At 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, De Neve Plaza started to fill up with
students gathering to celebrate the Asian Pacific American Heritage
Month Night Festival.
With its theme of “Asian Pacific Islander ROOTS:
Rediscovering Our Own True Selves,” the program presented the
audience with a variety of performances ranging from comedy
improvisation to traditional and modern dances.
“It is visible that there was a lot of time put into the
organization of the event and to make sure all the unique cultures
are represented in different forms in order to educate the
audience,” said Maria Dieu, a first-year biochemistry, who
was one of the many audience members.
While every person in attendance could take advantage of the
open-mic as a way to voice an opinion or to share their art, Taylur
Ngo, a fifth-year theater and Southeast Asian studies student, was
specifically invited to perform her spoken word at the
festival.
“(The festival) talks about the positive and promotes
community and does not exclude others,” Ngo said.
Ngo covered a wide range of issues, including her personal
experience growing up in a Vietnamese American Family as well as
more current and controversial issues like the war in Iraq.
“My art is socially conscious and what I try to do through
my art is to treat the truth as the moving target that it
is,” said Ngo.
The festival was presented to students by the Office of
Residential Life and the Asian Pacific Coalition, which alone
consists of more than 20 student groups providing different
services throughout the UCLA community.
Some of these groups were present at the festival in order to
get in touch with students that may be unaware of their existence
but could benefit from the services they offer.
“There are not a lot of Pacific Islanders on campus and
events like this help us become visible and network with other
groups,” said Ursula-Ann Siataga, a third-year Asian American
studies student and a representative of the Pacific Islander
Student Association.
“It’s easier to get recognized during this month
since May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month,” Siataga
said.
Even though UCLA’s Asian Pacific Coalition has been around
for 27 years, the month of May was not officially designated as
Asian Pacific American Heritage month by Congress until 1992.
The APAHM committee said in a pamphlet passed out at the event
that they believe the festival will provide the opportunity for
different Asian Pacific American groups and the UCLA community to
come together and educate each other while raising the level of
awareness and celebrating the diversity at UCLA.