Brandon Yu April 29, 2021Updated: April 30, 2021, 6:22 pm
Lowen Hu (5), his brother Darn Hu (7), father Walter Hu, and mother Ling Woo Liu support the San Francisco AAPI community at a rally in Portsmouth Square, Chinatown, in March. Photo: Mike Kai Chen / Special to The Chronicle
After a year marked by unique trauma for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, Melanie Elvena believed it necessary, if difficult, to look toward the future. That’s why for the 24th annual United States of Asian America Festival, the theme is “Forging Futures.” Such idealism and hope are essential to healing, says Elvena, the artistic director of the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, which has organized USAAF since 1998.