[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 94 (Friday, May 28, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CELEBRATING ASIAN AMERICAN AND NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 
                             HERITAGE MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. ED CASE

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 28, 2021

  Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, each year we come together to recognize May 
as Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Month, in 
celebration of the critical participation of our Asian American, Native 
Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities in our national 
story.
  Over the past year, the pandemic has highlighted the harsh 
disparities that too many in the AANHPI community face across several 
issues, including access to health care, education and more. Our nation 
has also seen an unprecedented rise in hate-driven violence against 
Asian Americans. As Congressman from Hawai'i, the state with the 
highest percentage of Asian Americans in our country, I stand in full 
solidarity with all in the AANHPI community in confronting, condemning 
and overcoming this desecration of that story.
  My own mentor, U.S. Congressman and Senator Spark Matsunaga, 
understood that the way forward amongst all peoples was not through 
violence or discrimination, but through peace, education and 
understanding. He and his generation of Asian Americans in the World 
War II era prevailed through extreme hardship to live the belief that 
peace and equality are not just ideas and aspirations but achievable 
reality.
  In my home state of Hawai'i, we have been blessed with so many AANHPI 
leaders whose actions continue to guide us. Senator Matsunaga's legacy 
lives on in the U.S. Institute of Peace, which he created through an 
act of Congress in 1984. Congresswoman Patsy Mink's Title IX 
legislation is the foundation of equal opportunity in our schools. The 
songs Queen Lili'uokalani wrote are beloved memorials to the 
perseverance of Hawaiian culture. This July, we will celebrate the 
100th anniversary of the enactment of Prince Jonah Kuhio 
Kalaniana`ole's Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, which helped return the 
Native Hawaiian people to the land that holds such deep ancestral, 
cultural and spiritual significance. Through these leaders and their 
successors, we see that despite generations of hardship and trial, 
AANHPI communities are standing strong and have led the charge to make 
our country better.
  To AANHPIs everywhere and especially the close to 80 percent of my 
own constituents whose heritage lies in Asia and the Pacific, I am 
truly honored to elevate your voices in the halls of Congress and 
understand that a single month of remembrance is not enough. There is 
far more to be done, as a community, as a state and as a nation.
  This May, in our 29th year of observing AANHPI month, I urge all of 
my fellow Americans to listen to the lessons of our past so we may act 
in the present to pave the way for our future.