By ALFREDO ALVARADO

The great mosaic of New York’s ethnic communities comes alive every year at DC 37 as union members celebrate their rich heritage and their contributions to the city and its labor movement. One of the most colorful events is the Asian Heritage Celebration. This year’s celebration on May 21 featured performances of traditional dances from Thailand, Mongolia and Bangladesh.

“The Asian brothers and sisters in DC 37 have been a tremendous asset to the labor movement throughout the city,” said Maf Misbah Uddin, treasurer of DC 37 and chair of the Asian Heritage Committee. One of the common themes addressed by the speakers was the importance of becoming politically active. “It is especially important to get young people involved in the process,” said Dr. Mazhar N. Malik, a research scientist.

The 10th Annual Jewish Heritage Month Celebration on June 10 overflowed with traditional music, a rendering of Jewish success stories and hot plates of stuffed cabbage and corned beef. Rabbi Dr. Alvin Kass, a member of Local 299 and Senior Jewish Chaplain of the Police Dept., opened the festivities with an invocation calling for “a meeting of the minds, reconciliation and peace” throughout the world.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts attended the celebration and recalled her long history with her Jewish colleagues. “My contributions to the labor movement started when I worked alongside Victor Gotbaum and others of the Jewish faith,” said Ms. Roberts, who has traveled to Israel four times. The event was presented by the DC 37 Jewish Heritage Committee, which is chaired by SSEU Local 371’s Larry Glickson.

Another speaker was David Napell, the former chair of Mazon, a Jewish Response to Hunger, a nationwide charity devoted to fighting hunger and its main cause, poverty, among people of all religions. “Right-wingers have been pointing their fingers at obesity among the poor as if to say they are not really in need. In fact, this results from malnutrition due to eating the cheapest and most filling foods, not from a life of luxury,” he said.

Tribute to labor
In his keynote address, Long Island University Professor of History Joseph Dorinson highlighted the accomplishments of Jews in Major League Baseball. One of the pivotal figures in the game was not a player but the union chief Marvin Miller, who in 1966 was elected executive director of the Major League Players’ Association. A former Steelworkers Union staffer, in 1981 Miller led the longest labor strike in American sports history.

Along with several million New Yorkers of Puerto Rican ancestry, the Latino Heritage Committee took to the streets and marched down Fifth Avenue June 13 at the 46th Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade.

“It was great,” said Committee Chair Magda DeJesus, who marched with the union contingent all the way up to 86th St. “There were some union members along the parade route who shouted out ‘That’s my union!’ That makes me feel so proud,” said Ms. DeJesus, who is president of Real Estate Employees Local 1219. “That is what keeps me coming back every year.”