Photo By Lance Cpl. Javarre Glanton | Staff Sgt. Sonephet Seubkanha, a drill instructor with Platoon 2034, Echo Company, 2nd...... read more read more
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MCRD PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. - The depot is scheduled to celebrate Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month with a cultural performance at the Lyceum May 20.
The presentation is scheduled for 6 p.m. and is expected to present dances, foods, singers, musical ensembles, and speakers both from the focused cultural backgrounds and elsewhere.
“We want it to be a learning experience for people of different cultural backgrounds,” said Jong Gamboa, chairman of the Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebration.
“We’ve got a very aggressive committee and they’re not all Asian or Pacific Islander,” Gamboa explained. “I’m very impressed with how well they work with this – I think the turnout will be good. We’re expecting about 300 people in attendance.”
“It’s great that we got the help and support of the community and the military as well,” said Gamboa, a native of the Philippines.
Gamboa first served as the chairman of the celebrations as an active-duty sailor 17 years ago and several times since then. He looks forward to the opportunity to orchestrate the occasion again, he said.
“I feel it’s a month we can share, especially with our children who may have grown up here,” Gamboa said.
The month of May is designated by presidential proclamation to recognize Asian Americans and Pacific Americans throughout their history, not only in the states, but from their native backgrounds as well.
The heritage month refers to the peoples of the entire continent of Asia as well as those from the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.
“It’s to raise awareness about the different types of cultures that surround us,” said Cynthia Golson, the deputy equal employment opportunity officer for the depot, the air station and Naval Hospital Beaufort. “We have to work together, and how better can we work together than to learn where we all come from?”
The month of May was selected for Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese people to America on May 7, 1843.
The idea began as a celebration during the first 10 days of the month with a congressional bill in 1977, which was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush changed the length of the celebration to the entire month.
To volunteer as a performer for the event at the Lyceum, call the entertainment coordinator Liberty Ouzts at 228-4911.
| Date Taken: | 04.29.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.29.2011 14:49 |
| Story ID: | 69579 |
| Location: | PARRIS ISLAND, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 463 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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