[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11450]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, this month is Asian 
Pacific American Heritage Month. This is a national celebration which 
continues to highlight and bring awareness to the many contributions of 
the Asian Pacific Americans who have made this country their home.
  I want to thank Mr. Honda, who will be leading a special order in 
just a few minutes, with respect to all the accomplishments of the 
Asian Pacific Americans in the United States.
  I am fortunate to represent one of the largest Asian Pacific 
populations in Orange County, California. It's full of Japanese, 
Korean, Hmong, Cambodians, Laotians, Chinese, Hawaiian Pacific 
Islanders and, of course, the largest Vietnamese population outside the 
world resides in Orange County, California. Representing that community 
I see firsthand the rich culture and the contributions and all of these 
communities bring to my hometown of Anaheim and Orange County.
  More than 30 years ago, with when the Vietnamese arrived, my district 
was full of orange groves. They took these orange groves, some of the 
dilapidated commercial centers, and they made these block-long business 
districts that generate today, multibillion dollars for our local 
economy.
  While being an integrated part of the American social fabric is 
important, these communities also bring with them a rich awareness of 
what is going on around the world, in particular, what happens in their 
homeland.
  I enjoy an open dialogue, for example, with the Vietnamese American 
community, especially about the continuing situation in Vietnam, where 
human rights and religious freedoms, remain a distant dream for the 
peoples of that country.
  Now is the time to remember and to celebrate the successes and the 
contributions that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders bring to the 
diversity of America.
  Although it is important to recognize the achievements made by this 
community, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month must also provide a 
forum to focus on the problems that face these communities, such as 
affordable housing, racial profiling, and language barriers.
  In particular, the health care issues that are so important, so many 
health care issues that happened in this particular community like 
hepatitis C, diabetes, and some of the other larger issues which affect 
us all.
  One of the problems facing the APAC community is the perception that 
all the members of their communities are thriving. If you are Asian or 
Pacific Islander, you must be going to the Berkeleys of the world, you 
must be doctors, you must be thriving, you must be engineers, you must 
be great business people. But the reality is that there are large 
populations, API populations who still have low access to real quality 
education and they face tremendous language barriers. The API community 
has come a long way, sacrificing for our country and contributing to 
our growth and prosperity, and I look forward to continuing that 
relationship with the Asian Pacific Islander community to celebrate its 
contributions and to overcome the ongoing challenges that these 
communities face.

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