Washington, D.C. (Feb. 6, 2018) — OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates is proud to welcome the 2018 Lunar New Year postal stamp series released today by the United States Postal Service (USPS.) Chinese-American illustrator Kam Mak starts off the collection with a stamp dedicated to the Year of the Dog, the eleventh animal of the zodiac.
This First Date of Issue Ceremony was in January in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Claudine Cheng and Gifford Chang, OCA Hawaii President, along with other members, attended the ceremony in Honolulu.
“Lunar New Year is celebrated by many ethnicities within the Asian Pacific American family and we are proud to see that this important aspect of our cultural heritage be the subject of a commemorative stamp,” Cheng said.
The idea of the stamp came in 1987 when OCA Georgia Chapter member Jean Chen wrote to the United States Postal Service requesting the issuance of a stamp that would honor some aspects of Chinese and Asian American cultural and history. In 1991, then OCA National President Claudine Cheng launched an advocacy campaign involving OCA chapters as well as other major national organizations and civic leaders urging the USPS to issue a commemorative stamp featuring Asian American cultural heritage. They succeeded, and the historical unveiling of the first Lunar New Year stamp series took place at OCA National Convention in San Jose in 1992. When the first series expired in 2004, Cheng continued to work with the USPS to launch the second series beginning in 2007.
“We are proud and excited to see the USPS continue to embrace a dialogue of diversity and inclusion through their commitment to the Lunar New Year stamp series,” said Sharon Wong, OCA national president. “Through Kam Mak’s art, a large part of the Asian American community is able to share their culture and identity with all Americans.”
OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national organization of community advocates dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian American Pacific Islanders.
