00:00 - All right.

00:00 - Good morning, everyone.

00:02 - Thank you so much for being here today.

00:03 - To so great to see everybody in the same room.

00:06 - We've been planning today's celebrations for several months today.

00:09 - for today.

00:10 - And we are really excited

00:11 - for today's program, for the dances and for the lunch later.

00:16 - But we wanted to pause and reflect on the AAPI month Heritage Month.

00:21 - This is the first anniversary of the formation

00:23 - of the Pennsylvania Legislative Asian Pacific American Caucus.

00:27 - I'm so proud to have my colleague, Senator Nichols, of all, representatives,

00:31 - Arvin Venkat and Tarik Khan, as founding members of this caucus.

00:35 - They are all pioneers and history makers, and their own rights

00:39 - and their work and legislative priorities have benefited all Pennsylvanians.

00:43 - We are also, able to get approval for a caucus executive director.

00:47 - We have Joe, Doherty.

00:49 - He's doing a phenomenal job, and we are grateful for his commitment.

00:52 - We want to thank leadership for seeing this as, a priority for this caucus.

00:57 - Now, as we continue to build out this caucus

00:59 - and find our footing as a brand new caucus,

01:02 - we want to make sure your voices are heard in Pennsylvania and in this building.

01:06 - And we want to make sure that we listen and support marginalized communities

01:09 - and pass bills that positively impact the AAPI community.

01:13 - Now, we have a great example of what an impactful caucus look like.

01:17 - we are honored to have representing Napoleon Nelson of the Black Caucus.

01:21 - I just saw him. Did you?

01:23 - He's out the back with his executive executive director, April Ash.

01:27 - They do so much for their caucus and for Pennsylvania.

01:30 - We want to thank you for the example that you have are leading for our for us.

01:34 - with that, I'd like to turn over to our emcee, Jojo,

01:37 - who will, again, executive director of the API caucus.

01:41 - And he has done so much work for today.

01:43 - Jojo, let's take it over.

01:51 - So thank you,

01:52 - everybody, again, for making the time to stop by over here on a Monday.

01:56 - and thank you for all the speakers.

01:57 - if you're in the House of Representatives, we really appreciate,

02:01 - your support here, even though there is caucus business going on.

02:04 - And if you are,

02:06 - not from the House of Representatives, specifically from Montgomery County.

02:09 - we thank you for making it all the way over here.

02:12 - As I'm sure your schedule is very busy as well.

02:15 - so, the run of the show, we have this press conference happening

02:19 - with a few speakers, and then we have the privilege of watching

02:23 - Cortana, Santa Ana, do one performance, and then Sanjana menon,

02:28 - do the other performance over in the East Wing rotunda.

02:31 - And then we have a luncheon happening at 12:00, which is Korean food.

02:36 - So it should be good for you to pack everything AAPI.

02:40 - You know.

02:43 - All right, so,

02:44 - with no, further delay, I'm happy to introduce state representative,

02:49 - and our caucus vice chair, Arvind Venkat.

02:57 - Good morning everybody.

02:58 - My name is Arvind Blanket, and I have the privilege

03:00 - of serving as the state representative for the 30th Legislative District

03:04 - in Allegheny County in the North Hills suburbs of Pittsburgh.

03:07 - I joked when I was elected last year and under Patty's leadership,

03:12 - that being the only state level

03:14 - Asian-American elected official west of Harrisburg,

03:16 - I get to talk about the western two thirds of the state while everybody else talks

03:19 - about the eastern third of the state. But,

03:23 - you know, being a part of the API community

03:26 - has been a profound part of my identity for my entire life.

03:31 - I was born in India, immigrated here when I was very young, at three months old.

03:36 - when I decided to run for office two years ago,

03:39 - my immigrant parents initially were like, why the heck are you doing this?

03:43 - And I answered them, is that in a democracy,

03:47 - we get the elected officials we deserve, and we need representation

03:52 - in all walks of life in our legislature.

03:55 - And initially, after their fears about running

03:59 - about four months into this, they said, well, how are your polls looking?

04:02 - I said, well, we'll see.

04:05 - but being a part of the legislature and joining under Representative Kim's

04:10 - leadership and joining my fellow AAPI

04:13 - colleagues has really been so much.

