Krishnankutty: Elevate, celebrate APIDA voices this month

The month of May is celebrated as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, a time to recognize Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans (APIDA) and their influence on the history, culture and achievements of the United States.

The term APIDA evolved from “Asian American,” a concept coined in 1968 by Berkeley graduate students, Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee, who founded the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) to bring together individuals of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Korean origin as a political voice supporting civil rights and opposing the Vietnam war. The term was revolutionary, as there was no well-developed Asian identity in Asia, where national, ethnic or linguistic identities were more important. The term later changed to Asian Pacific American (APA), or Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), to include Pacific Islanders, and then APIDA, where “Desi,” meaning “of the country” in Hindi, was added to include South Asians. AANHPI, which includes Native Hawaiians, is also used, as seen in President Biden’s recent proclamation declaring May as “Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander Month.”

APIDAs have a long history in the United States — the first Asian settlement is thought to have been established by Filipino fishermen in Louisiana as early as 1763. The fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the United States, APIDA currently encompasses 24 million people of Asian origin, and 1.6 million Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

The community has diverse national origins and ethnicities, speaks multiple languages, and practices many religions. Further, some APIDA families have been here for several generations, while some of Asian origin are recent refugees, on temporary visas, or even undocumented. The term Asian/APIDA acknowledges this diversity in immigration status and citizenship. The APIDA community also has the largest income disparity among all racial groups in the United States. Recognizing this is crucial for creating inclusive communities with equitable access to governmental resources, internships, jobs and scholarships for Asian/APIDA students who need it.

The APIDA community has been under attack recently with anti-Asian hate crimes increasing by 339% last year compared to the year before, spreading fear and racial trauma in APIDA communities nationwide. Local APIDAs have been working with allies to counter this by elevating APIDA voices and celebrating APIDA joy.

Over the past year, many community groups including the PanAPIDA Circle, Community and Campus in Unity, Community Diversity Group, and student groups including Penn State APIDA Caucus, South Asian Law Student Association, State High APIDA students, as well as Penn State units including Student Affairs and WPSU, and local organizations including Bellefonte Art Museum, Schlow Centre Region Library and Bellefonte YMCA have taken action by organizing panels, discussions, screenings, exhibits, special programs and outreach.

Local governments including Centre County, State College, Ferguson, Patton and Halfmoon issued proclamations during Lunar New Year and continue to do so for APA Heritage Month, creating belonging for local APIDAs. Several are sharing postcards on “How to Report Hate/Bias” that were created in English by the PanAPIDA Circle in 2021, and then translated by State College Borough into Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Malay, Arabic, Vietnamese, Hindi, Russian and French.

Each of us can join in taking action, including by training to stand up against hate and bias, participating in events, and recognizing the contributions of Asians/APIDAs in our networks.

We can build solidarity between communities of color and consistently include Asian/APIDA communities under the Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) umbrella during resource sharing, social justice, language access and equity/inclusion work.

We can increase inclusion by visualizing APIDA individuals as potential leaders and break the Bamboo ceiling, following Penn State’s lead in appointing Dr. Neeli Bendapudi as its 19th president. As the first woman, person of color, and person of Asian origin to hold this office, her historic presidency is certainly an inspiration, expanding possibilities for all marginalized communities everywhere.

This story was originally published May 8, 2022 at 6:00 AM.