A huge win for Make Us Visible Florida Bill SB490 yesterday!  I want to thank all of you who have been spreading the word, calling legislators and cheering us on.  We could not have gotten this far without your support.

We still have a long way to go.

What's Next? 

1. We still have 2 Senate committees to get through

2. We have not been placed on the agenda for the House of Representatives.  There are 4 committees to get through and the clock is ticking.  We only have a couple weeks to get this done.

How can you help? 

1. CALL your legislators if you live in Florida - use our toolkit

2. SHARE this petition and post on social media. Chances are someone who lives in Florida will see this.

EVERY ACTION MATTERS.  

Story time...

This was my first visit to the Capitol.  I am surprisingly not into 'politics', have no interest in running for public office (contrary to popular belief) and have a lot of other areas of my life that require my attention.  

However, I believe in this bill.  I believe that SB490 and HB281 can change the lives for Asian Americans.  This is why I am dedicating my time and resources to getting this bill passed.  

This is why the wonderful humans you see in this photo with me take the time out of their lives to support this initiative.  They believe in the positive impacts of including AAPI history in our k-12 education system.

I want to paint a picture for you of what the Senate hearing was like.  This was my first one, so I didn't know what to expect. Our bill was being heard alongside a very controversial bill that took 85 minutes of the agenda.  The meeting was only allowed to be 90 minutes long.

Chair Gruters was very clear the meeting would END at 12:30pm.  When the bill before us wrapped at 12:25pm, our champion Senator Linda Stewart ran to the podium and introduced the bill in a record 1 minute.  The committee asked us to ‘waive in support’ instead of sharing comments.  Waiving in support means we have filled out a form and that whoever did so will be placed on the record as being in favor of the bill.  

There were community members from Miami, Tallahassee, Orlando, St. Petersburg, and Jacksonville that traveled to be present.  They deserved to be heard.  With 4 minutes left to spare for voting and comments, I insisted to the Chairman that I wanted 1 minute to speak.  

If you follow me on social, you will see this 1 minute speech posted where I tried my best to represent the AAPI community and the passionate individuals who came out in support that did not get to voice their stories. 

Thank you to those who were there to hold me up and allowed me to share on their behalf: Adrian Lee, Charles Lu, Mary Ayers, Sharry Solis, Commissioner Sabrina Javellana and Daisy Sim. (I apologize if I missed someone)  We also had more community members present who did not plan to speak, but took time out of their day to stand with us and tell the Senate “We demand AAPI history inclusion.”  

Thank you to all of you who showed up.  Thank you to everyone who has been calling their legislators.  Thank you to those who have been cheering us on and encouraging us to continue fighting.

The rest of the day was spent going to as many offices as we could to introduce our initiative and gain support.  Our team visited over 80 offices that day!  It was exhausting, but we are fired up.  

This journey is still at its infancy.  We have 2 more Senate committees and 4 House committees to go through.  We have not been placed on the agenda for the House yet, and this is where we need your help.   Please continue the phone calls and emails.  They DO make a difference.  I’ve seen the direct impact.  Your phone call could change the lives of millions.  

I can only imagine what it would have been like for me growing up to see myself reflected in history.  We need to be teaching the real history of this country which includes that of Asian Americans.

Asian Americans are American.  Asian American history is American history.

We are American.

Thank you for signing this petition which was the spark that started all of this.  Today we have a House and Senate Bill that has a chance to succeed.  Let’s get it done!

Mimi