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NPS Celebrates Diversity with AAPI Heritage Ceremony
U.S. Navy photo by MC2 Shawn J. Stewart

NPS Celebrates Diversity with AAPI Heritage Ceremony

By MC2 Shawn J. Stewart

Jenny Camara and Dana Lee, members of Hula-Yamamoto Hula Ohana traditional Hawaiian dance group, perform for students, faculty and staff during NPS' Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month celebration held at Herrmann Hall, May 28. Each May, the U.S. Navy celebrates AAPI Heritage Month, recognizing the history and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

"This year's theme is 'Many Cultures, One Voice: Promote Equality and Inclusion,'" said Master of Ceremonies Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Lewis Hunsaker. "This month we celebrate the cultural traditions, ancestry, native languages and unique experiences represented among more than 56 ethnic groups speaking over 100 languages that live in the United States."

NPS Deputy Dean of Students Cmdr. Alex T. Mabini then took the stage, and delivered a personal and inspirational message.

"I have to admit, there was a time when I was ashamed of being different from everyone else," said Mabini. "Back then, there was always tension about the growing Asian population in Stockton [California]. I can't count how many times I was referred to by one racial slur or another."

Mabini recalled his rough childhood, being shot at and beaten for his racial identity … experiences that forced Mabini to question his own heritage until one day a conversation with his grandmother changed it all.

"I remember telling my grandmother I wish I wasn't Asian," recalled Mabini. "She told me, in her Okinawan accent, to never say that and that a lot of people had gone through many sacrifices to get to the U.S. Then, she lifted her arm and showed me her wrist. I saw that she had a scar of some sort, and I asked her what it was from … She told me a grenade."

Mabini's grandmother was a survivor of the Battle of Okinawa, and she explained how a grenade had killed her parents, and the shrapnel from the blast had scared her.

"Her story is just one of thousands of similar stories from Okinawan Americans now here in the U.S.," said Mabini. "Nearly 150,000 or roughly half of the island's civilian population died in the Battle of Okinawa, but she told me she survived and that I should not forget that."

"My family's story is only one of many stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States," Mabini said in closing. "Only through knowledge of the sacrifices others have made for this country can we expect to break down the barriers to equality and inclusion."

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May 2015

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