TokoUso Unity Movement beginning in
the 1990s which then moved online in 2008
Although the Month of May is actually Asia Pacific and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States, another hopeful celebration is a "Peace and Unity month", focused purely on Samoans and Tongans. Elders of both Polynesian communities have attempted at bringing youth together in areas like The United States, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Australia, and for the most part the efforts have kept youth from joining gangs which frequently use misinformation as an excuse to street brawl.
Organization of the newer Peace and Unity month has yet to take hold, but is foreseen to connect with other movements like the #TOKOUSO online movement that was started in the late 1990s around DFW Texas and spreading to Utah.
"There are so many half Samoan-Tongans, Samoan-Chinese, Samoan-Maori, Samoan-Kiwi, Samoan-German, Samoan-American, Samoan-Hawaiian, Samoan-Fijian, Samoan-Japanese today and they often feel they have to choose a side. They need a monthly time to celebrate just being themselves. The month of May (Asia Pacific and Pacific Islander Heritage Month) might give some grace, a way for them to know that communities respect them"
May is officially by the United States Government, Asia Pacific and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month – A celebration of Asia Pacific and Pacific Islanders in the United States that encompasses all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia), and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Western Samoa, Eastern Samoan or American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, Eastern Polynesia or French Polynesia and Rapa Nui).
Like most commemorative months, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month originated with Congress. In 1977 Reps. Frank Horton of New York introduced House Joint Resolution 540 to proclaim the first ten days in May as Pacific Asian American Heritage Week. In the same year, Senator Daniel Inouye introduced a similar resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 72. Neither of these resolutions passed, so in June 1978, Rep. Horton introduced House Joint Resolution 1007. This resolution proposed that the President should proclaim a week, which is to include the seventh and tenth of the month, during the first ten days in May of 1979 as ‘Asian Pacific American Heritage Week.’
This joint resolution was passed by the House, and then the Senate, and was signed by President Jimmy Carter on October 5, 1978 to become Public Law 95-419. This law amended the original language of the bill and directed the President to issue a proclamation for the “7 day period beginning on May 4, 1979 as ‘Asian Pacific American Heritage Week."
During the next decade, United States Presidents passed annual proclamations for Asian Pacific American Heritage Week until 1990 when Congress passed Public Law 101-283 which expanded the observance to an entire month for 1990. Then in 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-450, which annually designated May as Asia Pacific & Pacific Islander American Heritage Month. God Bless America.