President Biden signs bill to kickstart creation of National Asian American and Pacific Islander museum
Jun 13, 2022
By Reena Bhardwaj
Washington [US], June 14 : US President Joe Biden signed a bill Monday (local time) to establish a commission to study the creation of a national museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture in Washington, a move that comes amid a nationwide push to mitigate a years-long anti-Asian hate crisis.
"It's about time for a national museum to capture the courage, the character, the imagination and - maybe from my perspective, looking at it from a little bit from a distance - the dreams and the heart and the soul of the generations of our fellow Americans that came before you," President Biden said in remarks before the signing.
"Museums of this magnitude and consequence are going to inspire and educate more than anything else is going to help people see themselves in the story of America. A story that makes us a better America, and has made us a better America," Biden further added.
If the museum is created, it would sit alongside the National Museum of the American Latino and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. The bill will set up an eight-person commission to study the cost of the potential collection and how best to engage Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the study.
The commission is charged with issuing recommendations for a "plan of action" for the museum's establishment, potentially as part of the Smithsonian Institution.
Also present at the signing in ceremony was Vice President Kamala Harris who in her opening remarks talked about her mother who came to the United States from India to become a breast cancer researcher.
"Growing up, my mother made sure that my sister Maya and I learned of the important glorious history of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in America," Harris added.
"The National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture will teach and tell a story of our country," Harris further noted.
The legislation has previously been passed by the House and Senate and had been sent to the President's desk in May. The bill had been sponsored in the House by Rep Grace Meng and in the Senate by Hawaii Sen Mazie Hirono, passed the House on April 26 and the Senate on May 19.