04:16 - And I think it's important to talk about an example of where we, as an AAPI

04:21 - legislative caucus, have been able to make a difference.

04:25 - I have the privilege of being the first Indian-American

04:27 - elected to the state House, the second after senators of all in the legislature.

04:32 - And one of the initiatives was to allow state

04:36 - recognition of the valley, the Hindu Festival of Lights.

04:39 - And we were very fortunate to be able to move that legislation

04:42 - forward in a nearly unanimous fashion in the House.

04:46 - And it was really from the visibility of the AAPI community.

04:50 - Later on when, my colleague, Representative

04:54 - Khan brought forward recognition of EED.

04:57 - it was a more divisive issue.

05:00 - but what really heartened me was that our legislate of colleagues from across

05:07 - the entire

05:08 - state, across the entire political spectrum,

05:11 - came together to say, this should not be a divisive issue.

05:15 - And it's really from the representation of the AAPI community

05:20 - and the diversity that we represent in our state.

05:23 - being the fastest growing ethnic community in Pennsylvania

05:27 - and in the nation means that our voice needs to be heard.

05:31 - And as we spoke about today earlier, the need for our history,

05:35 - which is American history in its totality, to be taught in

05:39 - our schools is very important.

05:41 - So again, thank you all for being here today.

05:44 - I certainly understand, and I know my colleagues behind me

05:47 - understand as well that addition to representing our specific communities,

05:52 - we are meant to be a voice and a leader for the AAPI community.

05:55 - And it is very humbling to have that role.

05:57 - So thank you so much.

05:59 - And again, happy AAPI Heritage Month.

06:09 - Our next

06:10 - speaker is caucus vice chair and state rep

06:13 - Tariq Khan.

06:18 - Thanks, Jojo.

06:18 - Thank you all for being here.

06:20 - I am super honored to be speaking to you all today,

06:24 - and I'm honored to be have to have

06:27 - been one of the first, actually,

06:31 - with Arvind Arvind Bank had of myself

06:33 - where the first two representatives ever to have South Asian interest

06:38 - and trust me, in the, in the House of Representatives.

06:42 - Representative Venkat is the first Indian-American state rep.

06:45 - I'm the first Pakistani American state rep in 340 years of the Commonwealth,

06:49 - and I think that's special.

06:51 - So thank you.

06:56 - And I think

06:59 - especially with some of these bills that

07:01 - that we're supporting, we I see signs for House Bill 779.

07:05 - I see our, our Vietnam veterans, a Korean

07:09 - supporting Senate Bill 7739973.

07:14 - but these bills, basically help, to

07:19 - give to make our communities visible.

07:22 - And unfortunately, a lot of times when our communities, are being visible,

07:27 - or are being, being used, they're being used as targets.

07:31 - we see that, with Asian hate.

07:34 - We see it in our schools.

07:35 - we see that unfortunately, in our politics,

07:38 - as a Pakistani American, as a legislator,

07:43 - I want to make sure that our community is seen and heard and feels respected.

07:48 - that's the reason why I was a co-sponsor

07:50 - on on, Representative Van Kats bill on Diwali.

07:54 - it's, the reason why I introduced

07:57 - and, representative, Vanco was a co-sponsor

08:00 - on, the bill for eed, to make that a holiday.

08:04 - And the reason why it's so important for us to advocate,

08:07 - to make sure that people are seeing why, why our communities should be celebrated.

08:13 - And it is important for students to learn about different cultures.

08:18 - It's not just that it's a good thing.

08:20 - It makes our culture better.

08:22 - It makes our society better.

08:24 - It makes our education better.

08:25 - When things are more diverse, it's been my experience

08:28 - when we have more diversity, we have a richer and fuller experience.

08:32 - And our Asian American heritage, our Asian American,

08:37 - residents and neighbors should be valued.

08:40 - They should be seen and heard.

08:42 - and so I'm so proud to be a part of, this caucus

08:46 - that is doing everything that we can to make sure that Asian Americans

08:50 - are seen, respected and heard.

08:51 - If you have input, please let us know.

08:54 - But it's it's it's some of those issues that, that I'm fighting for,

08:58 - and that, that are important to me as an Asian American.

09:01 - last thing I'll say.

09:02 - You know, my father, he came to the U.S in 1964.

09:06 - at a time when we needed engineers and in, in, in our, in our,

09:12 - in our society here in the U.S..

