Many Cultures, One Voice – Celebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month

May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month in the United States, and we would like to take the opportunity to celebrate the generations of Asian Americans who have contributed to building the United States as a nation, and to celebrate our employees in the APJ and India regions, for their innovations and contributions to Symantec. We begin this two-part series with a look at the origin of this month as well as a prominent Asian figure in the technology sector, Sony Engineer Nobutoshi Kihara.

“My message has always been to break through what is common sense and common knowledge, and make the impossible possible,” - Nobutoshi Kihara, Sony Engineer

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month originated in the United States in 1978, with a joint congressional resolution establishing Asian-Pacific American Heritage Week. The first 10 days of May were chosen to coincide with two important milestones in Asian-Pacific American history: the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States (May 7, 1843) and contributions of Chinese workers to the building of the transcontinental railroad, completed May 10, 1869. In 1992, Congress expanded the week to a month-long celebration. [1]

The theme of Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month in 2015 is Many Cultures, One Voice: Promote Equality and Inclusion. This theme is particularly apt at Symantec, where the roots of our Asian employees span over a dozen countries, cultures and languages, but come together as one workforce to innovate the best products and services for our customers worldwide.

Asian and Asian-American heritage is a very significant part of Symantec’s culture.

25% of Symantec’s workforce in the United States identify as Asian, 21% of our international employees live and work in the APJ region and 15% in India. Our employee resource group Leading and Empowering Asian Development (SymLEAD) provides a forum for our employees to celebrate Asian-Pacific culture, network with fellow colleagues, and support Symantec in keeping diversity core to our values. And our Supplier Diversity program encourages supplier partnerships with Minority Owned Business Enterprises[2], including those of of Asian/Asian-American ownership.

Symantec’s Singapore team celebrates Chinese New Year

Symantec employees in Pune celebrate the opening of a new Pit Stop Express, where employees can walk in and troubleshoot IT issues with service desk employees.

This coming month, Symantec’s Diversity & Inclusion team will be highlighting Asians and Asian-Pacific Americans that have made significant contributions to the field of technology.  In highlighting heroes of technology from different backgrounds and experiences through our Heritage Month campaigns, we not only pay homage to these inspiring individuals - we diversify the images and stories we associate with technology beyond the mainstream. 

Our first highlight is Sony engineer Nobutoshi Kihara. A Tokyo native, Mr. Kihara not only invented the Walkman for Sony, but was instrumental in the invention of the transistor radio, the tape recorder, one of the world’s first videotape recorders, the Betamax, eight-millimeter video movies, the digital still camera known as Mavica and many other products, resulting in over 700 patents attributed to him.

“Anyone can find out the common sense things, and my role is not to teach common sense,” he said in a 1994 oral history for the Center for the History of Electrical Engineering “My message has always been to break through what is common sense and common knowledge and make the impossible possible.”[3]

Supporting Nepal Relief Efforts

On April 24, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.8 hit Nepal. While the quake struck near the capital city of Katmandu, deaths were recorded across Nepal, India and China. Current death estimates are around 5,800 people, while many thousands are injured or unaccounted for.

Symantec continues to monitor the situation and respond to relief efforts as appropriate. We are working to provide our employees with opportunities to support relief efforts through our Employee Matching Grant Program that maximizes employee cash contributions through a dollar-for-dollar match of all employees’ personal charitable contributions, up to $1,000 per employee per year.

Organizations supporting relief efforts in Nepal that employees can support through our Matching Grant Program include:

• Doctors Without Borders USA, an organization delivering emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care. 
• The American Red Cross, which has been working with The Nepal Red Cross (NRCS) since 1999. NRCS is headquartered in Kathmandu and has branches in all 75 districts, more than 1,300 sub-branches, 1.1 million members and 100,000 active volunteers.
• Give2Asia, which works with community-based organizations throughout Asia, connecting them to corporations, foundations and individual donors to charitable causes, coordinating comprehensive programs that address the region's greatest needs. They are currently conducting initial assessments with local partners in Nepal to develop long-term rehabilitation initiatives in the aftermath of the tragic earthquake.
• CARE, a leading humanitarian organization with seven decades of experience delivering emergency aid during times of crisis. Their emergency responses focus on the needs of the most vulnerable populations, particularly girls and women.
• Mercy Corps, a leading global humanitarian agency saving and improving lives in the world's toughest places.
• America Nepal Medical Foundation, which promotes the advancement of medical training and practice in Nepal , strengthens research capability of Nepali health professionals and fosters collaboration with North American research institutions.
• Shelter Box, providing emergency shelter and vital supplies to support communities around the world overwhelmed by disaster and humanitarian crisis.
• World Vision, which focuses on bringing children out of poverty and building communities with its relief work. The organization already has a presence in Nepal.
• Oxfam America, a global organization working to right the wrongs of poverty, hunger and injustice. Oxfam aid workers are on the ground in Nepal, providing clean water, toilets and shelter to thousands of people.
• Save the Children, which has worked in Nepal since 1976, focuses on providing children with a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm.
• Sahayeta, which supports causes in the Himalayan region to further education, health, children's rights, elderly rights, and women empowerment.