Reverend Norman Fong is searching for a microphone while the alleyways have been cleansed and lights in the color red hang overhead.
For the past 20 years, the 71-year-old native of San Francisco’s Chinatown has presided over the annual Chinese New Year procession, but this year is unique.
In California, the Lunar New Year will be recognized as a state holiday for the first time ever in the US.
This Sunday marks the beginning of a fortnight-long celebration of the Lunar New Year, which is observed by millions of people in China, East Asia, and all across the world.
It’s almost religious in that it’s a fresh start for your life, said Mr. Fong. “It’s [about] the rebirth of relationships, the forgiving of debts, and it’s a new starting for your life.”
“You are wishing everyone, including your adversaries, peace, love, and recovery.”
Although the holiday has long been observed in Chinatowns around the US, this year will be the first that a state’s government would officially recognize it.
The new classification is seen as a show of solidarity in the face of a wave of anti-Asian sentiment and violence fueled by the pandemic, even though state employees won’t receive a paid day off.
The Stop AAPI Hate organization kept track of over 11,500 hate crimes against Asian Americans between March 2020 and March 2022, ranging from verbal abuse to physical assault.
According to the Stop AAPI HATE study, with more than a third (4,333) of documented incidences, California, which is home to more than six million people of Asian origin, has developed into something of an epicenter for prejudice.
Asian-Americans, particularly seniors and women, still “don’t feel safe and many have lost their sense of belonging,” according to Manjusha Kulkarni, the organization’s co-founder, despite the fact that hate crimes no longer dominate the news.
The California proclamation, she continued, “truly tells us that our communities deserve to be recognized, heard, and celebrated.”
It is crucial to normalize the Asian American experience as a component of the larger American experience and to stop excluding and undervaluing our group.
The Chinatown festivals in San Francisco are an excellent illustration of this blending of cultures.
According to the event’s website, three million people watch the march on television each year. It is regarded as the biggest celebration of its sort outside of Asia, complete with floats, fireworks, and marching bands. A basketball competition, a YMCA run, and the Miss Chinatown beauty contest are among events on the schedule.
Other parts of the state are also celebrating in plenty. Martial arts, karaoke, and calligraphy will all be included at the Tet Festival in San Jose. The town center of Monterey Park will be transformed into a carnival-themed fun zone with food vendors and amusement rides.
Lok Man Fan will miss the chitchat and bustle of her native Hong Kong in Pasadena, but she is making up for it with a joyous home.
The 36-year-old recipe blogger made lo bak go (turnip cake) and lok tang ci (rice dumplings with sesame) and adorned her house with lucky orchids and traditional red banners.
She claims that even if her family is far away, “I feel like I’m closer to them while I’m partaking in New Year rituals.”
She claimed that the spike in anti-Asian discrimination during Covid has energized the community, motivating many to want greater exposure and outwardly embrace and celebrate their origin.
She argued that it was possible to be American and also embrace one’s own culture.
Reverend Fong claims that even while mutual understanding between Asian and non-Asian groups is growing, it has not been simple.
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The Chinese Exclusion Act, a federal rule that forbade the immigration of the majority of Chinese laborers to the US, was in full effect when the preacher’s father emigrated to the US in 1919, and the reverend claims his father experienced frequent racial abuse as a result.
In middle school, a group of Italian youths who called Reverend Fong “Chinaman” and thought Chinatown was encroaching on their nearby neighborhood beat him up and “tortured” him, according to Reverend Fong.
However, he has given his all to the neighborhood where he was raised. He has served as pastor of the Presbyterian Church, the country’s first Asian congregation, for a number of years.
Through the establishment of affordable housing, zoning regulations, and eviction safeguards, he has assisted in keeping Asian people and businesses afloat over his three decades as director of the Chinatown Community Development Center. And decades after his victory over the Italians, he sponsored a “noodle fest” so that the people of North Beach, an Italian-American neighborhood next to Chinatown, could engage in what he calls a “fair fight” between chow mein and spaghetti.
In order for all Americans to understand our true past and actively participate in our culture, he stated, “it’s [about] urging people to love our history and our neighborhoods.”
Reverend Fong is beginning the Year of the Rabbit with renewed optimism as the Year of the Tiger transitions into the Year of the Rabbit.
He declared, “There have always been two Americas: the beautiful and the ugly, and I’m fighting for the beautiful.
“We just went through a tiger of a year, but the rabbit is viewed as cute and gentle, so I hope it’s going to be a more quiet year,” the speaker said.