09:14 - And so they were welcoming, engineers and my, my father,

09:20 - he met my mom, who, was, from European, ancestries white,

09:25 - and I sort of grew up in this very, diverse background.

09:29 - But, you know, my father's experience as an immigrant really taught me why,

09:35 - really taught me,

09:37 - I think it really was an essential American story,

09:40 - about someone who who believed that if you fought, if you,

09:43 - if you woke up early and you worked hard, good things could happen.

09:47 - it's why he really focused on education.

09:51 - and it's why, not only myself, but, you know, a representative Venkat,

09:56 - representative, or senator of all, have gone on and,

10:00 - you know, we've gotten her doctorate, because of that, that, that strong, value,

10:05 - and, to see, the, the value of education,

10:09 - the value of health care, the value for fighting for our social safety net.

10:14 - it's what, it's what our Democratic caucus is doing.

10:18 - and it's what we're doing here with the, AP caucus.

10:21 - So I'm really honored to be here, with you all today.

10:24 - thank you for, for for supporting this event.

10:28 - and, more good stuff to come.

10:29 - Thank you very much.

10:36 - thank you, Vice Chair Khan.

10:38 - The next speaker is state Representative Steve McGarry.

10:46 - Thanks, Jojo.

10:48 - And first off, I want to thank, Chairwoman Kim

10:51 - for having this caucus come together along with our vice chairs as well.

10:56 - In addition to that, I would be remiss if I didn't announce that,

10:59 - Jojo is a constituent of mine working in my district office,

11:03 - and I also have another constituent.

11:04 - A couple more constituents here, actually, in the back, we have, councilwoman

11:08 - from Lansdale, Rafia Razak, who is a district office director

11:11 - for Representative Melissa Cerrado as well.

11:13 - So thank you for joining us as well.

11:17 - So it's a pleasure to be here.

11:18 - It's a pleasure to be a part of this organization

11:20 - and also to be a part of the API Heritage Month celebration today.

11:24 - So I am Representative Steve Malik.

11:26 - Gary, represent the 53rd legislative District in Montgomery County,

11:29 - includes the communities of Lansdale and Hatfield, Stoddard and Telford,

11:33 - a little bit of Franconia and a little bit of Montgomery Township.

11:37 - And I want to thank the, Pennsylvania Legislative

11:41 - Asian Pacific American Caucus for allowing me to actually be here

11:44 - to say a few words and to talk with you today during a celebration.

11:47 - And a specific thanks, goes out to, our,

11:51 - our organizational, chairs and also,

11:54 - to Jojo again, for, for doing a great job in putting this all together.

11:58 - So it's a truly honor to be here standing with you today.

12:02 - So a lot of you may

12:03 - not know this, but I am actually really lucky

12:07 - to have one of the most populated AAPI house districts in the Commonwealth.

12:11 - It's about 17% of my district is made up of individuals from the AAPI community.

12:17 - Growing up, my whole life in the community

12:20 - that I represent and living in the same borough that I was born in.

12:24 - I've seen over the years just how much the impact of the AAPI

12:28 - community has played within our local businesses,

12:31 - within our nonprofit organizations, within our health care systems,

12:35 - also in our public school districts as well.

12:37 - And this year's theme of Advancing Leaders Through innovations

12:41 - is telling you just how essential the AAPI

12:44 - community is within our Commonwealth.

12:47 - So when I was first elected

12:49 - this back in 2018, and I knew that I,

12:53 - my staff needed to represent the community that I served.

12:58 - So my first term consists, my first team consisted

13:02 - of three immigrants, one of which is here with us roughly Razak,

13:06 - immigrant background from Bangladesh.

13:08 - The other two, one was from England, one of us from, Germany.

13:11 - Both of them were not citizens at the time.

13:16 - Now we have two members of our team from the Indian community.

13:20 - One of them is Jojo.

13:21 - Another one is Renuka jump jumper.

13:23 - Both of the Indian community that are now working in our district office

13:28 - and working to represent the the community members.

13:30 - We also have volunteers.

13:32 - One of them is Mr.

13:33 - Kim from the Korean community, who's sitting with us

13:36 - along with his fellow, Korean Vietnam War veterans.

13:39 - So thank you very much for your service.

