San Francisco city officials led by Mayor Edwin Lee, along with Asian American community leaders, kicked off the month-long celebration of May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with a briefing held at the Mayor’s Balcony in the 2nd Floor of the San Francisco City Hall on May 1, 2013.
Along with the ever-growing street fair organized along Market Street, a slate of activities for the entire month of May have been planned by the APA Heritage Foundation and its committees to celebrate the diversity in the city and county of San Francisco.
The briefing also saw the APA Heritage Celebration Committee, co-chaired by Mary Nicely and Keesa Ocampo, announce the finalists for the APA Heritage Awards. The finalists announced were Brenda Wong Aoki, Young Sook Kim and Malu Rivera-Peoples for the Inspirational Leadership Award; Asian American Theatre Company, Asian Improv aRts, AsianWeek Foundation Heritage Street Fair and Kollaboration San Francisco for the Community Impact Award; and Robert Tamaka Bailey, Jon Jang & Francis Wong, and Malu Rivera-Peoples for Lifetime Achievement Award.
Finalist Malu Rivera-Peoples, a Filipino-American who is owner and director of Westlake School for the Performing Arts, is one of the two finalists vying for two awards out of the categories.
“I am very honored. It is always nice and heartwarming to be nominated,” Rivera-Peoples told the Asian Journal in a brief interview after the ceremonies. “It is nice to be noticed for the work that you are doing.”
According to the former principal dancer of Dance Theater Philippines, she cherishes both nominations. “The nomination for Inspirational Leadership is very hard to achieve as you have to be an influential person to young kids, and you have to carry on with that passion as time passes on. That would be a big achievement,” she said. “As for the Lifetime Achievement, every person deserves to have one.”
Rivera-Peoples believes that Filipinos have an inherent nature to be successful wherever they go.
“For all the Filipinos out there, be a true Filipino,” she declared. “Filipinos are truly talented and smart. If you apply everything that you have learned from your family, from your heritage, from your teachers, from your community, you will be successful.”
The Ballet Philippines soloist’s advice to younger Fil-Ams who want to become leaders in the community: “If you have a passion for something that you truly believe in, success is inevitable. It all depends on you as a person and your intentions.”
In his remarks before the announcement of the finalists, Mayor Edwin Lee, who was introduced by APA Heritage Foundation president Claudine Cheng, acknowledged the need to celebrate diversity and the broadening Asian American community in the City and County of San Francisco.
“Even though I am Chinese,” Mayor Lee told the audience, “I love to celebrate with the Vietnamese, the Korean, the Japanese, the Filipino communities. We have many events celebrating Asian Pacific American heritage this month. This year, we not only celebrate the cultural heritage, but we also acknowledge the contribution to the arts.”
Mayor Lee, who thanked sponsors of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, including Target, Academy of Art University, AT&T, PG&E, Kraft, McDonald’s and Wells Fargo for their continuing support, also took a few minutes to talk about an issue central to American society today — comprehensive immigration reform.
“We have a lot of work to do in this country. That is why in my recent visit to Washington, DC, I took the time to talk about and work on comprehensive immigration reform. This is an issue that has made San Francisco a special home to immigrants. There is a need for the United States to reform its immigration laws so that there are people who will not continue to live in the shadows,” he said. “When you have a legal path to immigration, a person’s economic prowess increases, including the ability to earn and to contribute.”
Mayor Lee ended his remarks by saying, “I did not become Mayor just to celebrate, but to keep the doors of opportunity open for future generations. Let us keep the work going…let us make the month of May to be the greatest month.”
Carmen Chu, San Francisco County Assessor, followed on Mayor Lee’s lead by encouraging people to take further action on the issue of immigration reform.
“Let us celebrate, but let us also advocate for people who do not have the capacity to have their voices heard,” Assessor Chu said. “Let us take action by calling your senator or your congressmen to let them know that we have to work on comprehensive immigration reform.”
(www.asianjournal.com)
(San Francisco May 3-9, 2013 Sec. A pg.1)
