Asian/Pacific Islander/South Asian American Heritage Month is one of the most important holidays for the APISAA diasporic communities in the United States. It is the official month of recognition for Asian and Pacific Islander culture and influence throughout the history of the United States.
What is APISAA Heritage Month? - Origins
APISAA Heritage Month is the official month of recognition by the United States government of Asian culture, impact, and history. It is meant to recognize the impact of all individuals, families, and communities hailing from nations within the Asia continent, as well as those who themselves or their ancestors have come from Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Despite being a recognized national tradition today, with many states and localities holding their own specialized celebrations during the month, APISAA Heritage Month was not always seen as an important part of U.S. history. In fact, APISAA Heritage Month is a relatively recent celebration.
The idea of a recognition of APISAA culture, influence, and heritage came into being in 1977, with the introduction of two key Congress Resolutions, one in the House and one in the Senate. The first, House Joint Resolution 540, was introduced by House Representatives Frank Horton of New York and Norman Y. Mineta of California. H.J. Resolution 540’s goal was to make the first ten days of May a nationally recognized “Pacific and Asian American” week. The second, Senate Joint Resolution 72, was introduced weeks later by Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. Similarly, S.J. 72 aimed to do make the first ten days of May “Pacific and Asian American” week. At the time, both resolutions failed. The year following, 1978, Frank Horton put forth a new Resolution, which sought to designate the first week of May as “Asian//Pacific American Heritage Week.” This Resolution was ultimately successful, passed first in the House, then the Senate, then signed into law by then President, Jimmy Carter. The first Asian/Pacific American Heritage observance took place in May of 1979. By 1990, the mere, annual week-long celebration was changed and added to, giving rise to the observance of the first Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month in May of 1992.
Why an APISAA Heritage Month?
History in the United States and Today
Asians, Pacific Islanders, and South Asians have been generally perceived as “recent immigrants” in the United States. This is in large part due to the passage of the Hart-Celler Act of 1965, a product of the Civil Rights Movement during the liberal moment of the 1960s. The Hart-Celler Act, also known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, officially removed restrictions on immigration that had been place for nearly 100 years, which extremely limited or, at worst, barred, entry of immigrants from Asia and Latin America. The collapse of the stringent anti-Asian immigration laws, starting with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, in effect created this narrative that Asians have not been a major force in United States history. However, if we look at historical patterns and trends of immigration, this is not the case.
Contrary to popular belief, APISAA immigrants have been part of United States culture and demographics for hundreds of years. Beginning as early as the 16th century, Chinese and Filipinos have been entering the United States. This initially took place as a result of European expansion; in search of the riches described by Marco Polo, members of the Spanish empire in the early 1500s set sail across the oceans for the first time. Coming into contact with China, the Philippines, and the “New World” (the Americas), Spanish sailors began to establish trading routes to bring new spices, materials, and treasures to Spain. However, in need of translators and strong sailors, Spanish traders often took on Chinese and Filipino traders, many of whom would settle in what became the United States as early as the 16th century.
However, despite these early migrants, the first mass introduction of Asians to the United States was the Chinese, who came to the U.S. in search of gold. As early as 1848, lured by stories of gold-paved roads, Chinese immigrants arrived as laborers in modern-day California in search of gold mountains. The onset of Chinese immigrants (almost exclusively men) from the 1850s onward led to extreme animosity, racism, even mobs of violence from white Americans, culminating in the later Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. There are multifaceted reasons for such exclusionist sentiments / legislations, but the fear of labor competition and nativism were key drivers of anti-Chinese sentiments.
The Chinese immigrant ban saw the mass rise instead of primarily Japanese but also Korean immigration, many of whom went to Hawaii or China as plantation laborers. Of course, despite they themselves feeling little to no affinity with each other nor with original Chinese immigrants, white America racialized these Asian immigrants just the same, leading to further immigration restrictions. Many South Asian immigrants also made their way to the United States in the early 20th century, arriving on the Pacific West coast as well, largely as farmers, due to being recognized as Caucasians (though this was not always the case). Much Asian immigration, already minimized, came nearly to a halt due to the Johnson-Reed of 1924. It was at this point that the United States created strict quotas, limiting the immigration of people from Asian countries to roughly 100 individuals per year.
Filipino migration is a special case of Asian immigration; beginning in 1898, colonization of the Philippines by United States began, ending only in 1946. Though they were racialized like other Asian groups as a “savage” or subordinate “Other,” Filipinos were legally recognized as American “nationals” (notably, not citizens), and were able enter the Pacific West coast as laborers.
Of course, these quotas saw their demise with the passage of the aforementioned 1965 Hart-Celler Act. It was following this period in the 1970s that the United States saw the rise of immigration now from Southeast Asia, especially from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Many of these immigrants came to the United States as refugees, fleeing from (often American-led) wars in their home countries.
Evidently, Asians are not “new” to the United States; in fact, they have been shaping the decisions and policy of the United States for hundreds of years. Building the very foundation of this country have been on the back-breaking labor of millions Asian immigrants. Today, nearly 20 million people identify as “Asian” in the United States, making up about 7% of the total population. As immigration continues to grow, so too will this population.
