PEAK — PROMOTING EDUCATION, AWARENESS, AND KNOWLEDGE
University of the Rockies is proud to share our PEAK initiative: Promoting Education, Awareness, and Knowledge. Every month, we'll highlight different causes and opportunities that reflect the values of the University. You'll also learn ways that you can participate or be more involved.
May 2012 – Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
May brings a celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage month and an opportunity to applaud the contributions of the Asian Pacific American community.
It wasn’t until 1977 that a small group of senators and representatives proposed to President Jimmy Carter to make the first ten days of May Asian Pacific Heritage Week. The proposal was accepted in 1978, over one hundred years after the Chinese assisted in the completion of the transcontinental railroad, and President Carter recognized the week as a national event. Twelve years later, President George H.W. Bush declared the entire month of May to be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. (About Asian-Pacific, n.d.)
Historical Woes
While we now celebrate the accomplishments and achievements of Asian Pacific Americans, it is all too easy to forget that as recently as the 1940s, many people had a very different sentiment regarding Asian ethnic groups who called the United States their home. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, over 100,000 Japanese people living on the US’s west coast were moved to internment camps. According to the Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, in these camps “…families lived in substandard housing, had inadequate nutrition and health care, and had their livelihoods destroyed: many continued to suffer psychologically long after their release.” Although the United States has made efforts to make amends for these internment camps, it will always mark a very dark time in our nation’s history (Children of the Camps, 1999). The first video at the top right is a stark reminder of this unfortunate period in history.
A Spark of Inspiration
As a Filipino-American, writer Carlos Bulosan used the discrimination he experienced as a catalyst for change. Bulosan was raised in the Philippines and did not move to the United States until he was 17 years old. When he reached the US, Bulosan, like many immigrants in the early 20th century, expected to find a better life. Instead he was met with racism, classism, and a string of low-wage jobs that led nowhere. Nevertheless, Bulosan made the best of his situation and became active in labor movements. Even after Bulosan was diagnosed with tuberculosis and received emergency surgery, he made the most of the two years he spent recovering. Bulosan spent those years reading and writing and eventually became a celebrated novelist famed for his support of the working class. The following quote is taken from what many consider his greatest work,
America is in the Heart:
America is not a land of one race or one class of men. We are all Americans that have toiled and suffered and known oppression and defeat, from the first Indian that offered peace in Manhattan to the last Filipino pea pickers. America is not bound by geographical latitudes. America is not merely a land or an institution. America is in the hearts of men that died for freedom; it is also in the eyes of men that are building a new world. America is a prophecy of a new society of men: of a system that knows no sorrow or strife or suffering. America is a warning to those who would try to falsify the ideas of free men (Carlos Bulosan, 2012).
The First Wave Rider
Duke Kahanamoku was born in 1890 in Honolulu, HI. At that time, Hawaii was a sovereign nation. It wasn’t until 1898 that it was officially recognized as a United States Territory, and Duke was made an American citizen. Kahanamoku was a natural born waterman and from an early age he reveled in any activity that allowed him to play in the ocean. He studied the form of visiting swimmers and spent his time perfecting his swimming technique. It wasn’t long before Duke began setting record swim times; times so fast that officials refused to believe they were accurate. When Duke first visited the mainland, he competed and qualified for the US Olympic team, winning his first Olympic race by breaking the Olympic record for the 100-meter dash. Kahanamoku would go on to win two more gold and two silver Olympic medals throughout the course of his lengthy swimming career, as well as, set three world records in the 100-yard freestyle (Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, n.d.). However, it was not for his prowess as a record-holding swimmer that the Duke is best known. Kahanamoku is largely recognized as the first ambassador of the sport of surfing and has held surfing demonstrations all over the world, introducing the sport to the east coast of the US and Australia. The Duke was even famous enough to appear on the popular television show, This is Your Life! (Gault-Williams, M. (n.d.). Watch the second video at the top right for the footage.
Regaining Focus: President Obama Honors Asian Pacific Americans
In 1999, President Bill Clinton established an advisory committee to address the unique challenges faced by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, such as health discrepancies, educational inconsistencies, and workplace barriers. In October 2009, President Barak Obama signed an executive order that reestablished the advisory committee in an effort to restore the White House initiative supporting Asian Pacific Americans (Initiative on Asian Americans, n.d.).
It is undeniable that the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans are incalculable. This month, University of the Rockies encourages you to celebrate these contributions and to learn more about the many cultures that comprise this diverse group. To learn more about Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, please visit http://asianpacificheritage.gov.
University of the Rockies Alumnae Spotlight – Dr. Elizabeth Saxon
Master of Arts in Psychology, Professional Counselor specialization, 2010
Doctor of Psychology, Organizational Leadership specialization, 2011
“At University of the Rockies, I developed and fostered life-long relationships with students, faculty, and community.”
Dr. Elizabeth Saxon owes much of her interest in psychology to her harrowing family history. During World War II, her mother, whose family was Japanese but living in China, witnessed atrocities committed by the occupying Japanese troops, and at 17 she was stripped of all belongings and deported to Japan. There, she had the fortune of being hired at the officer’s club at Tachikawa Air Force Base, where she met Elizabeth’s father, an American lieutenant.
As a child growing up in Japan, Elizabeth remembers her family facing the scrutiny of a Japanese public that scorned women who had married “the enemy.” Things weren’t any easier when her family then had to move to Saigon during the Vietnam conflict. “I became familiar with the sounds of bombings and gunfire. I would often see the Huey helicopter hover over our rooftop with soldiers looking for snipers. My family dressed me in Vietnamese clothes for safety.”
Her family eventually migrated to California, but Elizabeth never forgot her family’s history. “I have always wondered how much of my family’s strength might be connected to the belief system rooted in Buddhism,” muses Elizabeth. “It also led me to wonder: how did the Chinese citizens cope and psychologically survive their terrifying ordeal during the Japanese occupation?”
After a long career in other fields, Elizabeth finally answered her calling by studying psychology at University of the Rockies, where she earned a Master’s degree and a doctorate. She has been published as coauthor with Dr. Louis Hoffman, with whom she traveled to China from 2008 through 2010 to present at conferences and conduct research, and is currently working on publishing portions of her dissertation in the Journal of Psychology Issues in Organizational Culture. She is also developing research to reinvigorate the Rockies Research Institute with collaborative partners in Hong Kong and China and will be presenting at the Existential Humanistic Conference in China in May 2012. As one of the co-founders of a union activist blog with over 6,000 subscribers, she also takes time to teach classes dealing with addiction and depression at Wippinsinger Education and Technology Center in Maryland.
“At University of the Rockies,” concludes Elizabeth, “I developed and fostered life-long relationships with students, faculty, and community.”
References:
About Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 1 from http://asianpacificheritage.gov/about.html
Carlos Bulosan. (2012). Retrieved on April 2 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Bulosan
Children of the camps internment history. (1999). Retrieved on April 3 from http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/index.html
Duke Paoa Kahanamoku. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 13 from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/309646/Duke-Paoa-Kahanamoku
Gault-Williams, M. (n.d.). Duke Kahanamoku. Retrieved on April 2 from http://www.hawaiianswimboat.com/duke.html
Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 1 from http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/aapi
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