May celebrates the contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) to our Nation. From being groundbreaking scientists and researchers, world renowned athletes, champions for communities, and defending our country from harm, members of the AAPI community have laid the foundation of American's history and are instrumental to its future success. Join the City in saying, there's no place for hate and celebrating the contributions of our AAPI neighbors, friends and family this month.
Dr. Bhavin Parikh
Dr. Bhavin K. Parikh is a member of the City of Elk Grove's Diversity and Inclusion Commission and a practicing psychiatrist. Dr. Parikh is passionate about volunteering, resulting in partnerships with many local organizations, raising thousands of dollars for We Embrace, My Sister's House, the Children's Receiving Home of Sacramento, and the local chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. He is on a community collaborative project, "API Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Initiative," to break the stigma and raise awareness about mental illnesses. For his meritorious community services, Bhavin was selected as a 2019 Sacramento County Hero of Human Services!
Jinky Dolar
Jinky Dolar is a member of the City of Elk Grove’s Diversity and Inclusion Commission. She is the President of the OCA Sacramento Chapter, an organization that works towards uplifting Asian Pacific Islander Americans socially, economically, and politically. Jinky is also the Director of Advertising Sales and Marketing for Asian American-owned GoldenTV, ChimeTV, and Character Media, delivering 24/7 English language general entertainment community-driven Asian American and Pacific Islander stories. Her contributions to the community have earned her many accolades, including the 2024 Lunar New Year Excellence Award from the Sacramento State Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Center.
Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen
Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen was elected to represent the 10th Assembly District of the California State Assembly in November 2022. In 2017, she became the first ever Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) female City Councilmember in the city’s history as well as in 2022 the first ever AAPI woman Legislator to represent the Sacramento region. Stephanie grew up in Sacramento’s Little Saigon district and graduated from Sacramento State University. Assemblymember Nguyen served as the Executive Director of Asian Resources, Inc. (ARI) and the Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber (SACC) Foundation with the goals of ensuring all communities have access to needed support services and increasing the number of young AAPI leaders in the region.
Learn more about Stephanie Nguyen
Sunisa (Suni) Lee
Sunisa (Suni) Lee is a Hmong American Gymnast who won three medals for Team USA at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020. Lee is the first Hmong American to compete at the Olympics representing the United States. At just 12 years old she had reached the highest levels of the women’s development program provided by USA Gymnastics. She would later be nominated to the U.S. junior national team in 2017. She eventually was named to the U.S. Olympic national team where she won the individual all-around gold medal, the most sought-after decoration in the sport of gymnastics.
Learn more about Sunisa (Suni) Lee
Photo source: kids.britannica.com
Darsh Singh
Darsh Singh is the NCAA’s first-ever turbaned Sikh American basketball player. A Sikh American athlete, Darsh played for Trinity University in Texas between 2004 and 2008. Wearing a turban is an integral part of the Sikh religion, thus Singh always wore one including during games. He faced backlash from the crowd to take off his turban or cut his hair. Using #BeLikeDarsh, to promote diversity and combat hate, Singh and his friends petitioned the NCAA. Darsh was allowed to continue wearing his turban during games. As an honor to Darsh for his amazing accomplishments on the basketball court, his jersey is now on display at the Smithsonian Museum.
Learn more about Darsh Singh
Photo source: verygoodlight.com
Patsy Takemoto Mink
December 6, 1927 – September 28, 2022
Congresswoman Patsy Mink was a champion of women’s rights and a key player on issues involving education, the environment, welfare, and civil rights. She was the first Asian American woman to serve in Congress representing the people of Hawaii from 1965-1977 and 1990-2022. As one of only eight women who were members of Congress at the time, Patsy Mink was a strong advocate on women’s issues, gender and racial equality, and bilingual education. She helped author Title IX, the Early Childhood Education Act, and the Women’s Educational Equity Act as well as being the first Asian-American to run for U.S. President.
