What unifies us is the reverence for our elders, the emphasis on our foods and the time we spend with our family. We have stories about our history, about our struggles, about our joys—and we hope you will listen and truly hear us. We want you to try to learn the pronunciation of our names, of our foods, of our languages as the generations who came before us did for the English language when they came here.
The things we teach our children—to respect one another, to share, to acknowledge others, to listen—are the things we should always remember ourselves.
When we learn and honor each other’s differences, it doesn’t take away from our lives. It enriches them.