Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, 1997

Proclamation 6998 of May 5, 1997

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Today, almost 10 million Americans can trace their
roots to Asia and the Pacific Islands. This month
provides a wonderful opportunity to recognize and
celebrate all the ways in which Asian and Pacific
Americans have enhanced our Nation and strengthened our
communities.

North America was visited regularly by Asian and
Pacific traders as early as the 16th century, and by
the late 1800s, this continent was receiving large
numbers of immigrants from China, Japan, Korea, the
Philippines, and the Indian subcontinent. These
settlers worked hard, turning wilderness into bountiful
farmland in Hawaii, opening new industries in the West,
and helping to build the first transcontinental
railroad.

Along with a vast array of skills, Americans of Asian
and Pacific Island ancestry brought their remarkable
traditions of hard work and respect for family and
education to their new country. Their belief in the
American Dream of equality and opportunity enabled them
to face the challenges of adversity and discrimination
and achieve a record of distinguished service in all
fields, from academia to government, from business to
the military, and medicine to the arts. These people
and their children managed to preserve the rich legacy
of their homelands while also embracing the best values
and traditions that define our Nation.

In recent years, newly arrived groups of Asian and
Pacific peoples have continued to enrich our proud
tradition of cultural diversity and endow our Nation
with energy and vision. Today, as we prepare to enter
the 21st century, we must continually strive to fulfill
the ideals that originally attracted so many immigrants
to our shores.

To honor the accomplishments of Asian and Pacific
Americans and to recognize their many contributions to
our Nation, the Congress, by Public Law 102-450, has
designated the month of May as ``Asian/Pacific American
Heritage Month.''

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1997
as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. I call upon
the people of the United States to observe this
occasion with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and
activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-first.