What Makes Us a Community

It’s always interesting to me to know how people ended up coming to Arizona. What makes a person leave one place for another? Once I came to Arizona, in 2004, I fell in love with the environment, the climate, the landscape, the desert that we are in. But I was missing community until I started meeting people and exchanging stories about our journeys. Our common theme was that many of us or our ancestors came here not knowing what we/they would find or how long we/they would stay – but something pulled/pushed us here, either recently or centuries ago. Our Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander brothers and sisters are indigenous to the U.S. lands and territories; people of Asian heritage were here before nation-hood. Over the centuries, people immigrated in waves from all parts of the globe in a pattern that corresponded with both global forces and U.S. immigration policies. Each person who came had a unique story to tell – one piece of the collective story.   

It helps to know each others’ histories as we prepare ourselves for changes to come. Today, I am sharing a piece written by Vikram Doctor in the wake of hate crimes against Sikh Americans and Muslims in 2012: How Sikhs migrated to US, fought prejudice and built a community. This story reminds me of how national shifts and policies can impact our personal relationships and lead us to question our sense of belonging. 

Share your story of how you came to Arizona on our social media pages with the tag: #APAHM #AANHPIhistory #ourstories #webelong.