AAPI community of Silicon Valley comes together to heal and celebrate 2023 Lunar New Year

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01/31/2023

By DDTVRobe

On January 27th, about 300 people gathered at Ding Ding TV studios to “Celebrate 2023 Lunar New Year Together.” The event featured “Civic Leadership Forum: Dialog between Communities: Building Bridges through understanding the Asian culture and heritage.” It also included multicultural performances, Asian food tasting, The Best Traditional Dress competition, and a lucky raffle draw. The moderators for the event were Chelsea T. Zhang (a rising Hollywood star) and Minh Tran (Vietnamese community leader).

The event was a first in a few ways. In 2023, the state of California declared Lunar New Year a state holiday. Also, it was the first time a diverse community gathered to celebrate the Lunar New Year together. The festivities included Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Indian, Black, and Chinese Americans. After the recent mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, California, it was a time to uplift the community, promote diversity, and stop the hate.

Dr. Xiaoyan Zhang (Entrepreneur, social activist, and AAPI advocate) presented the keynote speech. He spoke about the study conducted by the Asian American Foundation, which examined the sense of belonging and acceptance members of the AAPI community feel. Most Asian Americans (73% of women and 67% of men) do not feel they belong or are accepted in their community. However, the sense of belonging and acceptance grows with age. Dr. Xiaoyan Zhang stressed the importance of social media and leveraging ethnic media to create effective communication between different AAPI communities.

“Celebrate 2023 Lunar New Year Together” included a “Civic Leadership Forum: Dialog between Communities: Building Bridges through understanding the Asian culture and heritage.” Joel Wong was the panel moderator. The panelists included Kathy Watanabe (Councilmember City of Santa Clara), Chris Norwood (Milpitas Unified School District Board President), Francisco Espiritu (Publisher and President of Philippine News Today), Christine Von Raesfeld (Co-Founder/CEO of People with Empathy), Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto (President of Fremont Union High School), and Tran Vu (Journalist, Phu Nu Cali Magazine).

Joel Wong asked all the panelists several questions:
• Why is diversity important?
• What is unique about me and my background?
• What can fellow Americans learn from my background?
• One piece of advice to fellow Americans?

Kathy Watanabe (Councilmember City of Santa Clara) spoke about the importance of diversity as it is a way to learn about each other’s cultures and what is important to our heritage. It is also a way to keep traditions alive. Chris Norwood (Milpitas Unified School District Board President) talked about growing up in the diverse community in Milpitas and how it allowed him to learn about other races and nationalities. He soon realized we all have different struggles, but we need to recognize our stories are common. It is a way to bond and solve problems. Francisco Espiritu (Publisher and President of Philippine News Today) also recognized that when we learn about different cultures, we realize we are similar.

Christine Von Raesfeld (Co-Founder/CEO of People with Empathy) thinks to have real diversity means to have a deeper understanding of communities. She stressed the importance of learning about other cultures. That way, we can help ourselves and others. Tran Vu (Journalist, Phu Nu Cali Magazine) spoke about studying in Europe and being exposed to diversity everywhere he went. Unlike the older generations, the younger generations have a different way of living, and it is the norm for them. Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto (President of Fremont Union High School) stressed the importance and value of diversity and linked it to having different spices in our lives – we need more than just salt and pepper. She also talked about the importance of a language because when we lose our language, we lose a part of ourselves and our culture.

Several elected officials joined the festivities including Alex Lee (California State Assemblymember), Lisa Gillmor (Mayor of Santa Clara), Cindy Chavez (Santa Clara County Supervisor), Otto Lee (Santa Clara County Supervisor), Lily Mei (Mayor of Fremont), Kathy Watanabe (Santa Clara Councilmember), Sudhanshu “Suds” Jain (Santa Clara Councilmember), and Yang Shao (Fremont City Councilmember).

The entertainment part of the event included several multicultural performances: a Chinese musical number performed by the members of the Music Land School of Music, a Vietnamese dance and fashion show, an Indian dance by the members of the InSyncKathak Dance School, a Filipino solo by PJ Gabat from the Evergreen Studio of Music & The Arts (ESOMA), Korean drum and dance performed by the Korean Traditional Dance Academy, and Chinese Traditional Hand Paper Cutting by Yuejin Wang.

“Celebrate 2023 Lunar New Year Together” was organized by Ding Ding TV and Silicon Valley Community Media. Co-organizers of the event included National Asian American United, Silicon Valley Central Chamber, Philippine News Today, India Currents, MusicLand School of Music, InSyncKathak Dance School, Korean Traditional Dance Academy and Phu Nu Cali magazine. The event was made possible by California State Library, iCHiNA, Dr. Ken Fong, Qi Vogue, Artist Haiying Wang, Dr. Aiping Liu, Asian American Stories Committee, and all the wonderful community volunteers.