13:41 - for those of you who don't know,

13:42 - they served along American troop with American troops in Vietnam.

13:46 - Thank you for your help in that. In that fight.

13:54 - So I know that whenever there's something that important

13:58 - that needs to be done in our district office, I know I can count on my staff

14:01 - to make sure it gets done.

14:02 - Not only do we have representation within racial demographic,

14:06 - but also within language capability, and that's really important.

14:09 - That was a big thing

14:10 - that we stressed very on very early on, and I continue to do so.

14:15 - So we have thousands of members in our district from the Indian community,

14:18 - thousands from the Bangladeshi community, thousands from the Korean community.

14:23 - That is just a little bit.

14:24 - We also have some from the Vietnamese community

14:26 - and also from the Chinese community

14:27 - and Japanese community as well, and many, many others.

14:31 - And it's my job as a legislator to make sure

14:34 - that each and every one of them feels represented

14:37 - and that their voice is heard, that they feel welcome, that they feel at home

14:41 - and they also feel represented by me as their state representative.

14:43 - So during holidays, I cherish the moments that we have,

14:48 - I get to spend with, my fellow fellow constituents at the local mosque

14:52 - to to join in the Muslim community celebrations for iftar.

14:57 - also for any of the holidays.

15:00 - in addition to that, I cherish the Hindu community's invitation

15:03 - to the Diwali celebrations and also to, the community's,

15:08 - invitation for the Lunar New Year celebrations that we have

15:10 - within and Chuseok for

15:12 - for the Korean community as well with their Thanksgiving celebration.

15:15 - So it's an honor and and a privilege to really serve

15:19 - such a diverse community and the diverse population every single day.

15:22 - A state representative and I want to always make sure

15:26 - that the members of the AAPI community know that they are being represented well,

15:31 - as long as I'll be there for them, I want to make sure that people

15:35 - understand that, and not just here in the district that I represent,

15:38 - but also here for the entirety of the Commonwealth, too.

15:41 - It's important to know that you have

15:43 - legislators working that are represented behind me and out in the audience today

15:47 - that are working to represent the interests of the AAPI community

15:49 - and make sure that the individuals that they have back home feel heard

15:53 - and have a voice out here to out here as well.

15:56 - So I want to thank you for your time.

15:58 - I thank you for allowing me to speak with you a little bit today

16:01 - and, happy AAPI Heritage Month.

16:05 - And, I'd like to introduce the executive director

16:08 - of the Governor's Advisory Commission on AAPI affairs, Rozina Carew.

16:18 - good morning, everyone.

16:19 - Thank you, Representative Malveaux, for the introduction.

16:22 - thank you so much.

16:23 - Representative Kim, Chairman Kim, for arranging, this wonderful event.

16:28 - my name is Rosin Caro.

16:29 - and I am the executive director

16:31 - for the Governor's Advisory Commission on API affairs.

16:34 - prior to this, I was with, State Representative Perry Warren's office.

16:37 - I see my colleague Ryan over here.

16:40 - I think I ran,

16:43 - a lot of times I get asked this question.

16:46 - what exactly is the API commission, and what does it do?

16:49 - The governor's API

16:50 - commission serves as a bridge, as a conduit between the API community

16:53 - and the administration.

16:54 - And we are committed to working, with our legislators,

16:58 - with our community organizing, organizations and leaders like yourself

17:02 - to make sure we, we bring the issues to the table

17:05 - and come up with solutions, for issues that are impacting the AAPI community,

17:09 - whether, especially when it comes to education, health care,

17:14 - preventing

17:14 - AAPI hate and discrimination and ensuring API businesses

17:17 - also have the same kind of access all other, businesses do.

17:21 - Again, I'm so happy to be in this position serving in that administration.

17:25 - And if there's anything that I could do

17:27 - for any one of you over here, please, please feel free to reach out to me.

17:31 - and I'm, very glad that we have this, gathering today.

17:34 - And the next person is a very special person,

17:37 - and that is going to be Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija.

17:41 - Neil Makhija is someone who I feel does not need any introduction.

17:45 - A former law professor at University of Pennsylvania,

17:48 - as well as, the former CEO and now the president of,

17:51 - Indian American Impact and the first Indian-American

17:54 - elected as a county commissioner in the state of Pennsylvania.

17:57 - That's the third largest county, the Montgomery County in Pennsylvania.

