Hello AACP Newsletter Readers.

Ramadan Mubarak!

February 28th is the expected start of Ramadan (note that the start date may differ depending on where you are located).

Since our next newsletter is likely to come out in late March, Happy Holi (March 14) and Nowruz Mubarak (March 20) too!

------------------

Fifty-five years ago, AACP (our original name was Japanese American Curriculum Project) started as a corporation on February 9, 1970. The purpose of our organization as specified in the articles of incorporation are kind of long and wordy, so I’ll try to summarize it here with some extracts from the document.

The specific and primary purposes for which this corporation is formed are… to serve the general public, students of all scholastic levels and ages, other specific research and educational organizations and the like, who desire aid and assistance in their efforts to enhance and advance their academic and scholastic learning and understanding of the ethnic groups found in the United States of America and the world at large; to advance the cause of education; to promote and establish a mutually beneficial relationship between people of all races, religions, national origin, and ethnic backgrounds through education… relevant to the history of Americans of Japanese ancestry… and other ethnic groups.

From our start, AACP’s founders worked to get AAPI history and culture included in schools, and known by the general public.

Now a presidential executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion practices is diametrically opposed to our organization’s purpose. I won’t go into a full editorial or article at this time, but those of us that have a keen interest in teaching ethnic studies are all very concerned by recent developments.

From time to time, we will engage with this topic. To start, we have a piece this month by a new member of AACP, Claire Yi, who has written an article called “Books and Diversity: Powerful Weapons Today.”

For our second piece, we have some video clips from our recent poetry event – “AAPI Poetry for Peace, Love, and Understanding.” If you couldn’t make it to our event, here’s your chance to watch our wonderful event. For those that were there, we thank you very much for coming, and we hope this gives you a chance to remember and share this event with others.

------------------

Since I started this message with festive greetings, I’ll point out that our featured books for the month include eight books connected with Holi, Ramadan, and Nowruz (check them out).

Six of our featured books are concerned with various aspects of ethnic studies, including books about race and teaching about Asian America to elementary students.

Our six remaining featured books (all children’s books) include a book about the first AAPI NBA player, “Wat Kept Playing”; two books on body image, “Toto”  and “Smiling Eyes”; a story about a Vietnamese immigrant girl learning a new language, “Anh’s New Word”; a father and son’s visit to the Philippines, “Riding Through Rice Fields”; and a book about renowned artist Ai Weiwei, “On the Tip of a Wave.”

------------------

We have a number of announcements from readers of the AACP newsletter.

Mina (one of our editors) has informed me of Oakland Ballet's Angel Island Project. It is a performance made in collaboration with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and Angel Island Parks and Recreation. There are two upcoming performances on the Angel Island site in March, and then one complete program in May at the Oakland Paramount Theatre. The score is set to original music inspired by poems carved on the barrack walls by Chinese detainees, and the choreographers are all AAPI. Click here for more information.

Apala Egan, who contributed an article for us in July of last year, did a presentation for UC Berkeley’s Institute for South Asia Studies and The Subir & Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies on her book “Behind Latticed Marble: Inner Worlds of Women.”

Click here for information about the presentation.

You can also still view a recording of the presentation on Facebook at ChowdhuryCenter@UCBerkeley.

Robbin Kawabata has informed me of an exhibit that was at CSU East Bay "Buried Lives: Uncovering the History of Chinese Laborers in the East Bay In-Person." Unfortunately it ended, but you can still read about it at the following CSU East Bay Library’s website (csueastbay.edu/museum/current-exhibit.html).

Robbin has also given me a few leads on AAPI places to visit, that I hope to use in our annual June AAPI travel series article. So stay tuned.

------------------

Thank you to our featured poets and entertainers for our poetry event.

Thank you very much Claire for your wonderful article. Thank you Harrison for your help with the featured books. Thank you Mina, Roger, Philip, and Susan for your editing help.

That’s all for now.

Take care.