Last night’s firecrackers alerted us that the 2022 Lunar New Year’s Celebration has come to an end. On February 1, we ushered in the Year of the Tiger. People born in the Year of the Tiger are brave, competitive, and confident. C3PR PR & Marketing Director Vanessa Bradford is our Tiger and has all those qualities. At C3PR, she’s supported by two dragons and a snake. (We’ll leave it to you to guess who’s who.)
Lunar New Year is a holiday celebrated by millions of Asian Americans. Now lawmakers are pushing to have the celebration recognized as a federal holiday. Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY) and 44 cosponsors introduced the Lunar New Year Day Act to make it the 12th federally recognized holiday.
It couldn’t come at a better time.
The Census Bureau predicts that Asian Americans are the fastest growing demographic in the country, projected to have a 101 % population increase from 2016 to 2060, totaling about 18 million. The push to recognize Lunar New Year as a federal holiday comes as anti-Asian hate crimes have risen across the country. In nearby San Francisco, preliminary data for 2021 from the SFPD shows a 567% increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The tiger embodies courage and bravery. Let’s hope 2022 brings us the courage to understand and appreciate all cultures, and the bravery to stand up for what we know is right.
