Webinar: AAPIHM 2021 Opening
Thursday, April 1, 2021
6:00pm - 7:00pm
Webinar Registration: https://go.umd.edu/AAPIHM2021
Keynote Speaker: Julia H. Rhee is a former community organizer and the proud daughter of Korean immigrants. She most recently led as the Interim Executive Director for the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, the largest advocacy organization in the country serving the LGBTQ AAPI community, and brings over a decades’ worth of experience in both the public and private sectors from the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, and the Pacific Northwest.
Her leadership experience also includes ten years of management experience on two LGBTQ nonprofit boards, strategy consulting for reproductive and environmental justice organizations, and product management in technology. Julia is currently finishing her MBA with a focus on Data Analytics.
Join MICA and the Asian American Studies Program in welcoming our keynote speaker to open Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
This past year has been particularly difficult for BIPOC communities. We have been feeling the effects reverberate as we grapple with systemic inequities and adapt to different contexts. In all that, we are also finding threads of movement, mobilization, and collective action.
The Office of Multicultural Involvement & Community Advocacy (MICA) has worked diligently with a student committee for this year’s Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage month theme: “So Now What?”. Please help us in celebrating their work and the message behind this April’s theme.
The Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community has, at different moments, reckoned with both structures of power/oppression and models of privilege. There are common themes this diverse community continuously comes back to (i.e. Model Minority Myth, xenophobia, anti-Blackness, etc.). While these experiences can feel new in this current moment, we can point to a number of historical moments that highlight a sense of returning. “So Now What?” is a question that prompts continued self- and community-reflection, and also offers an opportunity to understand our work within larger and historic struggles of social justice.
We invite you to join the University celebration of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPIHM) 2021. This is the 29th year that AAPIHM has been a nationally recognized month-long affirmation of the experiences and contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Our upcoming calendar of campus events will be posted on MICA’s website later this week.