ABC7 News celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
It has been almost 50 years since the U.S. government established that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and their accomplishments should be recognized annually across the nation.
What started as just one week in May has evolved over the decades into a monthlong tribute of events in cities big and small. The nature of celebrations also evolved. Asian American and Pacific Islander or Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is not just about showcasing festive fare like food and fashion, but hard subjects like grief and social justice. The rise of anti-Asian hate during the pandemic only heightened that effort.
Many credit the observance's origin to Jeanie Jew, a co-founder of the Congressional Asian-Pacific staff Caucus. In 1977, the Chinese American shared a moving story with New York Republican Rep. Frank Horton about how her grandfather had helped build the transcontinental railroad in the 1800s and then was killed amid anti-Asian unrest.
Jew believed Asians should appreciate their heritage and "Americans must know about the contributions and histories of the Asian-Pacific American experience," Horton said in 1992, according to congressional archives. At that time, Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month had already been instituted. Yet, Asian Americans were considered the fastest-growing racial group.
Horton and California Democratic Rep. Norm Mineta proposed President Jimmy Carter issue a proclamation that the first week of May be "Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week." Hawaii Senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga, both Democrats, brought up a similar bill in the Senate. Carter signed a joint resolution establishing the celebration in 1978.
AAPI Impact Makers
As ABC7 News celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, we are featuring AAPI Impact Makers in various fields.
Fremont's 1st Indian American mayor wants to help others achieve American Dream
Raj Salwan is our AAPI Impact Maker in Government.
Salwan grew up in Fremont to immigrant parents, attending public schools and sharing a one-bedroom apartment with his hardworking parents and two siblings. The journey taught him perseverance and hard work, and gave him an appreciation for the promise of the American Dream. Wanting to enable that dream for others is what drew the veterinarian and small business owner to enter public service. After 18 years in various leadership positions, including Human Relations Commissioner, Planning Commissioner, city councilmember, and vice mayor, Fremont voters elected him as Mayor last November.
Salwan is now the first ever Indian-American mayor in a city where people of Indian descent represent the single largest ethnic group in a majority Asian, diverse city. He sees his election as a milestone for representation and a call to ensure all voices are heard in policymaking. Among his proudest accomplishments: reducing traffic congestion in the city and leading the launch of Fremont's Warm Springs Innovation District, which attracted cutting-edge tech and clean energy companies.
Fremont has long topped the list of safest cities in America, but it is facing serious headwinds such as steep budget cuts, rising property crime, and housing affordability. But Salwan's top priority right now is one that's often in the news: addressing homelessness. The city enacted a ban on encampments, but the enforcement of the ban has created controversy. Salwan says the city must balance safety with compassion, and he points to this month's grand opening of 54 units of affordable housing at Fremont Family Apartments as the start of many more projects in the years ahead.
Ultimately, Salwan finds public service greatly rewarding, and he encourages the next generation of Asian Americans to consider government leadership as a career, to ensure that diverse voices will always be heard and served.
From refugee to highest-ranking Filipina in UC: UCSC Arts dean empowers women to share HERstory
Dean of the Arts at UC Santa Cruz since 2021, Shimizu is currently the highest-ranking Filipina American in the University of California system. "Dean Celine," as her students affectionately call her, was born in the Philippines to political refugees. Her family settled in Boston before she went on to study Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, then earned her MFA in Film Directing at UCLA and a PhD at Stanford. Today, Shimizu is a celebrated film scholar, and an award-winning filmmaker whose work explores race, gender and representation. And beginning this July, she will take on an even higher visibility role as Dean of the UCLA famed School of Theater, Film and Television.
In her time at UC Santa Cruz, Shimizu launched the UC system's first online undergraduate arts degree, oversaw the creation of new media and AI labs, and significantly increased fundraising for the program. In her own books and film, she has focused on social justice, equality and compassion, often giving voice to marginalized voices, especially women and the Asian American community. Her acclaimed 2020 documentary The Celine Archive uncovers the tragic story of Celine Navarro, a Filipina mother buried alive by vigilantes in 1932. Her 2022 documentary 80 Years Later explores the legacy of Japanese American incarceration during World War II. Her latest film, So to Speak, follows a Filipina American college student who claims her sexuality and power through artmaking.
