOMING, Heart Mountain silently overlooks the towns Cody and Powell. Between Aug. 1942 and Nov. 1945, the town’s people witnessed the incarceration of over 14,000 Japanese Americans. 

One of the few remaining structures - a guard tower.

Now, according to The Billings Gazette, Montana State University-Billings (MSUB) is “offering a course dedicated to the Heart Mountain site” to educate students about a portion of history that is often overlooked.

MSUB geography professor Susan Gilbertz hopes that the university’s newly offered course will emphasize “questions about how place and time interact with cultural identity,” and questions like “where are [the] geographies of war that are not in the news or not visible to us?”

“Maybe it wasn’t a battle, but it was certainly something that happened because of war,” she said.

In light of the current political climate, Gilbertz also stated”This is a really good thing to do right now — to talk about immigrants to the American society…It’s right here in our backyard,” she said.

This holiday season, more than 14,000 migrant toddlers, children and teens, according to Time , spent Christmas in “U.S. government detention and processing centers across the country.”

Gilbertz states that she hopes to “use this real place to really force us to think about immigration, not in the abstract.”

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Rose Parade includes tribute to Chinese railroad workers

CHINESE AMERICAN HERITAGE SOCIETY

The float is being prepared before it gets covered with flowers for the Rose Parade.

By Ann Thuy Nguyen

ASAM NEWS

THE INCLUSION of a New Year's Day float in the  2019 Tournament of Roses Parade marking the contributions of Chinese American workers made in completing the transcontinental railroad is bringing attention to the near omission of Chinese Americans in that history-making event.

Nearly 150 years ago in Promontory Point, Utah, employees from the Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad companies gathered around two locomotives to celebrate the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. The photograph taken on that May 10, 1869 day has become iconic in U.S. history, but fails to represent the overwhelming majority of the railway’s workforce, the thousands of laborers brought from China.

Wilson Lee, the great-great-grandson of a transcontinental railroad worker, is determined to include Chinese laborers in the railroad’s 150th anniversary in 2019. He serves as co-founder of the Boston-based Chinese American Heritage Foundation (CAHF), a nonprofit “dedicated to celebrating the rich history of Chinese Americans’ contributions to the American spirit” according to its website.

Lee proposed a float for the 2019 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California to commemorate the Chinese and ethnic immigrant laborers’ achievements and hardships.

“We wanted to celebrate the contributions of not just the Chinese immigrants, but all immigrants responsible for the building of America,” he said in a phone interview with AsAmNews. “Not just the ones from 150 years ago, but also the current immigrants today.”

RELATED: Chinese American railroad workers finally get their 'day'

Even though CAHF had zero funding and sponsors when the Rose committee accepted the organization’s application to showcase a float—projected to cost $300,000—Lee did not hesitate to pay the $5500 deposit for the event.

He asked Esther Zee Lee, board chair and president of CAHF—and his wife—to send in the check. She asked if he was sure, and he responded that he was as determined as the day he had asked her to marry him.

Thanks to community partnerships and a primary sponsorship from Union Pacific, CAHF will have the longest float on the 5.5-mile route New Year’s Day 2019.

The float will also be the first Rose Parade float to be sponsored by a Chinese American nonprofit organization.

The 95-foot-long “Harmony through Union” float will feature a one-to-one scale replica of the two train engines from the iconic photograph and large-scaled hands holding a hammer and the iconic golden spike.

What differentiates the “Harmony through Union” and the historic moment is it includes the faces of Chinese people.

Joining CAHF on the float will be retired Major General William (Bill) S. Chen, a descendant of a Chinese railroad worker and the son of a Chinese American veteran of World War II.

Chen, who is also the first Chinese American to achieve 2-star rank in the U.S. Army, is honored to be a part of a float that commemorates the Chinese American railroad workers.

The contributions that Chinese Americans and immigrants like Chen and his family have made to the United States’ economic and political infrastructure have not been fully told.

“For so long, all of my life and for many generations, Chinese Americans and Asian Americans are seen as foreigners. And that we’re visitors or newcomers, but certainly not truly an American,” said Rep. Karen Kwan, the first Chinese American to be elected to the Utah State House of Representatives.

“The thing is that the Chinese have been involved, but they’ve been overlooked like they’re not a true part of American history.” Kwan adds, “All of a sudden, to me, this [float] reminds me of what it’s like to be a part of America and not pushed aside as an other.”[It’s] an integration that doesn’t say we now belong, but we have been here since the beginning, and we have built America

Kwan, who will ride the float with her youngest daughter, also views this float as something larger than oneself—“an integration of American traditions.”

“[It’s] an integration that doesn’t say we now belong, but we have been here since the beginning, and we have built America, ” says Kwan.

Following the float’s debut in the Rose Parade, CAHF will continue to honor the 150th-anniversary of the transcontinental railroad with the “Rebuild America” educational initiative—raising funding to offer free books to various young students on stories about early Chinese pioneers in the United States.

“We want young people to know their stories and those of their ancestors,” says Lee. At the end of the conversation with Wilson Lee, he wanted to emphasize that this float is not for a single audience.

“This is not just a Chinese American float, this is an Asian American float, and this is an immigrant float. He says, “This is America’s float.”

* * *

The Rose Parade begins at 8 a.m. PST on Tuesday, January 1, 2019, in Pasadena, California. Check local listings for detail.