Why is AAPI important to us
As incidents of Asian Hate have spouted up and as we come to a close of American Asian Pacific Islander Heritage month, it’s time that I turn fear of sharing my identity into a celebration of who I am as a mixed-race woman, Filipino and Jewish.
@CynthiaChoi1 of @stopaapihate shares: “We’re having a racial reckoning. We are connecting the dots to what’s happening to us, to other communities of color.. It’s important that we recognize that this is structural racism, it’s not new. We can actually do something about that.”
Here I am doing my own reckoning work, finding pride in my identity, and learning to speak up.
It is ironic that for a living I help others find their voice when I’m only finding mine. Ah, #chrionhealing in action.
Being Filipino has only recently become a source of pride as I have worked to heal my identity crisis and get over my #colonialmentality. There is so much more work to do.
Both Jeff and I are from Hawaii and both of Ilocano Filipino descent.
The first Asians documented visiting the Americas were the Filipinos in 1587, most likely the result of the Spanish occupation of the Philippines through Mexico.
While our family’s journeys happened only in the last 2 generations, it’s this human quest to look for better opportunities that leads people to move.
It is this shared journey of all Asians and migrants, to find a better life, contributing culture as new roots are established. This is what I want to celebrate. The diversity that makes us as a whole stronger.
Why is AAPI heritage month important?
So that we can recognize the gifts that the millions of Asians and Pacific Islanders from labor, culture, food.
So that we can be proud, feeling a deep satisfaction from your own achievements.
To celebrate as a company, Jeff and I want to honor our Filipino legacy and uplift our AAPI clients for all they add to their communities and the world.
Why is AAPI important to you?
Here are some of our #AAPI Clients we worked with
Sake Day
Sake Day is the longest standing and largest Nihonshu no Hi outside of Japan, and many regard this event as the largest day of sake celebration in the world.
API Legal Outreach
API Legal Outreach works for equal justice in the immigrant community providing culturally competent and linguistically appropriate legal representation, social services, and advocacy for the most marginalized segments of the community including low-income women, seniors, recent immigrants, and youth.
The Center (JCCCNC)
The Center (Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California) strives to meet the evolving needs of the community through offering programs, affordable services and facility usage while preserving and promoting the Japanese American cultural and historical heritage.
Western Pacific Fishery Management Council
Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional fishery management councils established by Congress in 1976. Based in Hawaii and managing the islands and oceans of the western Pacific, helps preserve resources for both commercial and local foragers that depend on sustainable practices.
Sakura Haru Jewelry
Sakura Haru is her given name. In Japan, sakura symbolizes hope, and haru means “spring.” There, the arrival of cherry blossoms has long heralded the season’s beginning and is a time to gather and celebrate.
New Moon Creative.co
And of course, New Moon Creative co – run by a team of Filipino Americans from Hawaii, now living the San Francisco Bay Area – committed to helping entrepreneurs and social impact makers find their voice and shine brilliantly like the luminaries they are born to be.
