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Many times when we celebrate special months like May’s Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage month, we focus on notable historical figures, food, books, or movies. While that is awesome, we often forget that people of AAPI descent are not just in the past but are also in the present. When put like that, it seems super obvious and redundant, but too often, historically oppressed people are made to seem as if we only exist in the past and are not living and breathing in the world right now. To celebrate AAPI Heritage Month, we're spotlighting these AAPI individuals who are making an impact on our world.
What is AAPI Heritage Month?
Since 1978 when it started as AAPI week and then expanded to a full month in 1992, AAPI Heritage Month is when we publicly recognize the contributions and achievements of Asians and Pacific Islanders in America in all areas and fields.
It’s held in May for two main reasons. One, to acknowledge the first Japanese immigrant, 14-year-old boy Manjiro, into the U.S. — though he was not the first Asian to arrive in the Americas. (The first Asians to do so were Filipinos who landed near Morro Bay, Calif. on a Spanish galleon in 1587, 33 years prior to the Pilgrims arriving.) Two, it’s to mark the completion of the transcontinental railroad which relied on 20,000 railroad Chinese immigrant workers.
Why we celebrate AAPI Heritage Month
More than ever — especially in the wake of COVID-19 and the rise in anti-Asian violence in the U.S. — the need for increased awareness about the diverse AAPI communities and history in the U.S. is vital. Not only because too often, AAPI folks are rendered invisible by the media, but because Asian American history is American history.
Notable people making AAPI history
With that said, here are a few people of AAPI descent who are making a difference and contributing to the rich and varied history of AAPI folks in the U.S.
1) Alok V Menon (pictured above)
Alok V Menon is a mixed-media artist exploring trauma, belonging, and the human condition who is also an internationally lauded author, performer, and public speaker. They created the #DeGenderFashion movement which campaigns to degender the fashion and beauty industries and has been honored on multiple lists of culture shifters and influencers.
2) Nainoa Thompson
Nainoa Thompson is a Native Hawaiian master in the traditional Polynesian art of non-instrument navigation. In 1976, he crossed the Pacific Ocean without any modern navigational tools, using only the stars and waves to chart his course. Thompson, the president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, is influential in rekindling the ancient Polynesian art of navigation, working to educate and revitalize the lost art of traditional Hawaiian sailing.
3) Saru Jayaraman
The current president of One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley, Saru Jayaraman is an Indian American attorney, author, and activist. Often awarded and featured on lists profiling visionaries and changemakers, Jayaraman works to ensure that service and restaurant workers receive a fair wage and improved working conditions.
4) Alice Wong
Alice Wong is the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community that creates, shares, and amplifies disability media and culture. Wong is also a writer, disabled activist, author, and consultant. She is a co-partner of multiple projects like DisabledWriters.com, a resource connecting editors with disabled journalists and writers, and Access Is Love, a movement that is seeking to create a world in which accessibility is reframed as an act of love instead of an obligation or footnote.
5) Jose Antonio Vargas
Filipino writer and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas is the founder of non-profit media advocacy group, Define American. The Emmy-nominated filmmaker and Tony-nominated producer championed DREAMers (young, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children) and the undocumented.
6) Justine Rae Lee
Executive director of Living Room Conversations and co-creator of Make America Dinner Again, Justine Rae Lee is a New York City based nonprofit leader focused on crossing the political and ideological divides. Lee encourages civic engagement through guided activities and small group conversations over dinners, building understanding one meal at a time.
7) Mai Nguyen
Mai Nguyen is a farmer and organizer whose end goal is “to provide delicious, nutritious, culturally-appropriate food using environmentally beneficial methods.” As the co-founder of the Asian American Farmers Alliance and a member of the Farmer Justice Collaborative, she helped pass a trailblazing farmer equity act in California in 2017. Nguyen draws upon her experiences of being a refugee, her science, food distribution, marketing, community organizing backgrounds to develop an equitable, ecological food system.
8) Thenmozhi Soundararajan
Current executive director of Equality Labs, Thenmozhi Soundararajan is a Dalit rights activist. In addition, Soundararajan tells stories across various media, and uses art and technology to support South Asian religious, cultural, and genderqueer communities in the U.S. and South Asia. Through her work, she helps fith anti-blackness, caste apartheid, Islamophobia, state violence, and religious intolerance.
9) Mina Fedor
2021 TIME Kid of the Year Mina Fedor founded AAPI Youth Rising as a middle-schooler after witnessing the rise in anti-Asian violence and an incident involving her mother, who is Korean. The mission of AAPI Youth Rising is to make positive change in communities through small actions.
“This group helps me show my kids what other kids are doing to promote change,” shared mom of three Dre Siu.
Some of those changes include organizing a rally to bring awareness about anti-Asian violence in America, an art showcase, as well as starting additional chapters all over the U.S. For AAPI Heritage Month 2022, there is even a lesson students can use to present to their schools.
10) Dennis Kato
Educator and lecturer Dennis Kato has dedicated himself to researching and raising awareness about the forced evacuation and unlawful incarceration of Japanese Americans in concentration camps during WWII. Kato — whose parents were incarcerated at Amache in Colorado — especially wants to connect with the younger generations and educate them about the experiences of his family and other Japanese Americans. Kato teaches classes and speaks to groups and does outreach through his Facebook page, Beyond Barbed Wire.
Most importantly, Kato wants to ensure these atrocities aren't allowed to happen again. “I want to get the message out there so people understand that this happened and to prevent it from happening in the future,” Kato told AARP. "And the U.S. government, if they so desire, can, for the sake of national security and military necessity, isolate and imprison any group that they want to.”
