May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.  It’s a wonderful time to celebrate the contributions and reflect on the struggles of the Asian Pacific diaspora. Our challenge to you: how will you expand your own learning about the AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) community this month? Below are some resources that might be useful in widening your awareness and deepening your connection.  

Listen to Ai-jen Poo reflect on how the elders and strong women in her life inspired her activism to honor and protect the caregivers who are essential to our well-being, comfort, and safety, but are invisible because their care is assumed to be a “given,”  and therefore taken for granted.  Ai-jen Poo is the president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance.  How have your early influencers shaped who you are today? 

Celebrate in solidarity with Stop AAPI Hate Asian pride and resilience in these powerful videos, Spread AAPI Love  and Stop AAPI Hate.  Stop AAPI Hate is a national coalition dedicated to bringing awareness and fighting against racism and racial injustice that targets the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

Visit local museums to view permanent and spotlight collections by Asian artists: Asian Art Museum – reimagine the future through the creative eyes of 14 contemporary artists  Into View – New Voices, New Stories (they have $10 Thursday Nights); Oakland Asian Cultural Center – imagine an anti-caste world in the exhibition Dalit Dreamlands: Toward An Anti-Caste Future; SFMOMA – allow Yayoi Kusama to take you to infinity and see yourself multiplied in her immersive mirrors!

Tickle your funny bone in San Francisco on May 18 in this live comedy night showcasing Crazy Funny Asians, presented by HellaFunny. Tickets are free to the first 100 people who RSVP. 

Explore this curated list of podcasts by members of the AAPI community.

Experience the traditions and cultures of the AAPI diaspora through community events, films and stories, workshops and readings that are curated in this celebration guide by the APA Heritage Foundation. 

with Love & in Solidarity

UUCB Widening the Circle Committee (WTCC)