Meaning and Importance
While the historical impact of Asians in America is clear, perhaps it is less clear how an APISAA heritage month remains important today. However, as became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, Asians remain “Othered” and “foreign.” Despite the growing incorporation of Asians into the public sphere, via politics, economy, and popular culture and media: anti-Asian sentiment continues to lie just below the surface. Therefore, APISAA heritage month remains crucial both as a time for celebration, but also reflection. It is important now more than even to understand who we are, where we came from, and where as an APISAA community we are going in the future of the United States.
Distance and Asian Stereotypes
The Yellow Peril and the Forever Foreigner
Despite the longstanding presence of Asians in the United States, two historical stereotypes continue to plague Asians in America today: the yellow peril and the forever foreigner.
The idea of Asians as a “yellow peril” first came to existence in the late 19th and early 20th century, following the success of Japan as a military power in the Sino-Japanese War. Born in Germany, the stereotype initially referred to fears of the “immoral, evil” Japanese. However, it would soon be adopted by the United States, and the yellow peril idea began to encompass all perceptions of Asia and Asian peoples. Western fears that “Orientals” would disrupt Western values imposed the idea that all Asian peoples were savage, evil, and diseased, thereby becoming the prime antagonist to the ideals of the Occident. This stereotype would prove obdurate, as evidenced by strict anti-Asian immigration as well as the adamance of the U.S. to deny citizenship to Asians by any means possible (see Takao Ozawa v. United States and Bhagat Singh Thind v. United States). Throughout the 20th century and even today, the media continues to incorporate “yellow peril” imagery both subtly and overtly, portraying Asians as hostile, unassimilable, and undesirable through exaggerated illustrations of features such as eye shape, skin color, and both hyper-sexualization and asexualization.
From the idea of the yellow peril came another negative stereotype we may be familiar with today, that of the “forever foreigner.” The idea is that, despite being part of the United States for hundreds of years, attending American schools, speaking English, fluent in American mainstream culture, becoming citizens, or even being born in the United States: Asians will never truly be “American.” In other words, Americanness is something that can never be reconciled with the “othered Oriental,” a direct antagonism which falls out of the yellow peril stereotype.
Daily, Asians remain the targets of racist, othering microaggressions. Questions such as, “Where are you really from?” “Where did you learn to speak English? It’s so good,” and “Shouldn’t you be good at math?” are all examples of the “forever foreigner” stereotype in action, many of which Asians face regardless of their nation of birth origin. Today, it remains common in daily conversation as well as in mass media to portray Asian Americans as though they do not belong, as though they are something different and alien, ultimately unassimilable to American culture, no matter how hard they try.
The Model Minority
The most common Asian stereotype today, argued at times to be a positive stereotype, is that of the “model minority.” In 1966, William Pettersen claimed that Japanese Americans were a model minority, due to their ability to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, work hard, and succeed in the United States on their own. Since then, the perceived homogenous success of Asians in the United States has been used as “proof” that America has moved past structural racism. Today, the model minority myth is used by white America to claim that the American dream is attainable in a now “color-blind” society, and we are now in a post-racial society. The model minority is weaponized by the dominant white class, using Asians to disparage other minority groups, such as Latinx and Black communities.
Further, through this myth, Asians are collapsed into one group, disregarding the actual diversity and differences that exist between the ethnicities that make up the group “Asian American.” In this way, those who feel that they do not live up to the expectations of the “model minority,” or what it means to be “Asian in America,” experience greater psychological and personal distress. In other words, the model minority serves to harm Asians who feel that they do not live up to the prototypical, successful Asian image upheld in the United States. The model minority puts forth an essential Asian culture, and those who feel as though they do not meet that Asian culture may feel that they simply are not Asian enough compared to their family and peers.
Triangulation
The yellow peril, forever foreigner, and model minority stereotypes all operate to “triangulate” Asians into a middle-ground, outsider position in the American racial hierarchy. First introduced by scholar Claire Jean Kim, the idea is that Asians are perpetually below whites but above Blacks in terms of economic and educational success, yet distinct, apart, and “Othered” from both. In other words, they are capable of structural success to a certain degree, but they will never be capable of being accepted into American cultural life. Such narrative is also vitally significant in inhibiting a sense of solidarity between Black and Asian communities.
Today, it seems to be the case that Asians do feel some semblance of a triangulated position relative to other racial groups. On one hand, many Asians do enjoy educational and economic success, as well as less overt racism given their perceived quiet, acquiescent nature. At the same time, this is just one part of the story. Still, many Asians, especially those who have come to the United States most recently as refugees or as laborers, do not enjoy the economic success that America has claimed that all Asians achieve. Further, many Asians, first generation immigrants and those whose families have been in the U.S. for decades, do experience alienation alike; they are treated as though they will never be truly accepted in American society by all other racial groups, no matter how hard they try. Looking to the future, it is unclear whether Asians will continue to be recognized and cherished as valuable, incorporated citizens, or if they will be perpetually held at arm’s length.
Hope for the Future of Asians in America
As far as we have come, there is still much more work of acceptance to be done. It is incumbent upon us as Asians in the United States to remain educated of our own history, celebrate our own culture, and to promote the growth of knowledge of the various Asian diasporic communities across the nation. APISAA Heritage Month is one of many growing opportunities for Asians to recognize, hold onto, and promote acceptance of our cultural values, traditions, and familial beliefs as we navigate our acceptance and belonging in the United States.
- The Activist
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