My first blog tirade

It’s May 27th and I’m just now finding out it’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Excuse me, but how did I miss the memo on this month-long celebration? Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s because no news organization has written about it, no networks have created new logos that flash on every hour like they do for Black History Month of Hispanic Heritage Month, featuring an Asian American and their contributions. Do I sound upset? I hope so because I am. I’m tired of being part of the invisible group of immigrants who continue to make amazing contributions in the U.S.

This month alone I have traveled to San Francisco, Chicago, Harrisburg and I work in New York City for Christ’s sake. Being a media whore, I read every magazine and newspaper I can get my hands on, watch every local and national broadcast and yet I saw nothing of this month-long celebration, nada! Not one report, not one Asian reporter giving a shout out, not one small news story, not even one network showing a calendar of events in their city.

In a time where Steven Chu (Chinese descent) is Obama’s appointed Secretary of Energy and where Obama chose to keep a Bush legacy White House chef, Cristeta Comerford (Filipino), the first woman to ever hold the position (big ups to Christeta!) and Bobby Jindal is largely thought of as the GOP’s last great hope for party progression, how can this month have gone by without a single bit of media coverage?

In a report published in April 2009 by the Committee of 100, a national non partisan organization composed of American citizens of Chinese descent, the committee found, “…that despite a positive trend in the attitudes toward Asian Americans, racial discrimination and suspicions still exist.” I thought we had come farther than that. What does this mean for my children? Yes, I admit we’ve come a long way in dealing with race relations, but clearly not far enough!