Putting the spotlight on stories that affect the Asian Pacific American community will be the goal of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month at Columbia University (pictured here).
The month kicked off with a performance by comedian Hari Kondabolu, poetry from spoken word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai and a musical performance from student duo Super Piano Brothers, reports the Columbia Spectator.
Melinda Aquino, associate dean of multicultural affairs, explained the theme of this year’s APAHM, Illuminate.
“They’re opportunities to pause and fully absorb the immense history from which we have come from … and more simply, as the theme of APAHM should suggest, to illuminate the stories we normally do not hear,” she said.
Organizers hope to build coalitions to other groups in campus with a renewed emphasis on building pan-ethnic solidarity
“We want to make sure people really see that we’re not just this closed off Asian cultural club, but that we’re really about bringing this to the Columbia community as a whole,” she said.
You can read more about the month and the origin of the phrase “not a Chinaman’s chance in the Columbia Spectator.
