Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, our country is obviously going through times of great difficulty, but it is vital in such times that we pause to reflect on all that is good in our country, that we reflect upon the glue of our country, what holds us together.
In that context, I am very pleased to join the gentleman from California, a most worthy and passionate advocate for our people, and my other colleagues on the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus on commemorating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. I stand here as the proud Representative of my Second District of Hawaii, the most ethnically diverse district in the most ethnically diverse State of our country.
In my Hawaii, out of a total population of 1.2 million, over half are comprised of Asian and Pacific Islanders. And so as we commemorate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I want to reflect on the history of Hawaii, not just because I am immensely proud of our history but also because I believe very strongly that we remain a beacon for where this country is going and what this country can be in the area of ethnic contributions and ethnic diversity.
Of course among our country's original Pacific Islanders were and are the indigenous peoples of Hawaii, the native Hawaiians. They came from elsewhere in Polynesia in the early centuries A.D. and built one of the most amazing societies that this world has ever seen. The circumstances under which their kingdom gave way to the Republic of Hawaii remain controversial and far reaching, the subject even today of vital legislation to reaffirm the special relationship between our government and native Hawaiians everywhere. But what is unquestioned is that our indigenous peoples, like other Asians and Pacific Islanders, have seen a remarkable and deeply moving renaissance in their own culture and ethnic pride that has not even begun to approach its zenith.
Modern Western contact in 1778 started Hawaii on the journey to ethnic and cultural diversity, a journey on which we are still embarked. As our economy turned to large-scale agriculture and we saw many foreign workers come in, we saw the Chinese come in beginning in 1852, Japanese in 1868, Portuguese in 1878, Puerto Ricans in 1901, Koreans in 1904, Filipinos in 1907. Today we continue in Hawaii to attract immigrants to our shores, including Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians from southeast Asia and other Pacific Islander groups including Tongans, Samoans, Fijians, Maori, Chamorros, Marshallese, Palauans and other Micronesians, Polynesians and Melanesians.
Today Hawaii's Asian and Pacific Islander community counts all of these as valuable members of our society. My own congressional district is home to many, including the largest number of native Hawaiian and Filipino populations of any other district in the country. So it is no surprise that Hawaii leads our country in interracial marriages, including my own, where the undisputed head of my household's family originated in the great country of Japan a century ago. More than one-third of married couples and more than one-half of unmarried couples are interracial. More than 50 percent of the children born in Hawaii nowadays, including my own, are interracial. So you can see that in Hawaii, we live Asian Pacific American
Month every month. We are proud of our API community, their contributions to our national and international life. For example, of the 33 Asian and Pacific American Members of Congress ever elected, seven have been from Hawaii, including Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, Senator DANIEL KEN INOUYE, Senator Hiram Leong Fong, Senator Spark Masayuki Matsunaga, Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink, Senator DANIEL KAHIKINA AKAKA and Congresswoman Patricia Fukuda Saiki.
We have boasted a few firsts at the gubernatorial level. The first Governor of Japanese ancestry, George Ariyoshi. The first Governor of native Hawaiian ancestry, John Waihee. The first Governor of Filipino ancestry, Governor Ben Cayetano. We have seen today in the halls of Congress the incredible contributions of a patriot, Major General Antonio Taguba, a Leilehua High grad from Hawaii and a proud member of our Filipino community. And, of course, former General Eric Shinseki, 34th Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, of Kauai.
Like everywhere else in our country we have tragically given thousands of the lives of our sons and daughters, including from the Asian and Pacific American community for the cause of freedom. The exploits of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team remain legendary, but more recently we have seen the tragedy, the tragedy of the loss in Iraq of Maui native Sergeant First Class Kelly Bolor and Big Island native Wesley Batalona.
In sports we have seen Michelle Wie, a 14-year-old Hawaii high school freshman referred to as the Tiger Woods of women's golf. We have seen Benny Agbayani in baseball, Duke Kahanamoku and Rell Sunn in surfing, Ben Villaflor in boxing, Tommy Kono in weightlifting. Ellison Onizuka gave his life for the cause of science. Miss Universe Brooke Lee. Miss America Angela Baraquio. In music, Braddah Iz, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. In Hollywood Kelly Hu, Jason Scott Lee, Tia Carrera. In sumo, Takamiyama, Akebono, Musashimaru and Konishiki. In civil rights, Bruce Yamashita. And, of course, how could we end the night without mentioning Camille Velasco and more recently Jasmine Trias? If you want to show your support for Asian and Pacific Americans, tonight you know what number to call on what TV show right about now. Jasmine just finished singing.
Mr. Speaker, this is just some of what our proud Asian and Pacific American community offers our country and world. We are deeply committed to sharing with our fellow Asian and Pacific American community nationwide a bright future. I have only the utmost thanks and respect for the gentleman from California (Mr. Honda) again for his leadership and for my other colleagues, not just in the APA community caucus here but on all of the other ethnic minority caucuses. Together we are working for a much brighter, a much better, a much more vibrant and diverse and amazing culture and future that lies in front of us here in this country.
I thank him and bid him a warm mahalo.