The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office this week honored the contributions of Asian/Pacific Americans to the local Brooklyn community at an annual celebration held at Brooklyn Law School on Wednesday night.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez honored the growing and influential work of the Asian/Asian American community at the event held at Brooklyn Law School on Wednesday night.
“This is a special night. As many of you know, I strongly believe that for us to do this job, we have to earn the trust of our communities and when I started in this office in 1995, there were very few people who came from an Asian background. And today I am proud to say that in the office we have people of all backgrounds,” said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez went on to note the need for diversity and inclusion as federal actions look to limit immigration into the country.
“There’s been a lot of movement in the office. This is an important time to celebrate diversity especially seeing what’s happening at the national level and at many borders in this country that cause great concern for immigrant communities,” said Gonzalez.
Specifically Brooklyn is home to the largest overseas Chinese populations outside of China. According to the U.S. Census Bureau as of July 2018, the Asian/Pacific community makes up nearly 13% of the borough.
Gonzalez went on to highlight the growing political power within the Asian/Asian American community which in recent years has been growing in momentum. Less than three years ago the City’s first Asian-American Democratic Club launched in Sunset Park.
Female Democratic District Leader nancy Tong was also present at the event honoring members from her local community. Tong has been a fierce ally of Assemblyman William Colton (D-Bensonhurst, Bath Beach) working in his office for nearly a decade and most recently ran in a contentious 43rd City Council District race in 2017.
“One of the things that I am very proud to say is that we have a strong Asian community in this county that is growing each and every day. But not just in Sunset Park and Bensonhurst anymore but its in neighborhoods like Williamsburg. And with that I believe there is political power. I think it’s important and I want to make sure this office is meeting the needs of all of our communities,” said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez handed out three awards to members from the community including: Maggie Gu, Owner of Park Asia with the Community Service Award; Captain Tao Chen, Officer from the 71st New York Police Department Precinct with the Law Enforcement Award; and Judge Alexander Jeong was the Keynote Speaker.
The event also included a traditional dragon dance by Hui’s Lion Dancing of NY. Brooklyn Law School also holds a significant place in history for Asian/Pacific Heritage being the alma mater of the first Asian American women to be a member of the New York State Bar and home to two of the first three New York Asian American judges.
The event also coincided with the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad, which was the first cross-country mode of transportation in the United States. The 1,912-mile continuous railroad line was constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa with the Pacific coast at the Oakland Long Wharf on San Francisco Bay, of which the majority labor was Chinese.
