Happy Asian American and Pacific Islaalnder Heritage Month! This month is meant to celebrate a community that has long been underrepresented throughout American history. But to some, it carries a heavy weight as it has proven contentious over the years. On the one hand, it serves as a reminder that we should be proud of where we come from and of the customs and legacies we carry. On the other, it's also a reminder of erasure for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, who have long argued that this grouping has ignored their unique and current struggles.

This month and its history are incredibly important because of the ways in which solidarity plays a role in how we see ourselves and our peers. The Asian American and Pacific Islander community is no monolith, and it’s worth underscoring how the term expanded from merely “Asian American,” which was born from a moment not too dissimilar from the one we’re living in now, to a vast AAPI umbrella.

The year was 1968, a year that already draws parallels to this one with an anti-war movement solidifying in opposition to the Vietnam War much like the Pro-Palestine student movement on campuses today. The term was coined by graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley, Emma Gee and Yuji Ichioka, hoping to unite the subdivided groups of Asian Americans under one name, recognizing that we are stronger together than apart. A decade later, President Jimmy Carter signed the resolution recognizing Asian Pacific American Heritage Week into law, which eventually became AAPI Heritage Month in 1990. 

There are so many different communities under that umbrella, people of different ethnicities, different religions, different races, and different socioeconomic backgrounds, yet solidarity was the reason that Asian Americans all were grouped together in the first place. Some Asian American organizers are embracing that same solidarity today, calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza.

The inclusion of Pacific Islanders, originally meant as a way to simplify census categories, is contentious because of how the larger group has led to erasure of Pacific Islanders. Today, the government recognizes Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians separately but there are still widespread campaigns to distance the group from the larger Asian American community. 

As the climate crisis worsens, Asia and the Pacific Islands — which also boasts a war-torn history — are some of the most vulnerable to its impacts. Asia was the region most affected by climate disasters in 2023, according to a report from the World Meteorological Organization. Flooding, extreme heat, and cyclones are the top threats to the region. Across the Pacific Islands, tropical storms, drought and sea-level rise pose existential threats to people, their livelihoods, and cultures. Escalating conflict over regional land disputes over the ecologically significant Himalayan region between India and China in past years are just one example of how this plays out in Asia. 

On this warming planet, conflict and climate change are not two unrelated threats but instead are interrelated: War, in most cases, is caused by fighting over increasingly scarce resources and increases the amount of carbon pollution in the atmosphere.  

In many of the Pacific Islands, the presence of the U.S. and other militaries are not just part of their past but still play a role in their ongoing colonization — like in 2021 in Hawai’i when jet fuel leaked from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel storage facility on Oahu. Additionally, the U.S. military’s ongoing build up on Pacific Islands echoes a history of using Pacific Islanders’ homes for bomb testing or to extract resources — often violently displacing people from their homes in the process. 

As journalists, these histories and relationships should be at the forefront of our minds as we tell stories that shape how people think of communities, conflict, and world events. We need to continue to be precise, intentional, empathetic, and clear about how interrelated calls for climate justice are with other calls for justice for people affected by conflict worldwide. The term AAPI is predicated on a complicated history of both opposing war and militarization in Asia and attempting to include large groups of people across varying experiences to build power. As we try to consider what would be the best path forward to center all people under the AAPI umbrella, we should remember that our histories should guide our approach to creating a lasting, just future for all.