When the plague which swept through Naples, Italy ended in 1656, the city threw a 10-day festival to celebrate and memorialize the hardship they had endured – “a kind of societal exclamation mark at the end of a dark chapter”. After a two year lock down due to the pandemic, San Francisco, “infamous” for its Barbary Coast rowdiness, was in the mood to let her hair down and really “get down”. And what a celebration it was on Saturday, February 19, 2022 with a rowdy crowd and a parade featuring over a hundred highly decorated theme floats.
The San Francisco Lunar New Year Parade is known as one of the top ten Parades in the world by the International Festivals & Events Association and one of the few remaining night illuminated parades in North America. It is also the biggest parade celebrating the lunar new year outside of Asia. For Asian Americans living in the greater SF Bay Area, the parade couldn’t have come any sooner as racial hatred and attacks on Asian Americans increased by 339 percent in 2021 according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, even surpassing record numbers in 2020.
People were in the hood to party and partied they did on this balmy Saturday evening. Families were out, many post-pandemic mask-less, enjoying the parade from the sidewalk, bleachers and everywhere they could congregate along the 1.3 mile route. The pungent smell and noise of firecrackers were everywhere as were the sound of the marching bands, loud speakers, dancing tigers and meandering dragons, and children laughing and kung-fu-ing all the way having the time of their lives. Over a hundred floats participated, each one decorated with a special theme to welcome the year of the Water Tiger. The last Water Tiger year was 1962. People born under this sign are said to have great interpersonal relationships, and are extremely family oriented.
Among the many floats was the API Coalition float sponsored by CLUSA (Civic Leadership USA), Kenson Ventures with supporting organizations such as SFCAUSE and NAAUnited. Distinguishing this float apart is the 50 elected API officials matching alongside. Asian Americans are reputed to be high achievers, especially in academics and are perceived to be family but not community minded. Among all the ethnic groups Asians are least likely to participate in politics or vote. One very highly ranked California politician once said, and I paraphrase, “We don’t give a shxt about Asian Americans because they don’t vote”.
Well things have changed somewhat, well actually quite a bit. The recent successful recall of the three SF School Board members was the direct result of Asian and Chinese Americans visiting the ballot box under the urging of, among others, SFCAUSE and the Chinese American Democratic Club. The 50 marching API elected officials are another evidence that Asians are getting more involved in shaping our community and our country. Say what you may, Asian Americans are the awakening “Hidden Dragons and Crouching Tigers”. Marching under the banner of the API Coalition, were API Officials starting with California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, his lovely wife Mia who is running for State Assembly, to Fremont Mayor Lily Mae, Candidate for State Senate, to dozens of City Council, College and School Board members.
Awakening from the pandemic is the realization that Asian Americans must get involved in our communities, contribute to our society and not only just aspire to become doctors, engineers, accountants, lawyers and professors. To make this country “great again” Asian Americans must realize that they have to roll up their sleeves, dig in, participate and contribute to our society. Those 50 elected officials who march along the API Coalition Float are the finest the API community has to offer. They are just a glimpse of what is yet to come!