[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 21, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H5306-H5307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 ASIAN/PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from California [Mr. Becerra] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join another colleague and 
friend, the gentlewoman from Hawaii, Mrs. Patsy Mink, to salute all 
those in this country, all those Americans of Asian/Pacific Islander 
descent who have made this such a great country.
  I rise because I have grown to know and to respect the many 
accomplishments of our Asian/Pacific Americans, and I happen to have a 
district in California, in the Los Angeles area, that happens to have a 
great number of Asian/Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles. It happens that 
much of my work, much of my effort and much of my success is a result 
of the efforts of many of the people in my district, and I count among 
those the many people from the Asian/Pacific community that have helped 
me along the way.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to spend a few moments talking a little bit 
about the individual and the collective contributions of Asian/Pacific 
Americans to our country, and I would like to do that within the 
context, if I may, of my particular district, because as I said, my 
district is rich in what makes America great, the diversity, the 
talents, and I can speak of so many individuals from my particular 
district in southern California, so I would like to concentrate on just 
a few of those.
  First, I would like to just make sure it is clear that someone who 
has an opportunity to represent Koreatown in Los Angeles, parts of 
Chinatown in Los Angeles, a great percentage of the Filipino community 
in Los Angeles, and countless other Southeast Asians who live in Los 
Angeles, I have had a great opportunity to get to know the much and 
diverse ways in which our culture here in America is reflected.
  We can talk about people like Mr. Don Toy, who is a Chinese American, 
who has become probably Mr. Chinatown over the years because of his 
many efforts on behalf of the residents of Chinatown within the Los 
Angeles area. This is the executive director of Chinatown Teen Post, 
and in that capacity he has been able to help so many of our youth go 
on and lead productive lives.
  He has been instrumental in making sure that senior citizens 
throughout Los Angeles have an opportunity in the areas around 
Chinatown to have safe and decent homes to live in at the point of 
their retirement. Cathay Manor, which houses more than 300 units and is 
home to more than 500 seniors in Los Angeles, is really a tribute to 
the success of someone like Don Toy. Cathay Manor is there, and the 
people living in Cathay Manor owe a great deal to Don Toy.

  Stewart Kwoh, another Chinese American, is a resident of Los Angeles, 
the Silver Lake area, part of which I represent. He is the executive 
director of the Asian/Pacific American Legal Center of southern 
California. Most people know of the legal center because of its many 
successes in defending the rights and protecting those rights of Asian/
Pacific islanders who are in this country.
  We have found on too many occasions the need to go to court to defend 
the rights of all citizens of this country, of all people of this 
country, to have the protections of the Constitution. Stewart Kwoh and 
the Asian/Pacific American Legal Center of southern California have 
been there to ensure that those people have been able to assert their 
rights.
  Bong Hwan Kim, a friend and another individual from my district, he 
is Korean American. He is also the director of a fantastic program at 
the Korean Youth and Community Center. It is the largest Korean 
American service organization in the Nation. Through his leadership it 
has continued to grow, and it continues to build bridges with the 
different races and ethnic groups that make up Los Angeles, the 
patchwork which has become such a renowned part of Los Angeles. It is 
because of his efforts that the Korean American community has been able 
to

[[Page H5307]]

reach out to the African American community, to the other communities 
which make up that portion of America that we call Los Angeles.
  Linda Wong, a Chinese American of fantastic reputation, is chief 
financial officer of Rebuild L.A., the organization created to make 
sure that we could, after the aftermath of the unrest in Los Angeles, 
go on to rebuild this great city. She has worked tirelessly for many 
years as a lawyer defending so many people, not just Asian/Pacific 
islanders, but many people through her public interest work as an 
attorney, and now she is also someone who is working as a trustee of 
the Los Angeles metropolitan project, which is a $100 million 
educational reform movement in Los Angeles.
  The honorable Delbert Wong, Chinese American resident, is the first 
superior court judge in the United States, a fantastic jurist, someone 
who would be just the epitome of what we would want to see in our 
courts. He is someone who is Los Angeles bred.
  One last friend, Dr. Haing Ngor. Some of you may remember this 
Cambodian American because he is the individual who won the Oscar for 
best supporting actor in the film, the Killing Fields. He has 
unfortunately left us because of his brutal murder, a tragic death, but 
he too was an Asian American of renown. Throughout his lifetime Dr. 
Ngor never gave up his work to someday obtain peace in Cambodia.
  I want to thank the Speaker for the opportunity to say to all those 
people who have represented this country so well and will continue to 
do so whether they are of a particular ethnicity, or race in this case, 
we are talking about the Asian/Pacific islander community, that what 
make America great is the fabric that keeps us together. The Asian/
Pacific islander community is among the various communities that make 
this Nation so great, and I wish to extend to all those people my 
congratulations and my thanks for the greatness that comes through 
those people.

                          ____________________