Los Angeles City Council members held a presentation Friday honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month and highlighted the many contributions of Asian Americans.
“There are dozens of ways to experience and learn more about the AAPI culture – from cultural museums to art film screenings, to cooking classes, as just one example,” Councilman John Lee said, who led Friday’s presentation alongside Councilwoman Nithya Raman.
Lee said for all of the festivities and celebrations across the city, there is also a thread of seriousness.
“We all know that in the last few years, they have been especially difficult for the AAPI community as we have continued to face incidents of hate and discrimination,” Lee said.
“One of the things I always reiterate to the public is that if you see an instance of hate and you are a victim yourself, please speak up.”
Lee and Raman shared personal stories of the importance of representation, as well as anecdotes detailing moments when they experienced discrimination. Raman made a point of uplifting the power of community.
She recalled a Chinese New Year party that was almost canceled due to the tragic Monterey Park shooting. The organizers decided to move forward with it, Raman added.
“I remarked that day that when I was a child and we saw tragedies like this happen, I would have grieved alone,” Raman said. “And in Los Angeles, I grieved with my community. We held each other up, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have this city, to have all of you, to have its people behind us at this moment.”
As part of the presentation, Lee and Raman presented actor Shannon Dang, one of the stars of the CW’s “Kung Fu,” with a plaque to commemorate her work.
Los Angeles is a diverse city, Dang said, and the AAPI community is an essential part of that. She also acknowledged that diversity has not always been equally reflected in the entertainment industry, but the industry has made strides to change that.
“`Kung Fu’ became the first predominantly Asian American cast for a drama series on broadcast television,” Dang said. “The show premiered during the time in the pandemic where our community was facing animosity and hate.”
The show — which was canceled this week after three seasons — helped “normalize” being Asian American in the country and “humanized” the AAPI community during a time when it was needed, Dang added.
In Dang’s final remarks, she called for AAPI community to continue to break barriers and uplift each other.