OVER 2,000 Asian-American national leaders, advocates, artists and community organizers gathered in Washington, DC on Tuesday, May 12 for the first-ever White House Summit on AAPIs—the groundbreaking gathering for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since its re-establishment in 2009.
The all-day program included panel discussions featuring community organizers and cabinet secretaries, performances, and the announcement of a new co-chair of the White House Initiative on AAPIs: Dr. Vivek Murthy, the newly-sworn in Surgeon General.
“This summit is a symbol of the unity and the power of the AAPI community, as well as a reminder to me of how much the community can achieve when it puts its mind to solving challenges that our community faces,” Murthy said. “It’s a reminder to me that if we actually do come together, some of the challenges we face…are solvable, and we can solve them together.”
Murthy will chair the White House Initiative with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who was among the cabinet secretaries who spoke at Tuesday’s summit about the importance of connecting and mobilizing the AAPI community with one another and with organizations fighting for similar goals.
“We need to learn from communities across the country and share lessons across the country to make sure we’re lifting up all communities together,” Murthy said.
In addition, three newly appointed members of the President’s Advisory Commission on AAPIs were introduced: Jacob James Fitisemanu, Jr., Sanjita Pradhan, and Paul Watanabe.
The AAPI summit focused in large part on the accomplishments of the White House Initiative over the last five years, from releasing individual strategic plans for 24 federal agencies to increase the AAPI community’s access to federal resources, to celebrating President Obama’s string of appointments of Asian American leaders, including 21 federal judges, since the beginning of his administration.
“This is the first well-thought out, innovative, interagency initiative the White House has done,” said Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), noting that the White House Initiative’s efforts to increase access to key information in various languages has made a significant difference.
Honda said the effort, while impressive, needed to expand in order to accurately portray the community. “It has to happen across all agencies and in our Census data,” he said. “We have to really impregnate the Census gathering system to address different languages and different formats in ways that will gain trust in the communities so we can extract information.”
According to a report by the University of California, Los Angeles Center for the Study of Inequality and the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, the population of Asian Americans in the US is expected to grow by 74 percent by 2040, and the registered voter growth is expected to rise by 107 percent to 12.2 million.
“The enthusiasm of the thousands who attended [Tuesday’s] summit and the many others celebrating around the country gives me hope for a future where AAPIs, and all Americans, are valued as equal contributors to our society and have the chance to achieve the American Dream,” said Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Chu, who is regularly involved in AAPI events, also hosted a Congressional Symposium for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month—designated in May since 1992—at the Capitol.
In a pre-recorded message shown at the summit, President Barack Obama praised the AAPI community for their work in building the nation, while also acknowledging the work his administration was doing.
“We’ve still got to get Congress to pass an immigration bill so that we can expand opportunities for more people to study, serve, and contribute to our nation,” Obama said. “And we’ll continue fighting the senseless bigotry that too many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, especially South Asians, face.” (With reports from NBC News)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek May 20-22, 2015 Sec. A pg.5)
