Rep Grace Meng (D-NY) urged for an immediate vote in the new year on her bill to create a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History.
While there is a National Museum of African American History, National Museum of the American Indian, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, there is no equivalent for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Congress approved the American Museum of the American Latino in 2021. There is also a migratory museum known as the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, but it lacks a permanent home or a building.
Meng told QNS.com that the history and contributions of AAPIs are “forgotten or ignored in the greater narrative of American history.”
Among those who support Meng’s bill are journalist Lisa Ling and Stop AAPI Hate Co-Founder Dr. Russell Jeung of San Francisco State University.
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They want the House Natural Resources Committee to take up her bill when it reconvenes in January so it can go to a full House vote.
“For too long, Chinese Americans and the AAPI community are seen as the perpetual foreigner – strangers in our own homeland,” said Zheng Yu Huang, President of Committee of 100, a group representing 100 Asian Americans and Pacific Islander leaders. “As the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, Asian Americans deserve a place on the National Mall that is representative of our contributions to the fabric of America. The rise in anti-Asian hate and violence reminds us of the malevolence of the “perpetual foreigner” stereotype, and continued education is vital to combat this trend,” he said in a statement sent to AsAmNews.
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