Learn more about Patsy Takemoto Mink
Photo source: britannica.com
Doris Matsui
Congresswoman Matsui has represented the Sacramento region since 2005 after being voted in to succeed her late husband, Robert Matsui, in a special election. Congresswoman Matsui works tirelessly to improve access to high-quality, affordable, accessible health care and is the author of the bipartisan Excellence in Mental Health Act which was signed into law by President Obama in 2014. Matsui currently serves on the Health and Energy subcommittees and is the Vice Chair on the Communications and Technology subcommittee where she ardently supports advancing STEM education, especially for women and girls.
Learn more about Doris Matsui
Photo source: britannica.com
Kalpana Chawla
(March 17, 1962 - February 1, 2003)
Born in Karnal, India, Chawla was the first Indian American woman in space in 1997. She logged 30 days, 14 hours, and 54 minutes in space as part of her two missions on the Space Shuttle Columbia. Unfortunately, she perished on February 1, 2003, with the Columbia crew as it was reentering the Earth's atmosphere after their successful mission. Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, and several streets, universities, and institutions have been named in her honor.
Learn more about Kalpana Chawla
Photo source: NASA
Tammy Duckworth
(March 12, 1968 - current)
Is an Iraq war Veteran, Purple Heart recipient, a former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Congresswoman. Educated at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and George Washington University, Senator Duckworth is fluent in Thai and Indonesian. She has the distinction of being one of the first woman to fly combat missions in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sen. Duckworth lost both her legs, and partial use of her right arm, in November 2004 when the Blackhawk helicopter she was flying was hit by a rocket propelled grenade. In 2016, she was elected as a US Senator for the State of Illinois which she still represents.
Learn more about Tammy Duckworth
Photo source: U.S. Senate Photographic Studio
Larry Itliong
(October 25, 1913 - February 8, 1977)
Itliong is described as one of the fathers of the West Coast labor movement along with Cesar Chavez. A native of Pangasinan Province in the Philippines, Itliong immigrated to the United States in 1929 and fought for the rights of farm workers and laborers most of his life. His efforts in supporting laborers led to significant concessions to the farm workers, including pay raises, health-care benefits, and safety protections from pesticides.
Learn more about Larry Itliong
Photo source: Wikipedia
Emily "Kau'i" Zuttermeister
(March 8, 1909 - March 3, 1997)
"Aunty Kau'i" is a revered Kumu Hula (teacher of hula) who used the art form to advocate and inspire Hawaiian culture. She is credited as part of a group that helped to revitalize the Hawaiian language (?Olelo Hawai?i) which had been outlawed from being spoken during the time of the missionaries and is now taught in schools throughout the islands.
Learn more about Emily "Kau'i" Zuttermeister
Photo source: Territorial Airwaves Facebook
Elk Grove City Council: Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen, Vice Mayor Darren Suen, Councilmember Stephanie Nguyen
Elk Grove is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the nation which is reflected on our City Council.
Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen was elected in 2020 after serving as a trustee for the Elk Grove Unified School District Board of Trustees. She is a native of India and has resided in Elk Grove for nearly 30 years where her community involvement, philanthropy, and leadership have benefited the community. Her contributions were recognized in 2015 when she was named "Woman of the Year" for Assembly District 9.
Vice Mayor Darren Suen's great grandparents settled in the Delta and the Vice Mayor was born and raised in the Greenhaven/Pocket area. A civil engineer with a master's degree in business administration, Darren has served on the City Council since 2014. He and his family have lived in Elk Grove for over 20 years and are active in the community.
As the Executive Director for Asian Resources, Councilmember Stephanie Nguyen has dedicated her career to ensuring that communities have access to resources. Her passion for helping others has led her to collaborate and volunteer with a variety of non-profits who have benefited from her leadership. On February 2, 2017, Councilmember Nguyen was unanimously appointed to serve on the Elk Grove City Council making her the first Asian woman to serve on the Council. She was elected for a full term in 2018.
