Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, 2014

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 9108 of April 30, 2014

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage
Month, 2014

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

During Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI)
Heritage Month, we celebrate the accomplishments of
Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific
Islanders, and we reflect on the many ways they have
enriched our Nation. Like America itself, the AAPI
community draws strength from the diversity of its many
distinct cultures--each with vibrant histories and
unique perspectives to bring to our national life.
Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific
Islanders have helped build, defend, and strengthen our
Nation--as farm workers and railroad laborers; as
entrepreneurs and scientists; as artists, activists,
and leaders of government. They have gone beyond,
embodying the soaring aspirations of the American
spirit.

This month marks 145 years since the final spike was
hammered into the transcontinental railroad, an
achievement made possible by Chinese laborers, who did
the majority of this backbreaking and dangerous work.
This May, they will receive long-overdue recognition as
they are inducted into the Labor Hall of Honor.
Generations of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and
Pacific Islanders have helped make this country what it
is today. Yet they have also faced a long history of
injustice--from the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii
and its devastating impact on the history, language,
and culture of Native Hawaiians; to opportunity-
limiting laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
and the Immigration Act of 1924; to the internment of
Japanese Americans during World War II. Even today,
South Asian Americans, especially those who are Muslim,
Hindu, and Sikh, are targets of suspicion and violence.

With courage, grit, and an abiding belief in American
ideals, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific
Islanders have challenged our Nation to be better, and
my Administration remains committed to doing its part.
Nearly 5 years ago, I re-established the White House
Initiative on AAPIs. The Initiative addresses
disparities in health care, education, and economic
opportunity by ensuring Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders receive equal access to government programs
and services.

We are also determined to pass comprehensive
immigration reform that would modernize our legal
immigration system, create a pathway to earned
citizenship for undocumented immigrants, hold employers
accountable, and strengthen our border security. These
commonsense measures would bring relief to Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders who have experienced
this broken system firsthand, and they would allow our
country to welcome more highly skilled workers eager to
contribute to America's success.

This month, as we recall our hard-fought progress, let
us resolve to continue moving forward. Together, let us
ensure the laws respect everyone, civil rights apply to
everyone, and everyone who works hard and plays by the
rules has a chance to get ahead.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim May 2014 as Asian
American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I call
upon all Americans to visit www.WhiteHouse.gov/AAPI to
learn more about the history of Asian

Americans and Pacific Islanders, and to observe this
month with appropriate programs and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
eighth.