MAY 14, 2015, MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, S.C. – This May, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is observed on Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. The month is a celebration of the achievements reached by Asian Americans and everything they have given this country.
The theme for this year’s AAPI Heritage Month is ‘Many Cultures, One Voice: Promote Equality and Inclusion’.
“This theme emphasizes the diversity of the AAPI members who come from over 30 ethnically distinct groups originating from the Asian and Pacific regions,” said Gunnery Sgt. Michele Tapia, the equal opportunity representative aboard MCAS Beaufort.
The AAPI Heritage Month is observed throughout the month of May and will be culminated with a celebration near the end of the month.
President Jimmy Carter was the first president to designate an annual celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Week, in October 1978. Twelve years later, President George H. W. Bush signed an extension making May 1990 the first AAPI Heritage Month, changing the observance from a week to a month.
The month of May was selected to be Asian American and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month to commemorate both the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States on May 7, 1843, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. Today it is still celebrated throughout the country.
“Together, let us recommit to embracing the diversity that enriches our nation and to ensuring all our people have an equal chance to succeed in the country we love,” said President Barack Obama in a statement about AAPI Month 2015.
The AAPI Heritage Month is observed throughout the month of May and will be culminated with a celebration.