18:01 - Neil Makhija

18:03 - is. There's a

18:09 - lot of special people out here, but, I just want to start.

18:13 - Thank you. Chair.

18:14 - Chairwoman Kim, for your extraordinary leadership and being a trailblazer.

18:18 - Who led the way for for all of us.

18:21 - please, let's give her a round of applause.

18:26 - And, you know,

18:28 - it was just a few years ago where we had literally no,

18:33 - Asian Americans, in, in the state legislature.

18:37 - And since Representative Kim and now,

18:40 - Representative Khan and Van got just,

18:43 - just a couple of years ago, collectively, I think, we determined

18:48 - we represent more than 2.5 million people, in the Commonwealth in terms of, Asian

18:54 - American electeds and just, you know, what was the year your first liked it?

18:57 - It was 2013, 2013.

19:00 - And before that there were none, right.

19:02 - So, we've come a long way and, it's

19:06 - incredibly important for us to recognize, what that means,

19:11 - not just for our communities, but for Pennsylvania as a whole. So,

19:16 - I just want to also

19:17 - thank let me give a shout out to my friends in Monaco.

19:20 - Representative.

19:21 - Nelson, is here.

19:23 - Please thank him for for joining us today.

19:26 - and Representative Molly Gary, of course.

19:28 - It was great to see him yesterday at the bar at the temple,

19:32 - where we were celebrating groundbreaking of a new community center.

19:35 - that's going to be really important, for everyone there.

19:40 - so my name is Neil Makhija, so I am very proud

19:43 - to be serving now, I'm five months in as Montgomery County commissioner.

19:47 - as, Racine mentioned, it's the third largest county in the Commonwealth.

19:52 - And one thing that people don't know is that it actually has the highest,

19:56 - AAPI population, up 9%.

20:00 - the highest population in the Commonwealth is in Montgomery County.

20:04 - And when I was first running,

20:07 - and I liked hearing doctor rank gods, comments from his parents,

20:13 - I very much, commiserate with that.

20:16 - My dad said to me, why can't you just be normal like that?

20:19 - That was his take.

20:21 - And I think all of us relate.

20:24 - with this,

20:26 - a little bit of a conflict, you could call it.

20:28 - But this relationship with the first generation in many ways where,

20:33 - public service and leadership in the public sector

20:35 - was not at all, something that they could consider.

20:38 - And in fact, it's not just a cultural barrier.

20:42 - I think what's important about Asian American history is to understand

20:47 - that, it was a reflection of the law.

20:50 - So the reason that my parents were able to immigrate was because,

20:54 - perhaps similar to,

20:57 - Doctor Khan, is that,

21:00 - they wouldn't let us in the country unless we filled a specific role,

21:03 - whether it be in health care or medicine or another field.

21:06 - And so that was the path to success.

21:09 - And deviating from that, wasn't an option, for for many in prior generations.

21:15 - And one of the things, particularly this year and last year, that

21:20 - I think is important to recognize in Asian American history is

21:23 - that it was only 100 years ago, that, Asian Americans as a whole

21:29 - in, in two cases of the US Supreme Court, were stripped of their citizenship.

21:34 - So we didn't have the right to vote, we didn't have the right to run for office.

21:38 - And it wasn't until the moment of civil rights

21:42 - in the 60s, when much of the language of the Civil Rights Act

21:46 - and the Voting Rights Act was adopted, and the immigration reforms that happened,

21:51 - that exclusionary laws that kept us out of the country were actually repealed.

21:56 - So that's the reason that many of us are here today.

21:59 - And that's the reason that many of us, are in these leadership positions

22:03 - for the very first time because, we saw a wave of immigration

22:08 - following the civil rights Act and the immigration reform that, followed.

22:13 - And we are now, at that second generation where we have a chance,

22:19 - to live out the American dream in full

22:21 - and are not confined, by the immigration policies prior.

22:25 - So this is a very special moment.

22:27 - And what I think is incredibly important for everyone to know

22:33 - is that when we're up here in elected office,

22:37 - we're not just seeking to serve ourselves, as you all know, when I think

22:41 - about the leadership of Senator Saval, who is not here, with us today, but,

22:48 - many people have

22:48 - recognized past and really conceived of an extraordinary piece of climate

22:52 - and housing legislation, hole home repairs that's serving people

22:56 - across the Commonwealth, no matter what their background is.

