By Terry Tang

Model minority. Perpetual foreigner. The centuries-old stereotypes of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as passive bystanders in American culture and politics still persist, despite U.S. history being full of examples to the contrary. The way to change that, scholars believe, is by teaching younger generations that history.

A free, digital textbook overseen by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center aims to be a high-caliber guide to help high school and college educators nationwide teach more effectively about AAPI experiences. “Foundations and Futures: Asian American and Pacific Islander Multimedia Textbook” is the culmination of years of work by 100 contributors, from curriculum developers to illustrators.

“Our presence, our practices, our cultural rituals and things like that are not deemed as ‘American,’” Karen Umemoto, a co-editor and the Center’s director, told The AP exclusively before the $12 million project’s official launch Saturday. “The actual putting together of this textbook also became our fight for inclusion and represents our right to be seen, our right to speak.”

The textbook covers a wide breadth of AAPI communities and their struggles, with more chapters to be added on a rolling basis. While May is AAPI Heritage Month, this platform is about keeping the spotlight on year-round.

“Young people are going to have so many different opportunities to see themselves and their communities represented in this core text. Now I can’t wait,” said Kelly Fong, a co-editor.

These scholars are well aware that with President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans working to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in education, it may be difficult to persuade some states and teachers to use the textbook at first. But that’s not dampening their enthusiasm.

To read the online textbook: https://www.foundationsandfutures.org/

To read the entire article: https://apnews.com/article/ucla-asian-american-pacific-islander-history-textbook-cfcf335634d138e826dc7297fa333c04