Guest post by APF Research Fellow Nainika Paul, May 29, 2020

In the mid-1970s, Jeannie Jew, a congressional staffer to New York Congressman Frank Horton suggested that May be officially designated as Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month in order to honor the early contributions of Asian Americans. Jew and Ruby Moy, Horton’s Chief of Staff, spearheaded efforts to gain support for a proclamation that was eventually signed in 1978, that called for Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Week.

In the mid 1990s, Public Law 102-450 was established, officially marking May as Asian Heritage Month. During Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, people from Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia remember the contributions their ancestors made to the growth of American culture, values, and the economy.

As early as 1893, immigrants and contract laborers from present-day Pakistan settled in the United States to work in agriculture, logging, and mining. They mostly migrated to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.

The Pakistani American community remains a large force in Asian American activism and in celebrating Asian heritage during this special month.

In 1947, after gaining independence from the British, a further wave of immigrants came to the United States. Then in 1965, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Act once again increased the number of Pakistani immigrants to the U.S. and this time brought Pakistanis to Atlanta, New York, and Washington D.C.

With the rise of South Asian immigrants in the late 1960s, came a modern large-scale Asian American movement meant to address the race-based violence and discrimination felt by the community. This “pan-Asian” movement in which South Asian and Pakistani activists greatly contributed, brought about changes in campuses such as the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University where students protested the absence of Asian American experiences from university curricula. Today, South Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. Among Asian Americans, over 60% are regarded as “Brown Asians”. 

South Asians in America share a long and intertwined history with Black Americans and the Civil Rights movement.

In the past, Muslim freedom fighters actively participated in and were jailed for fighting Jim Crow laws, and many Pakistani and Indian professors helped desegregate Jackson, Mississippi.

Historian Nico Slate, recounts in his book Colored Cosmopolitanism, how Pakistani professor Hamid Kizilbash and Indian professor Savithri Chattopadhyay from Tougaloo College protested and face beatings with African American students in Jackson, Mississippi to help desegregate the city.

Following 9/11, South Asian migrants and particularly Muslim Pakistanis faced racism, discrimination and Islamophobia in their neighborhoods and workplaces. According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, there were significant increases in anti-Islamic hate crimes after the September 11th attacks.

Not only did anti-Muslim crime cases rise numerically, since then, hate crimes towards members of the Muslim community grew as a percentage of all hate crimes, accounting in 2015 for 4.4 percent of all reported hate crimes. This persisted despite Muslims being approximately 1.1 percent of the total U.S. population.

Following 9/11, South Asian migrants and particularly Muslim Pakistanis faced racism, discrimination and Islamophobia in their neighborhoods and workplaces. According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, there were significant increases in anti-Islamic hate crimes after the September 11th attacks. Not only did anti-Muslim crime cases rise numerically, since then, hate crimes towards members of the Muslim community grew as a percentage of all hate crimes, accounting in 2015 for 4.4 percent of all reported hate crimes. This persisted despite Muslims being approximately 1.1 percent of the total U.S. population.

In recent years, Pakistani Americans have continued to fight against the discrimination and racial disparities that exists within mainstream media. In 2016, South Asian Americans and Filipino Americans partnered together in an open letter to the New York Times, stating how their communities were consistently erased from media coverage of racial discrimination. The letter sparked the viral twitter hashtag #BrownAsiansExist –encouraging South Asians and Brown Asians to not only advocate for more visibility within mainstream Western media but even within the Asian American community.

The Pakistani American community remains one of the most philanthropic groups; research suggests that the community has contributed nearly a billion dollars in volunteering and philanthropic activities.

The diaspora works tirelessly to donate time, money and talent towards the development of Pakistani Americans and those in Pakistan. Organizations such as South Asian American Women’s Alliance and the Pakistani American Community Center work to create educational opportunities, STEM competitions and awareness events to promote innovation, activism and growth of the community.

Throughout the history of Asian immigration, Pakistani workers and the community have demonstrated strength and continue to organize to bring about effective change towards laws and practices that discriminate against both South Asians and other minority groups. Pakistani Americans consistently work to embody the principles of remembrance and demonstrate the pride that comes with celebrating Asian American heritage during the month of May. 

LEARN MORE

History of Asian Pacific Heritage Month

Pakistanis in America by Stacy Taus-Bolstad

The Asian American Movement by William Wei

The Brown Asian American Movement: Advocating for South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Filipino American Communities

Philanthropy in Pakistan - Stanford Social Innovation Review

Portrait of a Giving Community: Philanthropy by the Pakistani-American Diaspora by Adil Najam