23:00 - when I think about, the leadership on medical debt,

23:03 - that Doctor van and many of his colleagues in the state

23:07 - House are leading on that's going to serve many people across this Commonwealth.

23:12 - but it wasn't, until we got,

23:16 - we tapped into the talent, of the Asian

23:19 - American community that we saw tremendous progress on these issues.

23:22 - So, it's an important lesson that when we talk

23:26 - about representation and getting more people in public office,

23:29 - and when we talk about inclusion, it's

23:33 - not just for the sake of our own group.

23:36 - It's for the sake of the public at large in the Commonwealth.

23:40 - And we're able to serve, in, in, in a full capacity

23:44 - when we tap into the talent of every community.

23:48 - finally, I just want to thank,

23:51 - Rep Kim, for House Bill 779,

23:55 - because, by telling these stories, we will be able

23:59 - to inspire the next generation to think about how we got here.

24:04 - And and when we when we realize,

24:08 - what it took, what it took the movements for civil rights, for immigration reform

24:13 - and what we now see as a result and the tremendous progress

24:17 - that we all benefit from, we all know, what our path is going forward

24:21 - and what kinds of principles, we need to commit ourselves to.

24:25 - So thank you all.

24:32 - Thank you, Commissioner McCabe. You,

24:35 - it is now an honor of mine to introduce

24:37 - our next speaker, Representative Ismail Smith.

24:41 - Wade. L.

24:44 - So good.

24:50 - I hope nobody caught that.

24:51 - I very briefly clapped for myself there.

24:53 - I recognized what was happening.

24:57 - actually, if,

24:59 - if Cindy and Adam would be so kind as to join me up here very quickly.

25:03 - from the Lancaster API group.

25:09 - One of the things that we love to do in Pennsylvania,

25:12 - Dutch country, is surprise people with our diversity. So.

25:18 - yeah.

25:18 - Just coming out for a second.

25:20 - I'll do my little thing on my feet here.

25:22 - And then, you know, we've got a citation to give you.

25:25 - It's really.

25:27 - Oh, no.

25:27 - Oh my gosh. Hi.

25:30 - Surprise! I'm

25:33 - so sorry.

25:36 - I'm a member of the education committee, and,

25:40 - women's sports is having a really big moment right now, right?

25:44 - We're all.

25:44 - We're all tracking that.

25:46 - I'm a big basketball fan, kind of from the cradle, and you're kind of like,

25:49 - what the heck is he talking about?

25:51 - but actually, I walked in here,

25:53 - and I saw printed on the poster to my left, the photo

25:57 - of one of my personal heroes, Congresswoman Patsy T mink,

26:02 - who does not get enough credit for this, but is largely responsible

26:06 - for the title nine equal opportunity in education amendments.

26:10 - And so what we are enjoying.

26:12 - I am feeling like a renaissance in athletic,

26:15 - is because of Asian American electeds in this country,

26:21 - because our Asian American electeds in the room real quick, raise their hands.

26:24 - everybody. Yeah.

26:25 - Thank you to them. One of the questions.

26:33 - I have the fortune of,

26:36 - serving as secretary of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus.

26:41 - And, attending these events always feels like an opportunity

26:45 - to return the favor of solidarity.

26:48 - Chairwoman Kim, Representatives con and then Kit are both

26:52 - also members of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus.

26:57 - and, you know, I think we go farther together.

27:00 - So I appreciate your solidarity.

27:02 - I appreciate you, representative McGarry, for being here.

27:06 - And now I get the opportunity to shout out some of my favorite folks,

27:10 - from Lancaster City, which I represent,

27:15 - a couple of a couple of years ago, we did not really have.

27:20 - We were not really aware, of the amount

27:23 - of power, intellect and creativity that we had

27:27 - in the Asian American Pacific Islander community in Lancaster.

27:31 - And that was really that was on us.

27:34 - but the Lancaster AAPI group has done a fantastic job,

27:39 - not only of representing themselves, but of upgrading our entire community

27:44 - in political advocacy, in education, in culture and recreation.

27:50 - So it's my honor to I'm not going to read down

27:53 - the whole citation, but it's really my honor to present you

27:56 - with this official recognition from the House of Representatives.

