Angela Anand
An event with diverse groups of Asian sub-groups at Nation’s Capital by Angela Anand, AAUC President
Someone famous had said that a journey of many steps starts with the first step. So true, for me my journey with Asian American Unity Coalition (AAUC) started with the former president reaching out to me to join AAUC. She had seen the election of a national association where elections were hotly contested, and I was a candidate for the position of president.
That is when I became the first female president of this national association in forty-four years. It surprised us all. It was now three years ago that I joined AAUC at the suggestion of former president. I wore several hats and now is an elected officer of this diverse group and serving on a two-year term as the president of this groups of Asian sub-groups. Our association for the second time, last year was the first time, left foot prints in the Nation’s Capital. This group very successfully conducted two days of activities starting with briefing at White House, then tours of #WhiteHouse and Capitol building, followed by discussions at Crown Plaza hotel in Crystal City, on variety of topics on Thursday, September 19, 2024 and finally ending the day with a social inclusive of compered entertainment. Our emcee was a media personality Nilima Mehra.
Then the next day, Friday, September 20, 2024, we spent all day at the House Rayburn building, listening to speakers, elected officials – congressman Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, congresswomen Grace Meng, representative Gene Wu, and Andy Kim in his office, doing advocacy, and hosting congressional reception in the evening with variety of foods and drinks. We also recognized people representing all walks of life for their accomplishments at Congressional building on this concluding day.
Feeling so much love from Erika Moritsugu, Deputy Assistant to the President and Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders Senior Liaison, when she joined, directly coming from New York at our dinner reception, bringing with her a letter from her boss, the President Joe Biden welcoming our group and our Summit delegates from twenty-seven states. Thank you, Erika Moritsugu, for your presence and leadership. Our sincere gratitude for your efforts to represent us at such a higher level. I acknowledge with deep appreciation your efforts.
I am so very thankful for the opportunity for welcoming us all the delegates from several states at White House for #AANHPI 2nd #UnitySummit; especially when I had the honor to first open the meeting and greeting our delegates and then again to brief the Biden Administration’s Congressional Relations team on the great work our groups are carrying on, and my own association, South Asian Women’s Network and acknowledging and sharing that one of our goals is to highlight positive contributions of women and providing a forum for discussions on topics of interest by the membership. This is the second hat I wear besides being the president of AAUC.As a coalition of various ethnic groups, #AAUC also had the opportunity to share our concerns on immigration and racial discrimination issues. We even had a chance to talk about the online #AAPI Hub that Asian American Unity Coalition has slowly developed with the help of Blue Raster in the last 2 years.
It’s a tool that uses #ESRI #ArcGIS technology to store a wide range of relevant data for sharing and collaborating. Congresswoman Grace Meng made time for us in between her meetings on Friday. Our amazing #API-vote friend Christine Chen delivered an inspirational speech, emphasizing the need for voting. State Representative, Gene Wu from Texas gave us a very spirited speech on civic engagement and emphasized- engage, collaborate, and work with influencers and work with teams and gain experience in fundraising and asking of their support for bill impacting you.
I thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and making new ones! Some of us also took the opportunity to visit our congressional members, advocating for some of the bills that are being considered. We are so grateful for assistance we received from White House, elected officials, and our delegates who arrived from so many different states to be part of this event and the local resident who managed to take time off from their busy schedule.
Thank you to all of you. You all made it a great event. With gratitude I say thank you to all our hosts and very specifically to Senior Staff of AANHPI, Ms. Emily Stanley who put in numerous hours to answer from mundane to logistical questions from us. Thank you Emily we will never forget your tenacity and hard work to get us to the briefing and the tour of White House.
(The author Angela Anand is AAUC President)
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