Public Employee Press

Celebrating Asian Heritage

Youngsters from dance troupes representing the folkloric traditions of Bangladesh, Malaysia, Korea, India and the Philippines were the highlight of the annual DC 37 Asian Heritage celebration on May 15.

Love songs from the Philippines, a Korean drum dance, Chinese opera and songs from Bollywood films were just a few of the many cultural presentations offered by ensembles of young people during the annual DC 37 Asian Heritage celebration on May 15 at the union hall.

“The ethnic diversity of Asia is wonderfully reflected at DC 37,” said Asian Heritage Committee Chair Maf Misbah Uddin, who is the treasurer of District Council 37 and president of Local 1407. “The city’s growing Asian population has added many members to our union family and their increased participation in the labor movement has made us stronger.”

Among the many distinguished guests at the evening celebration were DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts; Shamsul Haqueo, the consul general of Bangladesh; Dr. Anju Kumar from the Consulate of India and City Council member John Liu from Flushing.

State Assembly member Grace Meng of the 22nd District in Queens — the youngest Asian American ever elected to the New York State Legislature — was the keynote speaker.

“Regardless of where you’re from, we all have very similar stories,” said Meng, whose first bill in the legislature extended unemployment benefits to 56,000 New Yorkers.

After praising the committee for their hard work in putting together the celebration, Lillian Roberts had some choice words for City Hall: “I have to sound the alarm, because if the attacks from the administration continue, sooner or later we won’t even have a civil service system.”

Liu made similar remarks, reprimanding the mayor for contracting out public employees’ jobs to the private sector. “The contract dollars continue to flow out of New York for companies that don’t hire New Yorkers,” he said.

Uddin praised the work of the committee and Co-chair Bhagwatie Dwarika of the DC 37 Education Fund in planning “an excellent celebration that we were proud to share with many members of DC 37.”

— Alfredo Alvarado