First Asian Heritage Week will begin tonight

Shuva Rahim
March 24, 1997

Asian Iowa State students will make their voices heard by “Making Waves” this week during the first annual Asian Heritage Week.

The Asian Pacific American Awareness Coalition is sponsoring the week, said Bao Thao, a program assistant for the Minority Student Affairs Office and the adviser for APAAC.

Thao said Asian Heritage Week, which is usually a month-long celebration, is officially celebrated in May, but it is being celebrated in March at ISU because there will be more people involved.

The week of festivities will begin with a lantern festival and parade of nations today at 6 p.m. at Lake Laverne.

Boats will be floated in the water for recognition and good luck. The Parade of Nations, she said, will have a man and woman representative from about 20 countries dressed in traditional ethnic attire.

Another highlight of the week will be a documentary film, “Slaying the Dragon,” which will be shown for free in the South Ballroom of the Memorial Union at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

The film explores the stereotypes of Asian-American women in the media.

Another aspect of the week is a speech by Ronald Takaki, an ethnic studies professor at the University of California at Berkeley, who will speak on Thursday in the South Ballroom of the Memorial Union at 8 p.m.

His speech is called “Race and Ethnicity in Multicultural America: An Asian-American Perspective.”

A dinner for Takaki will be held in the Cardinal Room of the Memorial Union. Those who would like to attend must make reservations and contact Vang Lee at [email protected].

Takaki, a grandson of Japanese plantation laborers in Hawaii, is the author of several books and was named the distinguished messenger lecturer at Cornell University in 1993.

On Saturday, there will a closing banquet honoring Asian Heritage Month followed by ballroom dancing. The event, which is from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. in the Scheman Building, is open to the public and costs $8 for students and $10 for non-students.

“By celebrating the first annual Asian Heritage Week, our voices can finally be heard. There’s dialogue now,” Thao said.

“A lot of people think Asian-Americans are the passive, silent ones. By putting this on, we’re showing some of the aspects of our cultures. We’re just coming out and showing that we are not invisible. We are no longer the invisible, silent ones … “

Asian Heritage Week: Making Waves

Schedule for March 24- 30