Asian Heritage Night Cleveland City Hall Rotunda May 25, 2022
After not being able to gather because of Covid the last 2 years people were excited to gather again for Asian Heritage Night at Cleveland City Hall. Chia-Min Chen, Asian Liaison/Project Coordinator,
Community Relations Board, City of Cleveland put together the evening.
Chia-Min Chen
The national anthem was sung by soprano Ying Huang.
Ying Huang singing the national anthem at Asian Heritage Night
Chia introduced several speakers including Angela Shute-Woodson, Mayor Bibb's senior advisor on community and government affairs.
Angela Shute-Woodson
The next speaker was Director Gia Hoa Ryan, the Founder and Director of Friendship Foundation of American Vietnamese; Director for the Vietnamese Cultural Garden on Dr. Martin Luther King Bouelvard; and the longest serving member of Mayor Justin Bibb's Cleveland Community Relations Board, dating back to year 2000.
Gia Hoa Ryan
Here are some of her remarks:
Chao Anh, Chi, Em (in Vietnamese, that means “greetings” to all of you.) We welcome all to this Asian Heritage and Pacific Islander Festival. My name is Gia Hoa Ryan. I am Vietnamese. I have served the longest time on the Mayor’s Community Relations Board since before 2000. Tonight in May we praise the achievements of our Asian American and Pacific Islanders groups.
We especially welcome: Mayor Justin Bibb the 58th Mayor of Cleveland, We welcome the New Director of the Community Relations Department Director Angela Shute-Woodson. We welcome Reverend Dr. Charles Lucas, Chair of Mayor Bibb’s Community Relations Board. May is a special time when All Americans can experience and enjoy our various Asian peoples. Also these peoples applaud this opportunity to honor their First Motherlands. They show pride for where they came from.
Do you know how many Asian Americans there are? 24 million! This is a growth of 7 million people since 2010. It is a 35% increase. We are represented in all businesses and professions as well as colleges and universities. Currently we have five military generals who came to the US as refugee children after the Viet Nam war. We have many other officers and NCO’s. Here is another statistic: There are 600,000 Asian-American businesses.
How did we establish May as Asian heritage month? In 1978, Congress established Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week. May was then chosen to match two important milestones in our history. First was the arrival in the USA of Japanese immigrants in May 1843. Second was the contributions of Chinese workers to the building of the transcontinental railroad. This was completed on May 10, 1869. In 1992, Congress expanded our observance to a month-long celebration. This is now known as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
How did Asians come to Cleveland? The first Asian community to arrive in Ohio was primarily made up of Chinese workers. They initially came to California. But anti-immigrant feelings and a recession in the 1870s drove many Chinese Americans to move east. They came to Ohio. They landed in the northeast portion of Ohio. They founded businesses such as laundries, restaurants, groceries, and clothing stores. This was along Lakeside and St. Clair avenues. In the 1940s, more Chinese arrived. They sought refuge from the Chinese Civil War. By the 1990s, Cleveland’s Chinatown became AsiaTown because other Asians had come there. They expanded the neighborhoods from East 18th to East 40th streets. This included Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from their West Coast homes during World War II; and Korean and Vietnamese refugees caused by the Cold War. Today the highest Asian subgroup is Indians, with the first wave coming in 1960. They were Engineers and professionals who are in demand in Cuyahoga County.
What are some of our goals? First. We want to complete the Vietnamese Cultural Garden. This is one of 40 community gardens including the Indian and Chinese gardens located on Dr Martin Luther King Blvd.
Second, We seek to end discrimination and violent attacks upon our Asian communities. Third, We want to improve our immigration system so all peoples are equally welcome. Fourth, We oppose all oppressive quotas against Asian students. Fifth, we seek a nation where all can thrive, raise their families, and ensure America is a society where everyone can contribute to enriching America
So we say welcome to all our Asian American and Pacific Islander groups. We say welcome to all our friends and invite all to enjoy tonight’s celebration
The next to speak was Joyce Huang, the city's new planning director.
Joyce Huang
Here is a video of some of the speeches at Asian Heritage Night.
After the speeches were performances such as this face changing act, known as "Bian Lian" in Chinese. This is an important aspect of Chinese Sichuan opera. Performers uses "face changing technique" on the stage and their painted masks change again and again and again. Mark Zhang from China was the Face Changing performer.
There was also a dancer from Thailand named Hsa Win who is an instructor of Karen Culture Dance Academy. His performance is Bagan Dance originated from the time of the Pyu Kingdoms (5th – 10th century).
After the official program, guests enjoyed a dinner from the Himalayan Restaurant in Cleveland.
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