May marks Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, a time to recognize and honor the diverse cultures and important contributions of those from Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities and backgrounds.
Cherry Hill acknowledged the month with its fifth annual AAPI Festival on May 18 in the West High cafeteria and auditorium. The event kicked off at noon with tables representing area businesses and organizations and various forms of martial arts were on display.
Some attendees and demonstrators were engaging in Kendo, a form of modern Japanese martial arts in which opponents don protective gear and duel with bamboo swords. Participants at the festival used blunt wooden sticks. Teachers from area martial arts and karate studios also demonstrated how to break specially made boards and allowed attendees to try for themselves.
Participants engage in Kendo, a form of Japanese martial arts that features dueling with bamboo swords or sticks, at the Cherry Hill festival.
One hour into the festival, speeches and introductions were beginning in the West auditorium. Nina Gao is the president of the Asian American Alliance of South Jersey, one of the main organizations behind the annual event.
“Today, we are celebrating culture, resilience and unity,” Gao noted, “but we must also recognize the challenges that remain.”
She went on to discuss the strain immigrant communities have dealt with since January because of a rise in harmful or offensive media portrayals and fear of threats, violence or deportation.
“We must show up, speak out and support each other,” Gao insisted. “One of the most powerful ways to do that is by voting. If you are eligible, make sure you are registered to vote and request a mail-in ballot.”
Both Mayor Dave Fleisher and his wife, newly elected Camden County Commissioner Jennifer Cooley Fleisher, were at the festival, as were distinguished guests Moorestown Mayor Quinton Law and Evesham Township Mayor Jaclyn Veasy.
“We have mayors from different towns from across South Jersey who believe that treating people with dignity and respect, and with open inclusion and celebrating our diversity, is not something that just happens in a given month,” Fleisher remarked.
“It is part of who we are as a community, and we embrace it and celebrate it each and every day of the year.”
Though he was running late, U.S. Sen. Andy Kim and his son, August, were on hand, and during a break between performances, the first Korean American to serve in the Senate addressed the festival audience.
“When I first started the run for Senate last year, I had people tell me that I was the wrong kind of minority to win statewide,” Kim recalled. “They said that there’s no way that an Asian American could win a statewide seat in New Jersey. And I just found that to be so frustrating. And I said to them, ‘Don’t think that I can only appeal to people who look like me.’”
The festival also featured 17 performances that represented Asian and Pacific Islander cultures, including traditional and modern dance, musical performances and martial arts demonstrations. Performers of all ages took to the stage in colorful and culturally significant attire.
Students from the Cherry Hill Huaxia Chinese School used fans and props in six performances that ranged from traditional dances like “Melody of the Snow Dragon,” “Green Hills in the Distance” and “The Aroma of Tea,” and performed taichi movements in “16 Forms Taichi Boxing.” Their final, non-musical performance, “48 Forms Mulan Single Sword,” combined martial arts with prop swords and dancing.
Cherry Hill East students gave two separate performances. The Vietnamese Culture Club featured them in large dragon costumes as they mixed modern and traditional forms of dance and music. And the Filipino Culture Club also featured a mix of styles, as well as tinkling, a Filipino folk dance in which two people hold bamboo poles and tap them rhythmically against the ground as dancers jump or step over and between the moving poles.
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The Reaksmey Sareypheap Khmer Dance Group performed a Khmer classical dance called, “The Robam Neary Chea Chour,” or “ladies in a line,” a dance that displays the beauty and elegance of young women in Cambodian culture.
Guests were welcome to stay after the performances to purchase food and learn more about the cultures, businesses and organizations showcased throughout the festival.