May 1 is known as Lei Day in Hawaii, according to Kayla Arakawa, a junior biological sciences major and president of the Ohana Hawaii Club. To celebrate the day, the Ohana Club presented president Barry Corey with a lei.
“It’s basically celebrating spring and we wanted to celebrate that with DBC,” Arakawa said. “We’re going to present it to him and talk to him about what our club is doing and how he can be involved.”
In celebration of the heritage month, the many Asian culture clubs on campus are planning several events. Not many know that President Jimmy Carter made the first 10 days of May Asian Pacific American Heritage Week in 1978, while President George H. W. Bush expanded it to the full month of May in 1990.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebrations on campus
Arakawa also noted the other celebrations of APA Heritage Month on campus. The Filipino culture club, Maharlika, is putting on Pilipino Culture Night, the Biola Asian Student Association is presenting a Gloria youth revival night and all the clubs are working together to put on a Taste of Asia and the Pacific event, where each club will feature a dish from their specific region.
There will also be a global students chapel and an Asian-American Voices chapel put on by the Multi-Ethnic Programs Dept. Arakawa hopes these events will bring an awareness and involvement of Asian cultures to the Biola community.
The need to celebrate heritage
Senior biblical studies and sociology major Lydia Lee, the previous president of BASA, says Asian-Americans don’t have firm roots in either Asian or American backgrounds.
“They’re in between, so it’s important to understand their full identity,” Lee said. “They’re not fully American in the sense that they’re not white, and they’re not fully Asian.”
Lee referred to her experience as a Korean-American. If she visits Korea, which has a very different culture and context, she would not be fully accepted as a Korean because she neither grew up there nor completely speaks the language. Since she is not fully Korean or fully American due to her Korean roots, she considers herself an Asian-American.
Micah Nakamura, a sophomore computer science major, said that culture plays a big part in peoples’ identities.
“When you want to honor someone, a good way is to honor parts about them,” Nakamura said.
