[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 60 (Monday, May 13, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4275-S4276]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

 Mr. DAYTON. Mr. President, I rise today in honor of Asian 
Pacific American Heritage Month. In recent years, Americans have 
experienced an energizing infusion of Asian-based culture, which 
resonates in diverse folkways, cuisine, art forms, and religious 
beliefs and practices. In all these areas, I believe Minnesota is 
especially privileged, thanks to Asian American citizens who present a 
unique, vigorous dimension, both established and emerging. Therefore, I 
would like to highlight the ways that Asian Pacific Americans in 
particular have enriched our state.
  We who make Minnesota our home truly comprise an international 
community. The Asian Pacific American presence in my state dates from 
the late nineteenth century, when Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino 
settlers first arrived. Today, many more groups, such as the Koreans, 
Asian Indians, Tibetans, Hmong, Vietnamese, and Cambodians, have 
augmented Minnesota's Asian Pacific community. This growth is ongoing, 
and I am pleased to say that in my state, the Asian Pacific American 
population increased over 100 percent in the last decade. Furthermore, 
the City of Saint Paul is distinguished by the largest Hmong population 
in the nation.
  The Asian Pacific population has significantly contributed to the 
economic, social, and political fabric of Minnesota. In the Twin Cities 
of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Asian entrepreneurs have succeeded in 
re-establishing key business districts in areas once dormant, leading 
to the revitalization of entire neighborhoods. These Americans have 
further invested in Minnesota through unprecedented rates of home 
ownership. In greater Minnesota, Asian Pacific Americans are also being 
welcomed. For example, Warroad, Minnesota, always a notable breeding 
ground for great hockey players, is now also home to a small but 
vibrant Lao population. Moreover, I am very proud to say that Minnesota 
has elected our nation's first Hmong legislator, State Senator Mee 
Moua.
  The State Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans has chosen five 
individuals or groups who have made especially worthy contributions, 
and I would like to acknowledge these remarkable award winners.
  Joseph Hui, who has resided in Minnesota for 30 years, has built a 
successful business career, but, more importantly, he has given back 
generously through community service and philanthropy. He was one of 
the founders of the Asian Pacific Endowment for Community Development, 
a fund directed and operated by Asian Americans. The fund encourages 
different Asian Pacific communities to work together in providing 
social, health, educational, economic, and cultural services. Thus far, 
the fund has given approximately $300,000 in grant money to more than 
60 organizations.
  Rita Mitra Mustaphi, a renowned choreographer, dancer, and educator, 
introduced the classical Indian dance form, Kathak, to Minnesota. She 
uses this 2000-year-old form of storytelling, essentially dance-poems, 
to explore bold, contemporary themes. She is the founder and Artistic 
Director of the Kathak Dance Theatre, which is the only professional 
dance theater of its kind in the Midwest. The theater received a grant 
from the National Endowment for the Arts to create and perform a new 
dance theater piece.
  Another artistic innovator, Rick Shiomi, is a leading Asian American 
artist. He is the founder of Mu Daiko, a taiko drumming troop, and the 
Artistic Director of Theater Mu, a group primarily cultivating new 
Minnesota playwrights and Asian American actors. Blending ancient 
artistic forms, traditions, and stories with contemporary ones, these 
performers are dedicated to the ideal of theater as a total sensory 
experience. Their unique work reaches new audiences through Theater

[[Page S4276]]

Mu's annual festival and outreach performances at schools, corporate 
sites, and community organizations.
  The radio station KFAI, Fresh Air Radio, serving the Twin Cities 
since 1973, provides training opportunities in broadcasting to those 
who might lack the resources for formal training. Many of the station's 
volunteer programmers have recently arrived in the United States and, 
therefore, have the opportunity to broadcast in their native languages. 
Cultivating listeners not often served by traditional media, KFAI 
includes in its programming broadcasts which cater to the Indian, 
Khmer, Hmong, Vietnamese, and Filipino communities.
  Finally, I would like to make special mention of a courageous woman, 
Darina Siv. Until her death in March at the early age of 44, Ms. Siv 
was dedicated to helping low-income Cambodians, whom she served first 
as a social worker, then as executive director of the United Cambodian 
Association of Minnesota. Her book, Never Come Back: A Cambodian 
Woman's Journey, described her personal hardships after the Khmer Rouge 
took control in her native Cambodia. In America, she became a tireless 
advocate and was instrumental in securing state legislation that helps 
foreign-born social workers overcome license barriers.
  During Asian Pacific American month, I am happy to recognize the many 
ways--exciting, dynamic, complex, and subtle in which Asian Pacific 
Americans are making Minnesota a better, stronger, and richer place to 
live and work. It is important today and throughout the year, to 
celebrate these contributions.

                          ____________________