Public Employee Press

Celebrating Asian Heritage

DC 37 members, family and friends celebrated the contributions of the growing Asian community to the United States at two events in May.

Hundreds enjoyed the DC 37 Asian Heritage Committee’s program May 19 and the Local 2627 celebration May 4.

DC 37 Treasurer and Local 1407 President Maf Misbah Uddin chairs DC 37’s Asian Heritage Committee and Bhagwatie Dwarika, a program coordinator with theDC 37 Education Fund, co-chairs along with Leela Maret, recording secretary of Local 375, and Susie Yuen of Local 2627.

Asians have the highest household income in the United States and the greatest proportion of college graduates of any racial or ethnic group, Uddin noted in his welcoming remarks at the DC 37 Asian Heritage Committee’s gala.

Today, Asians constitute 5 percent of the U.S. population. They and Latinos constitute the fast-growing minority groups in the country.

Speakers at both events urged members to participate more in their community and the union. “If we do not define ourselves, someone else will do it for us,” said Uddin.

Ahmed Shakir, secretary of Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375, made a pitch for members to become more involved in the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, a constituency group of the AFL-CIO. Shakir and Uddin are vice presidents of APALA, which helped organize the recent nationwide demonstrations for immigrant rights.

“APALA is fighting to organize the unorganized across the country,” Shakir said. While union membership has been declining, the number of Asian American union members grew for the second year in a row from 603,000 to 614,000 from 2004 to 2005. At the DC 37 event, the committee honored the outgoing president of the APALA chapter in New York City, Marian Thom of UFT/AFT Local 2.

“Asian communities have learned a lot by participating in their unions,” said May Y. Chen, manager of Unite Here Local 23-25, Local 2627’s keynote speaker. Unions play a crucial role in helping the community through voter registration, citizenship services, lobbying and education, she said.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts gave welcoming remarks at both events. “The enthusiasm and dedication of our Asian members helps us build a stronger, more pro-active DC 37,” Roberts said at Local 2627’s celebration.

The Asian Heritage programs featured performances including Gayatri Malhotra, a high school sitar player; Local 2627 member and Bangladeshi folk dancer Sadia Ismat; Philippine singer and DC 37 member Esmeraldo Payuyo; a Thai candle-dance troupe and Chinese acrobat Rui Zhang.

Rene Lobo, the news anchor of ITV Channel 77, emceed the DC 37 event. Susie Yuen and Mohamed Zaman were the emcees for the Local 2627 celebration, in which Local 2627 President Edward W. Hysyk gave welcoming remarks.

Indian-American physicist and author Mani Bhaumik, who helped develop Lazik eye surgery, was the keynote speaker at DC 37’s event.

Bhaumik gave a moving talk in which he traced his childhood in a poor village in West Bengal to his eventual residency in the United States, where he has prospered through his path-breaking scientific work.

— Gregory N. Heires