As we bid farewell to Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, I'm proud to share that Highwire is kicking off a powerful new partnership with the Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) — a beacon of culture, community, and connection in the heart of the Bay Area.
Through this partnership, I want to shine a light on the vital role OACC plays in connecting those who are part of the AAPI diaspora to their cultural roots.
Cultural centers like OACC are more than just spaces — they nurture identity, preserve tradition, and spark dialogue across generations. They offer supporters and visitors the opportunity to tap into programming and resources that promote the importance of wisdom, resilience, and belonging.
To better understand the resources and programs cultural centers offer to help connect members of the AAPI diaspora to their heritage, I asked: How do these spaces foster solidarity, challenge inequalities, and strengthen the bonds within our communities?
With these questions in mind, I interviewed my aunt, Faye Saechao — an OACC board member — to explore how cultural centers serve as powerful spaces of connection and storytelling. Here are some excerpts from our conversation:
Faye: Last year, I collaborated with OACC on a Southeast Asian New Year Festival, where I helped bring Iu Mien vendors and performers to showcase our culture. After being referred to the board by the program manager, I saw it as an opportunity to align with my personal values around representing my Iu Mien identity and advocating for community, creative expression, and social justice.
What truly drew me to OACC was its mission to use art as a bridge to connect generations and cultures, sparking conversations about our shared responsibility in creating a more understanding and just society. For those of us from immigrant families, art and expression also serve as a healing experience, and to me, this is key for building healthier communities.
Faye: The Bay Area’s Alameda County ranks among the ten most diverse counties in the United States, with Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) making up the largest demographic at 32%. As such, cultural centers like OACC are the cornerstones of the community. They not only affirm the rich diversity of AAPI cultures in the East Bay, but also serve as gateways for younger generations and other community members to experience and understand our myriad histories.
As far as the rise in anti-AAPI hate, my thought is that so often, people fear or reject what they don't understand. By promoting awareness and appreciation of AAPI cultures, we can help cultivate compassion and more healthy and vibrant connections. The more we remove the veil of mystery, show vulnerability, and proudly share who we are, the more respect and empathy we invite from others.
Faye: I am Iu Mien American. My parents were refugees who came to the U.S. in 1988, following the aftermath of the Secret War in Laos, a lesser-known chapter of the Vietnam War that ended in 1975. My family was part of a wave of Southeast Asian refugees that made up the largest resettlement of displaced people in the U.S. since World War II. As of 2012, there were approximately 50,000 Mien in the US, with 13,000 in the East Bay.
The Iu Mien are a Southeast Asian hill tribe with roots in southern China, now prominently found in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. We are a clan-based culture with rich traditions of oral storytelling, ancestral worship, and community-centered ways of life.
As the first among my siblings to be born in the United States, I grew up navigating between two different cultures. There is a unique kind of trauma that comes from being raised by refugee parents who struggle with PTSD. For me, connecting to my heritage also meant confronting the trauma I inherited through them.
As a child, I was involved with the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts where I learned to beat the drums and cymbals of my ancestors and performed throughout the Bay Area as part of the Little Phoenix group. That experience was my first exposure to the power of reclaiming cultural pride through art.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve continued to find healing and connection through places like OACC and other community-based arts and culture centers. These spaces have shown me the beauty and resilience of our traditions, allowing us to step aside from the weight of traumatic histories and instead flourish in a way that is expressive, joyful, and communal. We are not alone in our experiences.
This is why I am deeply committed to community work rooted in cultural identity: because knowing who we are and where we come from is essential to navigating an American culture that often feels disconnected from our values, way of life, and ancestral roots.
Faye: OACC creates spaces that bring together people across generations, fostering exploration, pride, and a sense of belonging — within the community and the world at large. Through high-quality cultural programs such as performances, workshops, festivals, school tours, classes, and exhibitions, OACC encourages intergenerational and cross-cultural dialogue aimed at building understanding, collaboration, and social justice.
One of our most important and well-attended events of the year is our Lunar New Year x Black History Month celebration. This gathering unites two prominent communities in Oakland. It’s held not only to celebrate each other's cultures, but to deepen mutual understanding and appreciation. It shows the beauty and potential of co-existence, and highlights how, by standing together, we can more effectively confront the shared injustices we face.
Faye: My vision for OACC’s future is its continued growth and sustainability. With ongoing budget cuts to arts and culture, my hope is that we stomp our feet harder, root ourselves more deeply, and raise our voices louder to affirm the essential value of our arts and cultures. Achieving this requires increased community involvement and engagement. If you're reading this, the time is now — to dance, write, sing, paint — create louder than ever before. OACC is the perfect place for that. Join us!
As a board member, I hope to emphasize the importance of alternative spaces outside of our families where we can explore our cultures and understand our role in relation to others. As an artist, creative expression has helped me find my identity and place within my culture and community, especially as a third culture kid navigating multiple worlds.
Memories of the past exist with us, even if we’re not their original carriers. Cultural centers like the Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) invite successive generations to remember the memories of our elders through art; to showcase that precious things lost are transmutable and are always within us. Through inherited and imagined memories, they become sites for reclaiming history, affirming cultural identity, and nurturing intercultural dialogue. I extend my gratitude to the Oakland Asian Cultural Center for linking arms with our agency, especially our Cut Fruit Collective affinity group, and to my aunt Faye for sharing her beautiful wisdom.
For more information on the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, please visit their website here or check out their social media @oaklandasiancc!