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9 Prairie SPRING 2023 PETER MURPHY Vowing for visibility Yifeng Hu, communication studies professor Yifeng Hu testified in December 2021 during a press conference and rally at the New Jersey State House in Trenton, urging lawmakers to pass a bill that would include the stories of Asian American Pacific Islanders in K–12 education standards. "Not only is it imperative to make the young generation more aware of AAPI struggles, but it is equally crucial to celebrate AAPI contributions in the U.S. society," she says. As she spoke, it was with thoughts of the six Asian Americans who were killed in the spa shooting spree in Atlanta; the racist rhetoric surround- ing the COVID-19 pandemic's start in China; her AAPI students, who say they are often called "foreigners;" and her own son, who was once spat at because of his racial identity. New Jersey has the third highest population of AAPI in the nation, according to Make Us Visible NJ, an organization dedicated to the inclusion of AAPI people and events in public education. The standards, which Governor Murphy signed into law in January 2022, will ensure that their stories, histories, and rich cultures are included in the state's learning goals. Gabriella Son '22 joined Hu at the State House. She says the standards would have made a difference in her own education had they existed when she was younger. "I remember being disengaged when learning the story of our nation in elementary school," she says. "When you don't see people with your cultural identity in the history you learn, the message is clear: 'Here are all the great American heroes — except you can't be one of them.'" Thanks in part to Hu, that will no longer be the case. — Kara Pothier Yifeng Hu " [It is] imperative to make the young generation more aware of AAPI struggles." — Yifeng Hu

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