It’s AAPI Heritage Month!
For the month of May, we recognize and celebrate the contributions, accomplishments and cultures of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. But how can we really celebrate these heritages? We spoke with David Jen, the founder and executive director of the Learn AAPI History Project, a Princeton, New Jersey-based initiative, on the importance of learning and teaching AAPI history and how we can celebrate this month.
The Learn AAPI History Project is a youth organization that works to teach AAPI history and better race relations through various free resources. Our main goal is to mandate AAPI history in schools, create curriculums surrounding important figures and events in AAPI history, and invent new ways for all audiences to learn AAPI history.
We work in four primary ways: through our children’s book, social media campaign, podcast, and curriculum advocacy and creation.
During the pandemic, my family and I faced an onslaught of anti-Asian rhetoric. While working as a grocer, my mother faced customers who would scream obscenities and slurs at her, telling her to go back to her country. Millions of Americans promoted the mindset that the AAPI community did not belong because we were “perpetual foreigners”. This ignorant behavior stems directly from a lack of knowledge of AAPI history.
I started planning the Learn AAPI History Project in 2022 because I wanted to change this pattern of ignorance by educating my peers and promoting respect for the AAPI community. I also wanted to change how members of the AAPI community saw themselves. As a child, I had to forage for stories surrounding people who looked like me, and I didn’t want this for the next generation, I wanted young Asian Americans to be able to see themselves as important.
Fun fact, New Jersey has almost 1 million AAPI citizens and about 10% (101,875) reside in Hudson County.
Because many are unfamiliar with our rich histories and diverse cultures, they often view us as strange and treat us with a lack of respect. I turned my attention towards education because it is a powerful tool that can nip racially insensitive thinking in the bud. When we teach and learn AAPI history, we are exposing students to a new perspective and helping them understand people who look different.
I think that a great way to improve representation is to support projects that include South Asian and Pacific Islander representation. Especially in the field of media and entertainment, companies want to support projects that sell. If we work together to support projects that represent the Asian community well, I believe more representation will arise from that.
Visit museums like the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco or the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City. Find a local AAPI organization and attend all the events you can. For New Jerseyans, an AAPI-focused non-profit based in Montclair called AAPI New Jersey offers many events including a color run and lantern festival. Next Thursday, Learn AAPI History is co-hosting a film screening with AAPI New Jersey and Montclair State University.
One of the most interesting resources I found was a curriculum used in New York City public schools called “Hidden Voices: Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the United States”. The curriculum was a fun read and included a plethora of stories surrounding diverse figures in AAPI history.
