Ethnic Technologies, LLC Celebrates Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month

In 1763 a small group of Filipinos deserted a Spanish ship in New Orleans and established the first Filipino, Asian Pacific community in the U.S.A. on a Louisiana bayou. The term Asian-Pacific encompasses the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island). These groups, as of July, 2010, numbered over sixteen million individuals (over five percent of the U.S. population.)

Asian-Pacific Heritage Month originated in a congressional bill.  In June 1977, Representatives Frank Horton of New York and Norman Y. Mineta of California introduced a House resolution that called upon the president to proclaim the first ten days of May as Asian-Pacific Heritage Week. The following month, Senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Both were passed. On October 5, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a Joint Resolution designating the annual celebration. Twelve years later, President George H.W. Bush signed an extension making the week-long celebration into a month-long celebration. The official designation of May as Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month was signed into law in 1992.

The month of May was chosen in order to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad (after Chinese immigrants laid down tracks through the Sierra Nevada Mountains) on May 10, 1869.

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month is celebrated with community festivals that include parades and cultural performances. Although there is no one Asian cuisine, such traditional foods such as Indian curries, peanut and coconut mixtures of the tropical Southeast, barbecued beef of Central Asian steppes, and kaldereta stew of the Philippines are available. These are all very different yet uniquely Asian-Pacific. All events encourage the sharing of cultural diversity while promoting group unity.

Most heritage months highlight a specific group and the individuals and events that shape its American experience. Asian-Pacific American Heritage month unites multiple populations each with its own unique history and renowned personalities. Notables include Dalip Singh Saund, the first Asian elected to Congress, Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first Asian-American congresswoman, I.M Pei, architect and winner of the Pritzker Prize, Ellison Onizuka, astronaut, Levi Celireo, composer, Alex Tizo, Pulitzer Prize Winner and Vincent Chin whose murder, in 1982, is considered the beginning of the pan-ethnic Asian- American movement.

May salutes the many generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America’s history and cultural landscape and will continue to play an important role in its future.

Why Multi-Cultural – Ethnic Marketing?  Why Now?
The 2010 US Census Bureau drew attention to ethnic groups by allocating the majority (estimated $145 million) of its $300 million budget to multicultural audiences. For the first time, the census website was avalable in a bilingual format English/Spanish and included guides in 59 other languages. Because of  the dramatic growth the census showed, multicultural experts expect marketing geared towards them to increase as companies become more aware of the economic opportunities and clout of targeting these various ethnic segments. As marketers we need to be prepared for the increased interest is these fast growing segments of the American Population..

Ethnic Technologies, LLC – Asian Insight
Ethnic Technologies, LLC is the Platinum standard in multicultural marketing. The result of over 40 years of continuous ethnic, religious and language preference research, E-Tech allows clients to segment their database by ethnicity, religion, language preference and Hispanic country of origin more accurately and comprehensively than any other approach. The EthniCenter® offers an Assimilation Index, which distinguishes Asian individuals based on their ability to speak their Native Language or understand the language of their prevailing culture. E-Tech 7.3 incorporates a unique approach for the different Asian cultures. After identifying their specific names E-Tech 7.3 does a neighborhood analysis using multi-sourced information compiled from our research team here. From that data E-Tech is able to accurately identify the Asian individuals’ ethnicity, language preference and assimilation index. The name John Lee, for example could be Chinese, Korean, African American, or a number of other ethnicities. By using this neighborhood analysis E-Tech can accurately identify his ethnicity from the over 170 different selections available.

Contact Candace M. Kennedy, Sales and Marketing Director at 866-333-8324 ext. 106 or candace@ethnictechnologies.com. Visit  www.ethnictechnologies.com.