Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2016

"Let us celebrate the many contributions our AAPI brothers and sisters have made to the American mosaic."



Hey, everybody! It's May, and that means it's Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! As I say every year, for many of us in the community, every month is AAPI Heritage Month. But it's nice that the powers that be have officially designated May as the month for everyone else to care. So let's celebrate.

"Our nation's story would be incomplete without the voices of countless Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders who have called the land we all love home," says President Obama, proclaiming May as AAPI Heritage Month. "This month, we honor the irreplaceable roles they have played in our past, and we recommit to ensuring opportunities exist for generations of AAPIs to come."

Here is President Obama's official proclamation of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2016:

President Obama nominates Vivek Murthy as Surgeon General

If confirmed, Dr. Murthy would be the first U.S. Surgeon General of Indian descent.



President Obama has nominated Vivek Hallegere Murthy of Harvard Medical School to be the next Surgeon General: Obama Selects Health Policy Advocate as Surgeon General.

Murthy, 36, is the co-founder of Doctors for America, which began in 2008 as Doctors for Obama and focuses on providing quality, affordable healthcare to all Americans. He is an attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and is an instructor at Harvard Medical School.

Also, am I the only one thinks that photo of Dr. Murthy is gangster as hell?

AALDEF releases detailed findings from exit poll of Asian American voters

This week, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund released detailed findings from its nonpartisan multilingual exit poll of 9,096 Asian American voters in the November 2012 Presidential Elections, the largest survey of its kind in the nation. The results indicated that Asian Americans vary in political beliefs and on policies across ethnic lines and by geographic location.

While three-quarters (77%) of Asian Americans polled voted for Barack Obama for President, as many as 96% of Bangladeshi Americans voted for Obama, compared to 44% of Vietnamese Americans. In addition, while Asian Americans in the Northeast voted for Obama at high levels (89% in PA and 86% in NY), as few as 16% of Asian Americans polled in Louisiana voted for Obama.

Here are some key findings from the poll:

derrick kahala watson appointed to federal bench

Today, President Barack Obama nominated Derrick Kahala Watson, an assistant U.S. attorney and chief of the civil division for the District of Hawaii, to a seat on the U.S. District Court in Honolulu: President Obama Nominates Seven to the United States District Courts.

Watson was one of seven nominees to District Court judgeships announced by the White House. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he would be the only person of Native Hawaiian ancestry on the federal bench. Here's some more information on his background:

historic election night for asian americans

Good morning, America. Recovering from Election Night 2012? Of course, voters re-elected President Barack Obama, giving us another confetti-obscured glimpse of Konrad Ng (aka "that Asian guy with Obama's family") in the First Family victory huddle. That's always fun.

Early national exit polls data suggests that Asian American overwhelmingly voted for President Obama, with 73 percent pulling for a second term, while only 26 percent supported Mitt Romney: Exit Polls Show Asian Americans Backed Obama by Wide Margin .

Elsewhere, around the country, it was a historic night...

Barack Obama, The First Asian American President?

Yesterday in Washington, at a fundraiser sponsored by a coalition of Asian American political groups, Senator Barack Obama pronounced himself an "honorary AAPI."

Obama, at Fundraiser, Pronounces Himself an 'Honorary AAPI'.

Okay, I don't know if I'd go that far (is there a place to apply for such status?) but I think you can make a case that he has some cred in this area. As Rep. Mike Honda noted when he introduced the Senator at the event, Obama's family includes Asian Americans and he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia. "The son of an immigrant, raised among AAPI's in Hawaii, Barack Obama understands the struggles of immigrants searching for an identity in America," he said.