On June 1, United States President Joe Biden issued a proclamation designating June as National Immigrant Heritage Month. The decision comes at a time hate crimes against immigrant communities, especially Asian Americans, are rising in the country.
In his statement, Biden emphasised the need to “reflect on the leadership, resilience, and courage shown by generations of immigrant communities” in the US. “We honour the sacrifices made by immigrants who serve on the front lines of the pandemic as health care providers, first responders, teachers, grocers, farmworkers, and other essential workers. It was these same immigrant families and communities of colour who were disproportionately struck by the virus.”
According to an estimate by the US Census Bureau, 5.9% of the US population identifies as Asian. More than 4 million people of Indian origin now live in the US.
To celebrate National Immigrant Heritage Month, many US citizens of Indian heritage took to Twitter to recall the stories of their parents. They included Dr Vivek Murthy, the country’s surgeon general, and Sabrina Singh, Vice President Kamala Harris’s deputy press secretary.
Here are a few accounts from Twitter.
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