Learn more about the Elk Grove City Council
Photo source: Darren Suen
Sokhary Chau
(June 1, 1973 - present)
The Nation's first Cambodian American Mayor took office in January 2022 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Sokhary Chau arrived in the United States in 1981, fleeing the Khmer Rouge's rule in Cambodia. His mother kept her seven children alive in the Cambodian jungles after his father was killed by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 during the country's civil war. In taking office Chau said "As a proud Cambodian American, I am standing on the shoulders of many immigrants who came before me to build this city."
Photo source: Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
General Vang Pao
(December 8, 1929 - January 6, 2011)
General Vang Pao of the Royal Lao Army was an influential military leader who was key to the Hmong community's beginnings in the United States. Numerous Hmong people emigrated to the U.S. in the late 1970s during the Vietnam War, fleeing the murders and imprisonments their people were facing in Laos. Many of the first wave of emigrants were part of General Pao's Secret Army, which was aligned with U.S. war efforts. General Pao remains respected among the Hmong people for his leadership and military accomplishments. California is home to the largest Hmong population in the United States with the highest number of Hmong in the Fresno metropolitan area and the second highest number in the Sacramento region. Within Sacramento County, Elk Grove maintains the second largest Hmong population.
Photo source: John Dominis/Time Life Pictures - Getty Images
Chien-Shiung Wu
(May 31, 1912 - February 16, 1997)
"The First Lady of Physics" was a pioneer of nuclear and particle physics. Born in China, Wu came to the U.S. in 1936 to attend college. Wu's work in nuclear and experimental physics revolutionized the field and broke ground for women in science. The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor on February 11, 2021. She has also been recognized for her achievements and her encouragement of women in the sciences.
Learn more about Chien-Shiung Wu
Photo source: Smithsonian Institution
442 nd Regimental Combat Team
Organized on February 1, 1943
A U.S. Army infantry regiment during World War II, the unit was composed almost entirely of Americans of Japanese Ancestry. Organized on February 1, 1943, more than 12,000 Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans) volunteered to serve, some of them answering the call from internment camps where they had been relocated to. The 442nd's motto of "Go For Broke" resulted in their being the most decorated unit of its size in US military history to this day. The unit earned more than 18,000 awards in less than two years fighting across the European theatre. Those awards include more than 4,000 Purple Hearts, 4,000 Bronze Stars and twenty-one Medals of Honor.
Learn more about the 442 nd Regimental Combat Team
Photo source: The442.org
David Ho
(November 3, 1952 - Current)
David Ho, M.D. immigrated to the United States in 1965 from Taiwan. A graduate of the California Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School, Ho was one of the first scientists to isolate and identify the AIDS virus in 1982. Since then, he has dedicated his life to finding a cure. In 1996, Time Magazine named him as the "Man of the Year" saying "Ho is not, to be sure a household name. But some people make headlines, while others make history." Ho was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2001, one the highest honors a civilian can earn in the United States.
Photo source: microbiology.columbia.edu/faculty-david-ho
Duke Kahanamoku
(August 24, 1890 - January 22, 1968)
Known as "the father of surfing", Kahanamoku was born and raised in Honolulu around the ocean. His love of the water propelled him to be a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming, winning gold and silver medals in the 100 meter swim, as well as relay events. He is an inductee of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, Swimming Hall of Fame, and the Surfing Hall of Fame. In addition to being a world-renowned athlete, Kahanamoku was featured in over 30 Hollywood films and was elected as the Sheriff of Honolulu 13 times. In 1960, he was appointed as Hawaii's Official Ambassador of Aloha spreading the message of goodwill, kindness and aloha to the world.
Learn more about David Kahanamoku
Photo source: dukekahanamoku.com
Dalip Singh Saund
(September 20, 1899 - April 22, 1973)
Sworn into Congress on January 3, 1957 from California's 29th District, Saund was the first Asian, Indian American, and first Sikh to be elected to the U.S. Congress. Born and raised in Punjab, India, Saund moved to the U.S. to attend U.C. Berkeley in 1920 earning a Ph.D. in mathematics. A champion of labor rights, Saund served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before a stroke left him unable to continue.
Learn more about Dalip Singh Sound
Photo source: heritageseries.us/dalip-singh-saund