AACP May 2026 Newsletter

Hello AACP Newsletter Readers.

Happy Dragon Boat Festival (Tuen Ng or Duanwu Festival, this year happening on June 19)!

When I heard the story about a group of San Franciscans holding a memorial event for Yick Wo, I though this might be a good article for our high school volunteer Jason Rong. It didn’t occur to me that the Yick Wo laundry was only around a block away from where I use to work in San Francisco. I passed by this unmarked memorial site practically every day for over two years. I never knew the historical significance of that spot until I learned about it in reading Jason’s article. Please read this article and learn for yourself as to how San Francisco Chinese laundrymen helped lay the ground work for the Civil Rights Movement.

For our second article, I look back at what I wrote twenty years ago about AAPI Heritage Month.

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

This month we feature ten books for LGBT Pride month. A few of these like “This Time Will Be Different,” “Like a Love Story,” and “No One Can Pronounce My Name” are a little old. They came out before the rebooted our newsletter in May of 2020 and we probably missed them because we were buying much fewer books during the pandemic. However, all three are highly awarded and “This Time Will Be Different” even has a Japanese American Internment story connection that I was unaware of. I’ll be sure to include it in my future book lists for Internment related events that we go to.

Among our featured children’s book this month, we have Natasha Yim’s new book in her “Story Telling Math” series, “Luna Picks a Lucky Dumpling.” “Lulu in the Spotlight” highlights the South Asian wedding tradition of joota chupai – the stealing of the groom’s shoes. The book “I Dance” is an easy to read rhyming children’s books that showcases Filipino dances. “I Am Both” is an immigration story inspired by the author’s experience of leaving Vietnam. “Shoes Off, Please” is award winning Korean American author Helena Ku Rhee’s latest book. Helena’s book “Sora’s Seashells” was my favorite book among the ones we featured in our 2023 newsletters.

“Words to Make a Friend: a Story in Japanese and English” is a book that we’ve been taking to events for a number of years. Finally we’re featuring it in our newsletter. Check it out.

For our final four featured books this month, we have books dealing with heath, religion and philosophy – “Sun Tzu: The Art of War for Health & Longevity,” “The Illustrated Guide to the Zen Tea Ceremony,” “Danshari: The Japanese Art of Decluttering Your Space to Transform Your Life” and “Hawaiian Shamanistic Healing: Medicine Ways to Cultivate the Aloha Spirit.”

There are many more great books that I didn't get to highlight here. So please check out all of our featured books.

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

Thank you Jason and our editors.

Have a wonderful summer, everyone!

6/13/26, 6pm: Natasha Yim's Book Release Event "Luna Picks a Lucky Dumpling" (we'll be there)

Dumpling Kitchen and Bar, Burlingame, CA

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

June 27-28, 2026: San Mateo Buddhist Temple Annual Bazaar (we'll be there)

2 South Claremont St, San Mateo, CA

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

July 12-13: San Jose Obon (we'll be there)

640 N 5th St, San Jose, CA 95112

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

July 25, 2026: Ginza Bazaar (hey, it's back and we'll be there)

Buddhist Church of San Francisco, 1881 Pine St, San Francisco, CA

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

If you have an event that you would like us to mention and or to participate in, please feel free to let us know.

Recently, San Francisco held a commemoration ceremony in the corner of a parking lot, with city leaders including the City Attorney and Supervisors showing up to the event. (source 1) This parking lot was once home to one of the most important—yet largely unknown—legal cases that helped establish the foundation of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Yick Wo v. Hopkins, decided by the Supreme Court on May 10, 1886, has since been cited more than 150 times in later Supreme Court cases and laid the groundwork for landmark rulings such as Brown v. Board of Education. (2)

By Leonard Chan

I’ve been thinking about this article for twenty years now. Twenty years ago, I wrote my last editorial on what was then called Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Back then I was complaining about the lack of good TV programming and having AAPI Heritage month in May instead of a month when school was fully in session.

My main complaint was how the month was being perceived as more of a cultural event instead of what the creators of the month had intended – which was to honor the achievements of Asian Pacific “Americans” and to recognize their contributions to the “United States.”

After reading what I wrote twenty years ago I found a lot of the links that I had in those articles are now broken (please don’t click on them; just do your own research). Even so, I’m kind of surprised that what I wrote still holds up. We’re not going to get a different month for AAPI Heritage Month, but I’m glad that twenty years later, we are still celebrating it.

Here’s what I wrote at the end of my editorial:

View full descriptions of all these featured books at Bookshop.org where you'll also have the opportunity to purchase them.