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Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

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  • By Tech. Sgt. Lagimaina Lacy, 436th Aerial Port Squadron

Almost three decades ago, U.S. President George H. W. Bush signed legislation to designate the month of May as Asian Pacific American Heritage month. It is a holiday to remember past contributions and to celebrate our nation’s Asian American Pacific Islanders. This month is especially significant for me because I do come from that ethnic background.

I was born and raised in a small island territory of the United States in the South Pacific: American Samoa. It takes no more than three hours to see the whole island. We have a bilingual culture, learning English as our second language as early as four years old. A regular day in our Samoan household would be waking up at dawn for a morning prayer with the whole family. Prayer signifies the beginning of the day. You can hear neighbors singing hymns as they pray as well. Children will then make their way to school and parents to work, but everyone returns home to pray again in the evening. Dinner is served, and then, the routine is repeated the next day. We grow up learning to put God first, followed by family and respecting our elders and each other.

Similar to the Air Force core values, I had learned some comparable values as a Pacific Islander. There is much to appreciate about our people, whether it be my sisters and brothers from Tonga, Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, China, Japan, etc. We all have values from our individual islands, countries and ancestors that bridge together differences and help us make sense of daily life together. To help you better understand the significance of this month for all Asian American Pacific Islanders in our wing, we welcome you to join us for the two events we will have this month: our luncheon (May 17) and our LUAU bash (May 31). “Fa’afetai tele. Tofa soifua” (“Thank you. Goodbye”).