Dean Celine is a strong advocate for diversity and representation. She says when you grow up being told your history and perspective are unimportant, mentorship is everything. It's why she's motivated to mentor the next generation of artists and scholars. She's also outspoken about protecting the arts, especially now, when federal arts funding are under threat. Shimizu believes the arts help us remember the past and imagine new futures, and are a necessity rather than a luxury. As she prepares to say goodbye to the Bay Area for UCLA, Shimizu has this piece of advice for women, especially AAPI women. "Sit in your authority and claim your power, especially in a world where stereotypes about AAPI women are often incompatible with leadership. Your power comes from your experience and HERstory. Imagine how the world can be better if we all express ourselves."
OpenTable CEO opens up about shattering the glass ceiling as AAPI mom
Bay Area restaurants struggled to get bookings during the COVID pandemic era, and even now, as tariff and recession worries cause fewer people to dine out. It is a time of challenges, but also a time for new opportunities, at least to Debby Soo, CEO of the world's largest online dining reservation platform, Opentable. Not only is Soo credited with turning around a multi-billion-dollar company that had become increasingly less relevant, she's also the mother of two young boys. Shattering the glass ceiling while building a company and raising a family is hard, but Soo has never shied away from hard.
Soo is ABC7's Business Impact Leader this Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Born in Daly City and having grown up in San Francisco, the only child of Taiwanese immigrant parents who ran a travel agency from her bedroom, Soo watched her parents hustle all her life. It instilled in her a grit that would shape her future. Her love of the restaurant industry is deeply ingrained; some of her fondest memories involve sitting with her parents and grandparents in a Chinese restaurant with a huge spinning Lazy Susan that held the tastes of home. A graduate of Stanford University and MIT's business school, Soo held leadership roles at Google and Kayak, launching the travel brand in 30 new countries, before taking the helm at OpenTable. She landed in the role during the most difficult time for the industry, in August 2020, amid the pandemic's devastation of the restaurant industry. Facing plunging reservations and fierce competition from newer platforms, Soo made it her mission to help restaurants survive and thrive. She led OpenTable to waive fees, expand into takeout and bars, and launch programs supporting restaurants' reopening. Her efforts also led to a comeback of OpenTable against dining reservation upstarts Tock and Resy, which had been luring restaurant partners away from OpenTable. Soo brought many of them back with the promise and delivery of more exposure and individualized support, a story reported on by our media partner, the San Francisco Standard. Gold House to Soo on its A100 list of the most influential Asian American leaders in 2023.
Soo admits it's not easy juggling her CEO duties with motherhood. In between meetings with restaurants that she's trying to bring onboard, she's tracking her 6 and 3-year-olds' activity schedules. She attributes her success to a strong work ethic instilled by her family, resilience, and empathy, always listening and learning. OpenTable is a corporate anomaly in that its C-suite is made up of all women, which Soo sees as a strength. Her message for anyone seeking to shatter the glass ceiling: work hard and be ambitious.
Esports pioneer aims to make solar power affordable to all
Chou is our Innovation Impact Leader.
Best known for launching successful gaming companies like Kabam, the maker of the hit mobile game "Marvel Contest of Champions," and the leading international Esports league, Gen.G Sports, Chou is now pivoting to a new space: sustainability. Chou appeared on ABC7 News at 3 p.m. to share his latest mission: making solar affordable and accessible with plug-in kits that can be installed on balconies, patios or backyards and connect directly to a standard outlet. This type of system is already quite popular in Europe, and it's especially beneficial for residents without their own roof, or have roofs that are too old, face the wrong way, or are in the shade. Bright Saver's panels are about the size of a door, and with two of them, will generate 800 watts of electricity, enough to power a refrigerator, TV, microwave, laptop and washing machine.
Chou's interest in sustainability was partly sparked by his namesake building at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. In 2017, Chou and his wife Connie Chen made the biggest personal gift ever to Cal from an alumnus under the age of 40 to construct Chou Hall. It's since been named the greenest academic building in America.
Bright Saver has just launched its pilot program in the Bay Area, seeking to enroll 50 customers to test its $29-per-month system. So far, it's enrolled 25 and has room for more. Those interested can schedule a consultation. These compact systems are designed for anyone to easily install. The idea is, that you mount them on a balcony or patio, plug them into a standard outlet, and begin generating clean energy to power your appliances and cutting down your PG&E bills by 20-40%. But local regulations vary, and Bright Saver's California pilot currently requires an electrician to install a meter and sensors to ensure safety, and to prevent power flow back into the grid, which would require complex permits.
Chou says costs will come down when there are enough users, when solar technology improves, and when U.S. states have policies that allow small home producers of energy to send unused electricity back into the grid like they already do in many European countries. He hopes to see tens of millions of households install these systems in the next five years.
It may be a big dream, but Chou has always dreamed big. He has this advice to the next generation of innovators.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
