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Public
Employee Press Celebrating Asian
Heritage
Youngsters from dance troupes representing
the folkloric traditions of Bangladesh, Malaysia, Korea, India and the Philippines
were the highlight of the annual DC 37 Asian Heritage celebration on May 15.
Love
songs from the Philippines, a Korean drum dance, Chinese opera and songs from
Bollywood films were just a few of the many cultural presentations offered by
ensembles of young people during the annual DC 37 Asian Heritage celebration on
May 15 at the union hall.
The ethnic diversity of Asia is wonderfully
reflected at DC 37, said Asian Heritage Committee Chair Maf Misbah Uddin,
who is the treasurer of District Council 37 and president of Local 1407. The
citys growing Asian population has added many members to our union family
and their increased participation in the labor movement has made us stronger.
Among
the many distinguished guests at the evening celebration were DC 37 Executive
Director Lillian Roberts; Shamsul Haqueo, the consul general of Bangladesh; Dr.
Anju Kumar from the Consulate of India and City Council member John Liu from Flushing.
State
Assembly member Grace Meng of the 22nd District in Queens the youngest
Asian American ever elected to the New York State Legislature was the keynote
speaker.
Regardless of where youre from, we all have very similar
stories, said Meng, whose first bill in the legislature extended unemployment
benefits to 56,000 New Yorkers.
After praising the committee for their
hard work in putting together the celebration, Lillian Roberts had some choice
words for City Hall: I have to sound the alarm, because if the attacks from
the administration continue, sooner or later we wont even have a civil service
system.
Liu made similar remarks, reprimanding the mayor for contracting
out public employees jobs to the private sector. The contract dollars
continue to flow out of New York for companies that dont hire New Yorkers,
he said.
Uddin praised the work of the committee and Co-chair Bhagwatie
Dwarika of the DC 37 Education Fund in planning an excellent celebration
that we were proud to share with many members of DC 37.
Alfredo Alvarado
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