Editor’s note: This event originally was scheduled for June 2 but due to inclement weather was moved to its new date. This article was revised accordingly.
HILLSDALE—You’re invited to help celebrate Asian American cultures in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in revels on Thursday, June 9 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Beechwood Park.
At the May 23 Pascack Valley Regional High School District board meeting, PV junior Kareena Shah said organizers “really hope to bring light to this minority community in Hillsdale and neighboring towns and feature different ethnic performances.”
These will include performances to highlight the Korean, Filipino, Indian, Pakistani, Japanese, Chinese, and other cultures: a Japanese drumming group; Filipino dance performers; two Korean dance performances; a Pakistani ghazal performance; an Indian kathak dance and Bollywood performance; Chinese dance; a Sikh meditation, and a Shastar Vidya demonstration, a form of martial arts developed in North India.
“We really hope for all the community members to come together and have a good time and leave this event being a better educated and well informed resident of Hillsdale and also a global citizen,” Shah said.
She added, “Hopefully through this event we can realize the diversity of our world — the diversity of just being humans — and we can slowly strip away at the deeply rooted racism that is unfortunately prevalent within our community, and we can make the much needed change needed to be made and become a more harmonious community.”
Shah said, “Because it’s a predominantly white town, I’m also a minority female of color, and unfortunately throughout my entire life, I have been victim of racism and discriminatory behavior from my peers and just community members in general.”
She added, “It’s always been a goal of mine to become an advocate for my Indian heritage and culture and make this community more [inclusive] and diverse. And this is definitely one of my goals, not just as a student of PV, but I would hope to continue this throughout my entire life.”
Shah said members of PV’s Asian Culture Club joined to help coordinate an event celebrating Asian American culture.
She said Asian Cultures Night will celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month “especially with the rise of hate crimes against the Asian community, especially due to Covid 19.” The event is not a district function.
At the same meeting, Shah was recognized by the New Jersey Council for Social Studies for her contributions to social studies education in the areas of motivation, leadership, scholarship and her work with PV’s Asian Culture Club.
NJCSS said it commended “her hard work and passion for studying social studies, her depth of inquiry, research and presentation of South Asian culture to the Pascack Valley community. The targeted skills that are part of a social studies education — asking questions, making presentations, analyzing information, comparing perspectives, and understanding and sharing cultures — are necessary because they prepare students for active roles in their community and college.”
The National Endowment for the Humanities website notes that since 1990, the U.S. government has designated May as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, “celebrating the achievements and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in the United States. The month of May was chosen to mark the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant to the United States on May 7, 1843, as well as the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869.”
On May 18, Gov. Phil Murphy announced the appointments of 28 public members to the New Jersey Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Commission.