Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Floor Speech

ASIAN PACIFIC HERITAGE MONTH -- (House of Representatives - May 07, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, more than anything else I'd like to thank Chairman Mike Honda from California for organizing tonight's special order to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month because it's important for us to not only say it today, but have it recorded in the Congressional Record for all time that we appreciate what members of American society have done for us, especially members, this month we want to celebrate of Asian Pacific American heritage, who are Americans, patriotic, hardworking, and in every respect trying to live the American dream.

And so I stand here with a great deal of pride as a Member of Congress who represents a portion of the city of Los Angeles, a very diverse district with a substantial Asian Pacific American population. I stand here as a very proud member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus' Executive Committee.

And I also stand here very proud to say that on many occasions I've had the opportunity to author legislation very important to the Asian and Pacific American community here in this country, whether it has been the issue of reuniting families of Korean descent who have not seen family members in North Korea for many, many years, or whether it's been legislation to try to help obtain justice for Asians of Latino descent who were deprived of their rights back during World War II and never, never received the recognition they deserved to get their rights and their property back. I had that opportunity.

But rather than talk about the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act which began the whole process of discrimination and racism towards Asian and Pacific Americans in this country, or rather than dwell much longer on the history of the internment of Japanese Americans, some 120,000 back during World War II for no reason, without due process, when, in fact, we found out that Japanese Americans served this country proudly and patriotically. In fact, they were among the most decorated of American soldiers during World War II.

And rather than talk about, as I just mentioned, the plight of Filipino soldiers during World War II, who as Filipino veterans, served under the American flag, yet, by an act of Congress in 1946, were deprived of the rights to veterans benefits in this country, let me talk about something else, and not in general terms.

Let me talk to you a little bit about America's

leaders today and tomorrow. Just yesterday I had the opportunity to award the winner of my Congressional Arts Competition, which we do every year, so the one winner in my district in high school who has an opportunity to present his or her piece of art work in the Capitol of the United States is introduced on that day of the selection. And that was yesterday.

My winner, for the 31st Congressional District, was Julie Lee, a high school student in my congressional district who did a phenomenal piece of art work. She will be a leader tomorrow. We know it not just because of her artistic talents, but because she came forward to participate in this process.

I could name the various military academy nominees that I've sent off to, whether it's West Point or the Air Force Academy of Japanese, Chinese or Korean American descent that I've had the pleasure and honor to send on to become leaders of this country.

Or I could simply talk about someone by the name of Christine Oh, who happens to be a legislative assistant in my Congressional office here, or Henry Truong, who happens to be my executive assistant here in my Washington, D.C. office, who many would consider my gatekeeper because he decides what my schedule looks like; or perhaps Melvin Tabilas in my district office in Los Angeles, who is one of my field representatives who helps me manage an area that has some 650,000 people there to try to make sure we give the people in my district the coverage they need.

Or perhaps I could mention the names of people like Stuart Kwoh, who has been a champion for civil rights and simply the rights of Americans, especially those of Asian Pacific American descent in Los Angeles through his work with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

Or I could speak to you about Grace Shimizu, who has been a champion to have restored to those Japanese Latin Americans the rights they lost during World War II through the organization Campaign For Justice, which she is a part of and leads.

Or I could mention Hyepin Im, who is the leader of the Korean Churches for Community Development in the Los Angeles area, now a national organization, which tries to help, through the Korean churches throughout this country, to bring Korean Americans forward and to receive the benefits of what this society offers to Americans.

Or perhaps I could mention Joel Jacinto, who is the Director of the Search to involve Filipino Americans, SIPA, an organization which truly goes out into the community, especially in the Filipino American community in Los Angeles to make sure that whether it's on education, housing, health care issues, SIPA is there to offer Filipino Americans those services.

Mr. Speaker, to Mr. Honda we say, thank you for letting us have this opportunity to talk about the achievements, the accomplishments of people of Asian Pacific and American descent. Clearly, these are Americans who have persevered and excelled in this country.

We could talk about the difficulties of discrimination and racism, the violence that has been experienced by many. But rather than that, I think it's better, most fitting to talk about today's leaders, and tomorrow's leaders in this country.

So to one of today's leaders, Congressman Mike Honda, I say thank you for letting us talk today about tomorrow's leaders in this country as well. And with that, with great pride in helping to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source