28:03 - and also to say thank you as

28:04 - my personal friends, each of you,

28:08 - we have a really incredible thing going in Lancaster,

28:11 - and it is in no small part because of you. So.

28:18 - You want to share?

28:19 - Let's get in the green shirt.

28:22 - That's me with the camera.

28:23 - We're going to look at them.

28:27 - Okay. You.

28:32 - Thank you.

28:34 - Thank you to everyone.

28:35 - And thank you Joseph.

28:39 - I thank you.

28:42 - okay.

28:42 - Just a quick thank you.

28:45 - We're so grateful to have received this recognition,

28:48 - from representatives. Thank you so much.

28:50 - Thank you.

28:52 - late Lancaster API form less than two years ago.

28:55 - And we have grown to over 300 members.

28:57 - We've grown so much in such a short amount of time.

29:00 - We organize the first ever public facing Lunar New Year in the city.

29:04 - How public events are, showcase and educate others about our culture, show

29:09 - unity through partnerships with other community groups, and most recently

29:13 - launched a scholarship program for youth outreach with high school seniors

29:17 - in the API community in Lancaster and Lancaster County.

29:22 - And one person did not do all of these things alone.

29:24 - Lancaster API has an all star team

29:27 - consisting of business owners, community leaders, activists, educators

29:31 - all forging something in Lancaster for the future generation.

29:34 - And I just want to give a shout out to some of our officers, one of our vice

29:38 - presidents here, Donna Pham, and our advocacy chair, Adam Hosey.

29:42 - We also have Julia Cow, Lisa Abby, Libby

29:46 - Etheridge, Brian Nguyen, Laura Wu, and Ella.

29:49 - And these are all of our officers at Lancaster API.

29:52 - Thank you to everyone who put in the hard work.

29:54 - This work never stops and we will continue to build a presence in Lancaster County,

29:59 - and we will continue to advocate for our community and celebrate our community.

30:02 - Thank you so much.

30:10 - Can I have Harrisburg's API Group?

30:12 - Please join me on stage?

30:13 - Please?

30:18 - Stand.

30:18 - You're not getting away.

30:19 - Please come up to the stage.

30:26 - I have the honor today to present a citation of present,

30:29 - appreciation to the.

30:31 - Yes. All members to the Harrisburg API.

30:34 - Mr. Richard Choi, please come up to the stage.

30:41 - So they call themselves happy.

30:45 - h and then API group, founded

30:48 - by Tiffany, Craig, Lawson and Allen Men in 2021, they came together to more

30:54 - to reflect on the Atlanta spa shootings that targeted Asian American women.

30:59 - The two person group quickly grew as members

31:01 - saw the benefits of a safe space to build a community

31:04 - where all cultures and backgrounds were welcome and celebrated.

31:08 - Fast Forward Happy organizes weekly events and finds ways to support the community

31:12 - and important holidays like Juneteenth Day and Iftar during Ramadan.

31:16 - Most recently, happy embarked on a major project called portraits of an identity,

31:22 - Stories.

31:22 - Through the lenses,

31:23 - they raise funds to share local AAPI stories in a creative and artful way.

31:28 - LED by Allen Min, local photographer Stan Hartman, and Halston's year,

31:34 - the collection of portraits of stories

31:35 - are featured in the local magazine called The Bird Magazine,

31:38 - and is currently on exhibit at the Susquehanna Art Museum

31:42 - on behalf of the House of Representatives and the API caucus,

31:46 - we want to thank and congratulate the leaders and members of happy

31:49 - your tireless work

31:50 - to make positive connections and raise awareness of our diversity

31:53 - is making a positive difference throughout Pennsylvania.

31:56 - Congratulate and continue on to your hard work.

32:13 - Thank you so much

32:14 - for this honor and recognition, and we are all very honored to be here.

32:18 - My name is Ellen Min.

32:20 - I'm the co-founder and chair of Happy,

32:23 - and I just want to tell a little story of how happy was created.

32:28 - unfortunately, on March

32:29 - 16th, 2021, the Atlanta spa murders happened.

32:33 - And during that time of grief, I received two phone calls, one of

32:38 - which was from Patty Kim and saying, we are grieving, I am grieving.

32:43 - But then I'm also recognizing that we need to act and we need a space.

32:47 - There might be a very limited of limited amount of time where people will care.

