APA heritage month to battle stereotypes

Although Asian Pacific Americans are culturally and ethnically diverse Asian Pacific American Heritage month is a celebration of all of these diverse cultures in the hope of creating awareness and pride on campus.

In 1992 former President George Bush signed a proclamation designating May to be the nationally recognized month of Asian Pacific American Heritage, according to the events program.

The University's month-long program is a part of this national recognized month but because University students are not on campus in May, UAAO has changed the date to accommodate the students.

The celebration of APA heritage began March 17 and will run through April 17.

"UAAO is an umbrella group," said Khoa Nguyen, a program coordinator at the Office of Academic and Multi-Cultural Initiatives.

The group encompasses 23 independent Asian Pacific American groups on campus and also includes students who are not affiliated with APA groups.

Each separate APA group is organizing and co-sponsoring its own event. UAAO is lending its support by co-sponsoring and coordinating these events into a month-long program.

"We're here to promote their programs," said UAAO chair Kim Pham, an LSA junior.

According to a UAAO statement its goal is "striving for a unified Asian-Pacific American voice through activism, pride and awareness."

Although the various Asian groups have distinctly different cultures "the one thing that links us all together is that we're politically recognized as one group," Pham said.

Within the group, members of UAAO recognize these cultural differences Pham said, but because APAs are always classified in one group -Asian American- there was a need to unify and create a community of support.

"We are from a similar background," said LSA sophomore Keslie Hui, UAAO internal relations chair. She added that although the groups are culturally different various APA groups are able to relate and associate with each other.

The group holds a weekly meeting where representatives from APA groups share their views and gain support for their group, Nguyen said.

Events include cultural showcases of dance, martial arts, folk play, educational workshops and lectures. Also included in the program are concerts, exhibitions and film showings. For more information programs are available at OAMI, located in the Student Activities Building.

The key event of the month is the Generation APA Cultural Show, scheduled for March 31. The show is a student-run pan asian show with performances from many different cultural and ethnic groups. Included there will be dance performances ranging from traditional Filipino, Chinese, Arabic and Indian dances to contemporary hip-hop dancing, skits and singing.

APAs want to "get our community ... more involved on issues and more educated on issues" and to "present ourselves in our culture," Hui said.

He also said that one goal of this month is to correct common stereotypes of Asians portrayed in the mass media.

03-24-99