Duckworth Celebrates Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by Keynoting APAICS Gala
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) keynoted the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) Gala Awards Dinner last night, where she discussed the AAPI community’s accomplishments, her experiences with poverty and hunger during her childhood in Southeast Asia, and the importance of diversity and representation to our nation. Duckworth attended the 25th anniversary Gala as a member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC). Photos from last night's event are available here.
Key points:
- “In a very literal sense, Asian Americans helped unite this country, helping build the railroad that stretched from sea to shining sea. We laid the tracks… tilled the fields... started the businesses... and picked up the rifles necessary to develop and defend the nation we loved… day after day, helping prove that America’s greatest asset is the diversity of its people.
...
- “That is the America I fell in love with before I had ever even stepped foot on its soil… I spent my childhood bouncing around Southeast Asia, moving from country to country as my father brought humanitarian aid to refugee camps throughout the region… I learned the power of even the smallest acts of kindness, and I learned what America meant to these poorer-than-poor families half a world away.
...
- “To me, America became defined by its empathy, by its generosity to those in need. I saw it as a country that led the world not with its might, but with its compassion and its values. As a nation that was great because it was good.
...
- “Nowhere else in the world would my story have been possible. My family moved to Hawaii after my dad lost his job... We struggled... I still remember my dad walking from payphone to payphone, hoping to find just 50 cents so me and my brother could buy lunch at school the next day. And I still remember going to the grocery store and counting out our last five one-dollar food stamps to buy as much bread and bologna as possible—then praying we’d have enough to last the week.
...
- “But most of all, I remember the neighbors and the teachers and the strangers who made it possible for us to survive… who helped us scrape by. People like my public school English teacher, who’d regularly find excuses to keep a few of us hungry kids after the final bell, then apologize for keeping us late by digging into his own pocket and handing us a dollar or two to get some food on our way home… The same uniquely American generosity that my dad showed those refugees in Cambodia and Laos was given right back to us when we landed on U.S. soil.
...
- “To me, that is America… a 3.5-million-square-mile community where someone who isn’t wealthy would still reach into their own pocket to help a stranger… no matter the color of their skin, the country where they were born or the fluency of their English… That remains true today, despite the rhetoric we’ve heard from some over the past few years.
...
- “So now, we must both honor how far we’ve come and recognize the work still left to be done to ensure that every Asian American—and every other person, regardless of race—can achieve the American Dream.”
APAICS is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting Asian Pacific American participation and representation at all levels of the political process. APAICS programs focus on developing leadership, building public policy knowledge, and promoting Asian Pacific Americans in public office at the local, state, and federal levels.
Duckworth’s remarks as prepared for delivery are below:
Hello, everyone!
Thank you for that kind introduction, and thank you all for inviting me here tonight.
It’s an honor to be here, celebrating our community and all it’s accomplished… no matter the odds.
APAICS does some incredible work, including helping foster the next generation of AAPI leaders.
My own office has benefitted from the exceptional young men and women who take part in its Congressional Fellowship program.
Neil Noronha (NOR-on-hah), our current fellow, is somewhere here tonight and does important work for my national security team.
The American story as we know it would not exist if it weren’t for the strength—the sweat—of the AAPI community.
In a very literal sense, Asian Americans helped unite this country, helping build the railroad that stretched from sea to shining sea.
We laid the tracks… tilled the fields... started the businesses... and picked up the rifles necessary to develop and defend the nation we loved… day after day, helping prove that America’s greatest asset is the diversity of its people.
That is the America I fell in love with before I had ever even stepped foot on its soil.
I was born in Thailand to an American father and a Thai mother who’d met during one of his tours of duty.
From Bangkok, I spent my childhood bouncing around Southeast Asia, moving from country to country as my father brought humanitarian aid to refugee camps throughout the region.
As I followed him… as I saw the faces of the people he met there… I learned the power of even the smallest acts of kindness, and I learned what America meant to these poorer-than-poor families half a world away.
To me, America became defined by its empathy…. by its generosity to those in need.
I saw it as a country that led the world not with its might, but with its compassion and its values.
As a nation that was great because it was good.
I was grateful to be American before I even spoke English.
And all these years later, that gratitude remains unchanged.
Of course, this nation has its flaws. And I’ll get to that.
But nowhere else in the world would my story have been possible.
My family moved to Hawaii after my dad lost his job, spending nearly every dollar we had on our plane tickets across the world.
We struggled.
We had no money and some days had no food… teetering on the brink of homelessness… never sure what tomorrow would bring.
