May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a national celebration of people in the U.S. with Asian and Pacific Islander heritage.
The University of Idaho Office of Multicultural Affairs organizes festivities for AAPI Heritage Month every year, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced a change in plans this year.
Normally, OMA hosts lecture events, hands-on workshops and film showings in honor of AAPI Heritage Month. In 2019, OMA co-hosted a screening of “Crazy Rich Asians” with the UI Asian American Pacific Islander Association. The office also hosted a lecture on Idaho’s Asian American history and a Chinese food cooking social.
“May is the national designated month,” OMA Program Coordinator Vivi Gonzalez said. “Here at U of I, because May tends to be a shorter month academically, we want to ensure students have time to attend all of our events, so we like to start celebrating in April.”
This year, on-campus events were canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gonzalez said OMA had plans to show “Parasite”, a South Korean film with four Academy Awards to its name. The office tried to organize a streaming event when the on-campus event was canceled, but that was not possible. Instead, OMA encouraged people to stream the movie individually.
OMA hosted Jay Davis, a Los Angeles-based art teacher and activist with Filipino heritage, as a presenter over Zoom this year. Davis discussed using art for activism and facing discrimination while fighting against coronavirus.
“Jay Davis was actually supposed to come to campus last year and be our keynote speaker,” Gonzalez said. “He was going to walk our students through a screen-printing workshop, so it was going to be very hands-on, more about art, more about the importance of art education and using art for healing and for community.”
OMA has also highlighted Asian American and Pacific Islander students on their Facebook and Instagram pages to honor their contributions to the campus community.
Gonzalez recommends people spend May raising awareness of issues faced by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Drawing attention to discrimination, taking online bystander trainings and acknowledging the contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are a few actions Gonzalez mentioned.
“(The COVID-19 pandemic) changes the tone from something more broad and general amongst art to what can we do right now to help the Asian American community feel safe and feel welcoming and feel that it’s not their fault that all of this is happening,” Gonzalez said. “It’s definitely changed our topics that we want to address, other than affecting us not being able to gather.”
OMA hosted a webinar with Moscow City Attorney Mia Bautista, an Asian American UI College of Law graduate, on May 7. Future events are still under consideration and will be posted on the OMA Facebook or Instagram pages.
“Don’t be afraid to check something out or try something new without having any previous knowledge about anything,” Gonzalez said. “That’s what these events are for. They’re to educate, to answer any questions, to be a safe space where you can feel free to acknowledge when you don’t know something.”
Gonzalez said she is unsure if other groups in Moscow are organizing events in honor of AAPI Heritage Month. Information on national events and celebrations can be found at the AAPI Heritage Month website. Confucius Institute Administrative Coordinator Abigail Margell said the Confucius Institute did not organize any events for AAPI Heritage Month this year and declined further comment on this article.
Lex Miller can be reached at [email protected]