WE ARE HERE

“No one is powerless when we come together. No one can make us invisible when we demand to be seen.”

Following an introduction and a foreword, this collective biography opens with a display of portraits of its subjects, a striking array of multi-toned, uplifted faces with proud expressions. Concise, informative entries, written clearly and thoughtfully, cover a diverse group of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, among them Lebanese painter Etel Adnan; surfer Eddie Aikau, who fought for Hawaiian people to be included in the sport they developed; Korean American swimmer Schuyler Miwon Hong Bailar, the first openly transgender college athlete to take part in a Division I sport; Manny Cristomo, a Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist from Guam; and Laotian anti-war activist Channapha Khamvongsa. Themes of exclusion, discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and appropriation manifest clearly and thoughtfully in evocative accounts that weave together Asian American and Pacific Islander history and personal experiences. An introduction from Lisa S. Sasaki, director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, touches on the hate crimes against Asian Americans since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and discusses the importance of covering Arab Americans and Pacific Islanders—voices often left out of Asian American histories but laudably included here.

An excellent introduction that makes clear the richness and diversity of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.