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Public Employee Press
Strength in diversity
DC 37 celebrates Asian progress
By ALFREDO ALVARADO
Asian American union members celebrated the unique heritage they and their
families brought from many homelands and staged one of the most colorful
events to take place at DC 37 at the unions Asian Heritage Celebration
on May 20.
An impressive array of folkloric dance troupes, made up mainly of young
people, performed traditional steps and songs from China, Korea, India,
Bangladesh and Thailand.
In addition to the cultural presentations and multi-ethnic cuisine, the
committee presented an evening that acknowledged the valuable contributions
of Asian New Yorkers in various fields. Among those honored during the
program were Dr. Rashid Abedin, assistant commissioner of the New York
City Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene; Virginia Eng of the United Federation
of Teachers; Chet Szarejko of the Eastern Queens Democratic Club; Renee
Lobo of the cable television station ITV and the late Jen-Chung Chang
and his son Ti-Hua Chang, the veteran CBS Chanel 2 news reporter.
The Asian members of this great union family take tremendo us pride
in the accomplishments of our community and the contributions we are making,
said Committee Chair Maf Misbah Uddin, who is also treasurer of DC 37
and president of Local 1407. He also stressed the importance of developing
political power.
The area where we are weakest is the political arena. We can do
better, and we are starting here with our union, said Mr. Uddin.
He praised Committee Co-chairs Bhagwatie Dwarika, from the DC 37 Education
Fund, Leela Merat from Local 375 and Susie Yuen from Local 2627 for their
work in planning the evening.
We applaud our Asian American members for participating in our union
and the labor movement, said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.
The enthusiasm and dedication of our Asian members helps us build
a stronger, more pro-active DC 37.
Ms. Roberts also pointed out the significant contributions made by Dr.
Benjamin Chu while he was head of the Health and Hospitals Corp. Dr.
Chu put HHC on the map, said Ms. Roberts.
In a tribute to the growing political power of the Asian American community,
City Council member Robert Jackson and state Sen. Kevin Parker attended
the celebration. Im glad to see so much diversity here,
said Mr. Jackson, whose father was Chinese.
The keynote speaker for the evening was Dr. Khaled Mohammed, who is commissioner
of the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board and has established
a center that treats hearing-impaired children and provides shelter for
sexually abused youth.
I had several engagements, but I decided that it was much more important
to come here to DC 37, he said. Dr. Mohammed encouraged Asian Americans
to become active in their communities. A small group of people can
eventually grow and become much larger and influential, he said.
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