"THERE'S ASIAN-PACIFIC HERITAGE MONTH?!" I thought to myself with surprise and awe. I, being a recent grad from UC Berkeley, had never, ever, heard of such a thing during my 10 years of being educated in the United States. Now, why is that? I had known about February being the African-American Heritage Month since middle school. I took my share of Asian-American Studies classes at UC Berkeley, and deemed myself quite knowledgeable about Asian-American history. Well, I guess I shouldn't have given myself that much credit. Or, is there just not that much publicity going on about May being APAHM (Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month), a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States?

I discussed this issue with Leonard, the executive editor of this newsletter, and he pointed out that May is when semesters end for many academic institutions and that could be why this month doesn't get much attention. Then I started to wonder, when was APAHM established, and why was it established in May of all months?

After some research, I found out that much like Black History and Women's History celebrations, APAHM originated in a congressional bill. In June 1977, Representatives Frank Horton of New York and Norman Y. Mineta of California introduced a House resolution that called upon the President to proclaim the first ten days of May as Asian/Pacific Heritage Week. The following month, senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Both were passed. On October 5, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a Joint Resolution designating the annual celebration.

Although there was good reason for May to be designated as APAHM, community and government sponsored activities and educational activities for students seems to be either non-existent or poorly organized and/or publicized. Was it always so?

It had been pointed out to me that PBS channels in the San Francisco area once had large portions of their prime time programming dedicated to the month. My browsing of this past month's TV schedule revealed a disturbing dearth of appropriate Asian Pacific American Heritage specials. Is this an actual trend that reflects the demise of the month? Is the media just kowtowing to viewers' lack of interest or is the media complicit in APAHM's waning visibility?

Another area of consideration is where and how APAHM fits in with schools' curricula. In the vast reorganization and standardization of what children are learning in the school system, is Asian Pacific American Heritage being squeezed out and forgotten? By having this special month so near to the end of the school term, are children getting shortchanged?

It's time to reevaluate the goals of APAHM. Should we have APAHM moved to another month? Are schools integrating this event into their curricula and can it be done better? Whether we start by writing our representatives or we organize to hold our own cultural and historical events, it is urgent that we work to make this event more significant or it will fade into insignificance.