I still remember the hours my dad spent walking from payphone to payphone, hoping to find just 50 cents so me and my brother could buy lunch at school the next day.
And I still remember going to the grocery store and counting out our last five one-dollar food stamps to buy as much bread and bologna as possible—then praying we’d have enough to last the week.
But most of all, I remember the neighbors and the teachers and the strangers who made it possible for us to survive… who helped us scrape by.
People like my public school English teacher, who’d regularly find excuses to keep a few of us hungry kids after the final bell, then apologize for keeping us late by digging into his own pocket and handing us a dollar or two to get some food on our way home.
Or the 90-year-old woman at the American Legion Auxiliary, who wrote us a check that got us into a pay-by-the-week, roach-infested motel room—which was miles better than the other option: the streets.
The same uniquely American generosity that the U.S. brought to those refugees in Cambodia and Laos was given right back to us when we landed on U.S. soil.
To me, that is America… a 3.5-million-square-mile community where someone who isn’t wealthy would still reach into their own pocket to help a stranger… no matter the color of their skin, the country where they were born or the fluency of their English.
That remains true today, despite the rhetoric we’ve heard from some over the past few years.
America is still filled with those generous strangers… with people, like all of you here tonight, who know the true power of diversity.
Because diversity isn’t “just” a feel-good issue.
Diversity makes us smarter, as it widens our perspectives.
It makes us sharper, as it shatters our assumptions.
And it makes us better, as it deepens our bonds, leading us to treat as equals those who look, love or pray differently than we do ourselves.
From Congress to the military to the school PTA, no group can make fully-formed decisions if there are more men named “John” at the leadership table than women or people of color.
Look, I’ve lived my entire adult life under an oath to protect and defend this nation… first flying helicopters as an Army helicopter pilot, and now as a Senator.
So keeping our country the strongest it can be means something to me.
But despite what some folks suggest, you can’t measure the strength of this nation by the size of our defense budget.
No. Instead, the true strength of America lies in our values and what we represent to the rest of the world.
I still remember—this must’ve been in 1995 or ’96—being on a mission in Egypt.
I was in the Illinois National Guard, so when my crew climbed out of our helicopter, I was surrounded by a bunch of Polish-American and Irish-American guys.
After all, we were the Chicago Guard unit.
Some local villagers came to look at our aircraft and asked if they could get in. One of my buddies responded that they only could if they got the permission of the platoon leader—and then he pointed at me.
The locals’ response was, “The short Asian girl?!”
“Yup,” my guys said. “She’s in charge.”
They could hardly believe that among all those tall, blonde, white guys, I was the one in command.
That’s the story of this country: that the impossible can happen to any one of us… that if you work hard, you can come from food stamps and you can rise, rise, rise.
We are a nation of immigrants… a union that, yes, at times has been anything but united.
And yes, we’ve had moments when bigotry has prevailed… when we’ve treated our neighbors as “less-than” because of their race or their religion.
But time after time, we’ve refused to give in to that darkness.
This is the nation that produced Eric Shinseki and Norman Mineta… that elected Barack Obama.
This is the nation that has allowed children to dream… to strive… to become a U.S. Senator even if they spent their childhood a few dollars away from homelessness.
There will always be people who want to build walls.
But the miracle of America is that when it looks like those worst instincts are set to prevail, we come together and resist.
Black, white, Asian, Latino, gay, straight, transgender, you name it… we march.
We speak out.
We bend the moral arc of the universe, not waiting for anyone else to do it for us.
We demand justice… fairness… equality.
So now, we must both honor how far we’ve come and recognize the work still left to be done to ensure that every Asian American—and every other person, regardless of race—can achieve the American Dream…
Can see themselves in boardrooms or operating rooms… on the movie screen or holding the Speaker’s gavel...
Can pictures themselves as military platoon leaders… as teachers... as whatever in the world they’d like to be.
But we’re not fighting for more Asian Americans, or African Americans, or Latinos to get into the halls of power just for representation’s sake.
We’re doing it to forward the cause of our nation. To bolster the strength of this country.
That’s why I’ve introduced legislation like the Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act, which would guarantee that the horrors of internment camps never again tarnish our soil or weaken our bonds.
And it’s why I pushed forward bills like the Chinese-American World War II Veteran Congressional Gold Medal Act, which ensures that America begins to honor our community’s sacrifices that’ve been ignored for too long.
Because we’ll only ever reach that more perfect Union our founders dreamed of when we embrace the power of our diversity.
Events like tonight’s, and groups like APAICS, move us one step closer to that better, more equal future.
So thank you for all that you do, and thank you again for having me here tonight.
-30-
Next Article Previous Article
