May 18, 2012
Washington: Paying rich tribute to late Dalip Singh Saund — the first Asian American United States Congressman, United States President Barack Obama described him as trailblazer for the entire immigrant community.
Dalip Singh Saund having a conversation with US President John f. Kennedy
May 18, 2012
Washington: Paying rich tribute to late Dalip Singh Saund — the first Asian American United States Congressman, United States President Barack Obama described him as trailblazer for the entire immigrant community.
Dalip Singh Saund having a conversation with US President John f. Kennedy
Obama saluted the efforts of Asian-Americans making United States a better place, speaking at the 18th annual gala of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC.
Obama said: “Your heritage spans the world, but what unites everyone is that in all of your families you have stories of perseverance that are uniquely American.”
The American President said further: “Maybe the story traces back a century and a half, to the laborers who risked their lives to connect our coasts by rail.
He said further: “Maybe it begins with one of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who, decades ago, made the tough journey to Angel Island.”
Referring to Saund, the US President said: “But they were trailblazers like Dalip Singh Saund — a young man from India who, in 1920, came to study agriculture, stayed to become a farmer, and took on the cause of citizenship for all people of South Asian descent”. And once Dalip earned his own citizenship, he stepped up to serve the country he loved, and became the first Asian-American elected to the Congress."
