Cosmopolitan Feature for AAPI Heritage Month

Feature from Cosmopolitan’s “Food, Karaoke, and Family: How These API Visionaries Are Honoring AAPI Heritage Month”

NADYA OKAMOTO, author, organizer, and entrepreneur

“It’s really heartbreaking to realize how little AAPI sociology and history are taught through our education growing up in the U.S.—why was it that I learned about Lewis and Clark every year but never had an in-depth unit about Japanese internment or learned about the problematic dynamic of the model minority myth? Why didn’t I learn about the murder of Vincent Chin or the activism of badass AAPI women like Yuri Kochiyama and Grace Lee Boggs until I was in college and finally had the space and catalyzing experiences to push me to do that research on my own?

These historical leaders and moments should be part of the history we are taught in school here—AAPI are not invisible. We are here and we have always been here. And our history cannot and should not be erased or ignored. So this month, I am taking more time to educate myself about the history of Asian America and challenge even my own beliefs about my race, which I grew up feeling ashamed of given how teased I was about being Asian, especially because of my eye shape. Education. Learning. Unlearning. Action. That’s how I’m celebrating this month, and I fully intend to continue this work beyond May.”