32:52 - And so we have to do something for our community.

32:55 - What should we do?

32:56 - And so thinking about it, Tiffany Chang Lawson then called me

33:00 - and said, I need a friend and I need to grieve.

33:02 - And and so in the midst of Covid, she and I sat outside, our masks on,

33:07 - and we cried and we held each other and we said, what can we do?

33:10 - And Maxine Hong Kingston said, from a time of destruction, create something.

33:15 - And so we thought, we have to create a community

33:18 - because we needed it so badly and it didn't exist.

33:21 - And so we said, happy, okay, Harrisburg, AAPI, where we are going to bring

33:25 - community, belonging and joy for those who so desperately need it, including us.

33:31 - And so we thought maybe two people would show up.

33:33 - So we reached out to Diane Crawford, who is a member of our AAPI community.

33:38 - Being black and Japanese.

33:40 - And she said, I will give you a space.

33:42 - And so we thought maybe the two of us will be at Crawdads every month.

33:46 - But more and more people came and said, how much they needed

33:49 - this space for themselves.

33:51 - And we realized, what do we do about the 339% rise in anti-Asian hate crimes?

33:58 - And seeing that play out not only for ourselves,

34:01 - but our community members, our families, our neighbors, our friends.

34:05 - And we said, in addition to a community for us, we have to create visibility.

34:10 - Because if you don't tell your own story, if we don't

34:12 - tell our stories, somebody else will tell it for us.

34:16 - And so we said, let's get a hold of that narrative and get rid

34:19 - of all of the harmful narratives that exist around our community.

34:24 - And let's fight for that. And so we did.

34:26 - And so with visibility, we put on a Lunar New Year celebration as well.

34:30 - Our very first one we put on, AAPI Heritage Month

34:35 - events in the community that we didn't see and we wanted for ourselves.

34:38 - And we continue the work of spreading

34:41 - that awareness to make sure that we have a voice.

34:45 - And we thank you

34:46 - for that voice that you provide for our communities each and every day.

34:50 - And so this is an honor, but it's such an honor to have this group

34:54 - and all the people who work to make visibility happen.

34:58 - and happy AAPI Heritage Month.

35:07 - One picture.

35:08 - Nate. Mr..

35:09 - Nathan, can we take one picture and then we'll take we'll, close out.

35:13 - I'm hungry, so I want to go.

35:20 - Right.

35:20 - That's.

35:20 - I want to say.

35:25 - Okay.

35:25 - Thank you.

35:33 - I also just want to give a quick

35:34 - shout out to the worry center over here with us from Montgomery County.

35:38 - And also,

35:42 - Governor Shapiro,

35:44 - Secretary of policy and Planning, was here briefly with us.

35:48 - Akbar Hussain.

35:49 - He was standing over there in the back.

35:53 - happy to have him here for a short while as well.

35:56 - so that wraps up the speaking portion of the event.

35:59 - and now we will move to the east Wing rotunda, where we can view

36:03 - the two aforementioned, dance performances, followed by, food.

36:08 - But I also want to make sure that everybody realizes that these posters

36:12 - over here, there are eight more individuals in the East Wing rotunda.

36:16 - And the whole logic with that, with this year's theme of leading,

36:21 - leaders through advancing leaders through innovation, is that

36:25 - these are all individuals who have made and been a part of, American history

36:30 - and AAPI history within their own individual workplaces and fields.

36:34 - But unfortunately, they never made the front cover of the era they were in.

36:40 - And as a result, we don't learn about them in our education system.

36:44 - So when you're out there in the East Wing rotunda, just make sure you can take

36:48 - a quick little glance at those posters, because one, a lot of work went into them.

36:52 - And, two, they're really incredible individuals.

36:55 - And learning about them, should, hopefully leave you inspired.

37:00 - So thank you again.

37:05 - We have Akbar Hussain in the back.

37:06 - Thank you so much for being here with us.

37:12 - And then I would like,

37:14 - staff members who are in the AAPI category to come up for a picture as well.

37:19 - we like to show representation that you don't have to be,

37:23 - elected official.

37:24 - We need staff members to, to really make this government work.

37:27 - So, folks, come on up.

37:28 - We're going to take a group picture with Electeds.

37:30 - Thank you everyone.

37:39 - You. Have.