AAPI Summit

Earlier today - well technically yesterday by now (it’s 12:22 a.m.) - an Asian American/Pacific Islander Summit was held at the Hyatt Regency.

Local and national leaders spoke about politics and issues that pertained to, well, the AAPI communities.

Among those in attendance were prominent national AAPI leaders such as Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., Floyd Mori, national executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, and Vida Benavidas, executive director of APIAVote, a nonprofit, nonpartisan org. that promotes civic involvement in the AAPI communities. Former Colorado state Senate President Stan Matsunaka was also in attendance.

Much of what they spoke about seemed like it was preaching to the choir. Many in attendance were other local and national leaders who have heard and are fully aware of the schpeal about education and health care disparities, namely with the lack of interpreters to serve the first generation immigrants, and the need for immigration reform.

But what appeared to reach the crowd was the urging of those in the AAPI communities to not be passive and voice their concerns. Kenneth Quan Phi, a junior at DU, spoke about getting out and doing something rather than ignoring a problem - specifically pointing out the Max Karson Campus Press article "If it's war the Asians want..." and the reaction from local community members.

It was a "let's empower ourselves so that we can empower our communities" event. It was good except that it was three hours long with two really short breaks.

The Dems made a strong push for 6th Congressional District candidate Hank Eng, who was in attendance. Just about everyone who is involved with the party mentioned Eng during their speech.

Celeb sighting
"Survivor: Cook Island" winner Yul Kwon was in attendance. It wasn't a big surprise - Kwon's a fairly vocal Dem who toyed with idea to run for Congress earlier this year.

Interesting tidbit
During the second break, I was planning on heading over to grab a burrito from Chipotle, but the staff at the Hyatt had a lockdown because there were demonstrators outside.

Needless to say, I was starving.

I ran into a woman, whose name escapes me right now, who's helping one of my favorite bloggers, angry asian man, cover the DNC. But when she was taking some random crowd shots, the guy at the door told her that she wasn't allowed to shoot pictures. I was surprised by this. I know it's private property, but how many people shot pictures in that lobby without being told to stop?

I suppose stopping a blogger from shooting some random pics that probably wouldn't even be used is important for security purposes.