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Arts with a Purpose at Eskenazi Health commemorated Black Music Month by using the arts to create positive change, social awareness, and inclusivity in the Circle City.

Music enthusiasts and professionals with Arts with A Purpose paid homage to rich African traditions that influenced jazz, hip-hop, R&B, and rock and roll. President Jimmy Carter established Black Music Month in 1979; the observance is reaffirmed annually by presidential proclamation.

African Americans have contributed a lot to the culture landscape of America and helped shaped the country, and influenced an entire world,” Bishop said.Each week this June, Black artists are featured performers at Eskenazi Health through the Marianne Tobias Music Program. It’s an effort to facilitate distraction from pain and reduce anxiety in patients.

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Indy Gay Market hosted its annual “Big Gay Pride” festival on Saturday and Sunday on Monument Circle. “We are vendor-focused so we try to make sure that the vendors feel cared for and celebrated in our event, so we are connecting them to each other, as well as to the community,” Lead Coordinator at Indy Gay Market Hannah Hadley said. 

Over the weekend, the artisan festival featured 100 Queer vendors, with 50 showcasing their products each day.

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The United Nations’ General Assembly has recognized the pivotal role of parents around the world by establishing the Global Day of Parents in 2012. The day, celebrated annually on June 1, honors the dedication and responsibility of parenthood.

Whether it’s traditional parenthood or fostering, the aim is to pay tribute to all parents for their contributions.

WISH-TV contributor Gloria Jimenez joined News 8 to bring insight into the establishment of this significant day during a discussion.

The growing significance of family roles since the 1980s has also grown with the rise of foster parenting in the international community.

Jimenez, a parent herself, emphasized that becoming a parent is a profound life change. When asked how individuals can determine if they are up for the task, she gave insights into the evaluation process.

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Join WISH-TV in celebrating Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage month this May! Hear the Celebrating AAIP Heritage special brought to you by the Marion County Public Health Department.

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A tanker wing’s new commanding officer on Monday said he hopes to pave the way for other Asian Americans seeking a career in the armed forces.Col. Van Thai was born in Saigon a year after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. When he was five years old, his family fled Vietnam’s communist regime, first moving to Toronto before settling in Oklahoma City.

Thai is now in his 26th year in the Air Force. He told News 8 he has spent most of it deployed overseas, including at air bases in Japan and Qatar. In February, Thai became the new commanding officer of the 434th Air Refueling Wing. Based at Grissom Air Reserve Base near Kokomo, the Air Force says the 434th is the largest KC-135 wing in the Air Force Reserve.

Thai’s appointment was historic in two respects. First, he said he is the first active-duty officer to command the unit since Grissom transitioned from an active-duty base to a reserve base in 1994. Second, he is the first Vietnamese American to hold the job. According to the Department of Defense’s most recent demographics report, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders account for roughly six percent of all military personnel.

Thai said he hasn’t personally faced any challenges due to his ethnicity but recognizes not everyone can say the same thing. He said the Air Force needs more Asian Americans to join and bring their perspectives to the service.

Thai said one of the military’s biggest sources of strength is how it brings together Americans from a variety of ethnicities and upbringings to work toward a common goal. He said for him, the bottom line is the “American” portion of the phrases “Asian American” or “Vietnamese American.”

Thai said his parents still live in Oklahoma City. He said he and his wife plan to put down roots in Indiana, likely in or around Carmel. He said the youngest of his three children, who is still in high school, is looking for a school with a good soccer program.

“We are totally living the American Dream,” he said. “Just the opportunities for an immigrant kid from Southeast Asia to come to America where the family’s working hard and a little luck, we’ve been able to kind of spread our wings and take flight in this Air Force adventure.”

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On the southwest side of Indianapolis, a mother and her daughter on Thursday practiced their dance moves for a Saturday festival.Tina Magnusson and her 18-year-old daughter, Anna Magnusson, will perform with their dance troupe during the Asian Fest at the Indiana Historical Society in downtown Indianapolis. 

Anna will perform Mulan, a re-enactment of a Chinese poem. In the dance, she portrays the female warrior who disguises herself as a man to take her sickly father’s place in battle. It’s a familiar storyline from Walt Disney Pictures’ 1998 movie “Mulan.” Magnusson noted that the film is based on the original Chinese poem.

Anna’s movements during practice were quick with flips and leg raises. “The whole army has fallen, and she is trying to get back up,” she said.

She described Mulan as someone who “represents courage and perseverance,” but in a way, she also describes herself. “It’s very hard being the only Asian kid in a setting full of white Americans, not seeing myself represented in anything.”

Anna grew up in Indiana and felt different, but she’s also courageous. Instead of armor, she will don a costume and join her dance troupe to represent her culture. 

In contrast to Anna’s powerful dance moves, her mother, Tina Magnusson, on Thursday practiced the plum blossom fan dance with grace and slower movements. A dance teacher, she described the opening of a fan as symbol of growing flower. “The plum flower is a Taiwanese national flower because the colder it is. … They’re still growing so they represent endurance and perseverance inside all of us.”

The mother-and-daughter duo will share their love of dance, but, more than that, Tina says, it’s sharing something out of this world. “It feels like heaven. In heaven, it should be a different language, culture, skin color.”

In the United States, May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

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