In honor of Asian-Pacific American heritage month, students at EC can enjoy a free movie showing of “Farewell to Manzanar,” tomorrow at 1 p.m. inside the Marsee Auditorium.

Asian Pacific Heritage month commemorates the hard work and suffrage of the Asian pacific community in the U.S. and creates an opportunity for people of other cultural backgrounds to learn more about the events that shaped the history of many Asian-Pacific Americans today.

“I think why it has been assigned a month is to recognize the contributions of Asian Americans and to promote cultural diversity.” Moon Ichinaga, reference librarian, said.

An award winning movie, “Farewell to Manzanar” depicts the life of a young Japanese-American girl inside an internment camp during World War two, and demonstrates how the lives of many Asian-Americans quickly changed due to the tragic events that lead toward a hectic period of discrimination against them.

Asian-Pacific American Heritage month will be observed by the showing of “Farewell to Manzanar,” and will allow students to participate and engage in active discussions.

“There are still a lot of students who don’t know anything about the internment camps as well as many other events in which Asian- Pacific Americans played an important role.” Ichinaga said.

Students and EC faculty are excited and looking forward to the event.

“I think faculty in general is pretty supportive and in the past we have had a lot of staff and faculty organizing and coming to events.” Ichinaga added.

Students at EC believe that the importance of being educated on such historical events is important, and that diversity should be celebrated.

“I feel proud of where I come from.” Ayako Ming, 21, biology major, and Japanese-American student said. “I am happy our contributions are recognized.”

The film will not only teach students about the lives of Asian –Pacific Americans during the World two but it will “give students a chance to learn about other contributions that do not appear on textbooks.”  Ichinaga said.

Mean while non Asian-Pacific American students see this event as an opportunity to learn more, and become more aware of the diversity in campus.

“I think that by celebrating different cultures, in this case Asian-Pacific American heritage, we are promoting a much more tolerant society, and that benefits us all.” Camila Gutierrez, 20,  childhood education major said.