The US has celebrated the heritage and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders every May for nearly 45 years. 

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month began in 1978 as a 10-day observance with a Congressional resolution. Congress expanded the observance to a full month in 1992. 

May is significant for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The first Japanese immigrants arrived in the US in early May of 1843. And some 25 years later, Chinese immigrants played a key role in the laborious construction of the transcontinental railroad. Completed in May 1869, the rail line linked the Midwest and Eastern US with the Pacific coast.

As with any heritage month, it's important not to overlook histories of oppression or intolerance. Unfortunately, in recent years, AAPI people have faced intensifying racist harassment and violence.

Stop AAPI Hate, a national nonprofit organization that tracks these incidents, said it received 10,370 reports of hate-based incidents between March 2020 and September 2021.

Who identifies as AAPI?

Asian American and Pacific Islander, or AAPI for short, is a broad term that includes people from throughout the continent of Asia, and about two dozen Pacific Islands, including Guam, American Samoa, and Hawaii.

A diverse AAPI community

Like every group, the people in the AAPI community are not monolithic, according to Angelique Geehan. 

"They are as different from each other as humans can be, except for the characteristic they share by chance: That their ancestors came from places on earth that we consider the same or that we group together and recognize as part of the continent of Asia or any of the many Pacific Islands," Geehan said. "Knowing that, I think it's fair to say that any issue that matters to anyone might matter to someone of the AAPI community."

A self-described queer, Asian, gender binary-nonconforming parent, Geehan founded Interchange, a consulting group that offers anti-oppression support. She also organizes as part of several groups, including the QTPOC+ Family Circle and the Health and Healing Justice Committee of the National Queer and Trans Asian and Pacific Islander Alliance. 

Here are some of her thoughts on issues at the intersection of tech and the AAPI community.

What tech-related issues matter to the AAPI community?

In a word: Intersectionality.

 "What I do perceive is that many people, including AAPI people, forget or actively suppress that we can be women, men, any other gender, or agender," Geehan explained. "That we can be fat or plus-size and of many skin tones. That we can be Black, Indigenous, of multiple different heritages. That we can be disabled in consistent ways, ways that change over time, and even ways that we and others may not be aware of."

Or, to say it another way, tech organizations, colleagues, and decision-makers should be aware that "AAPI people can have all kinds of identities interconnected with their existence as an AAPI person." 

As a result of intersectional identities, Geehan notes, "Our understanding of these issues deeply affects how we use and create technologies, how tech can support or impede our ability to exist in recognition of all our characteristics and identities."

Geehan said three key issues that matter to everyone, including people who identify as AAPI, include:

• Humanized representation as tech consumers, workers, or decision-makers
• Inclusion in tech development
• An awareness of cultural suppression or destruction

Tech companies should take the lead in reducing harm

With great power