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Save Funding for the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant
The Japanese American Confinement Site Grant Program (JACS) is a National Parks Service grant program that distributes funds nationally to preserve the important history of Japanese incarceration during WWII. In just 10 years JACS has provided nearly $30 million to universities, national organizations, and small grassroots projects. These projects protect and share an important history and we don’t want the learning to end. President Trump’s FY2021 budget proposal cuts funding for this program. Let’s make sure this history is taught, not repeated.
During World War II, nearly 120,000 people of Japanese descent, many of whom were American citizens, were rounded up and incarcerated in various American concentration camps and prisons. As was revealed many years later, this was without any known threat to the country. The United States government offered its formal apology and reparations in 1988, thirty years ago this year.
The Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program was created in 2006 through the authorization of $38 million dollars. The original authorization passed unanimously with strong bipartisan support. The funds are to be used to identify, research, evaluate, interpret, protect, restore, repair, and acquire historic confinement sites in order that present and future generations may learn and gain inspiration from these sites and that these sites will demonstrate the nation’s commitment to equal justice under the law.
In 2009, the first appropriations were made and since then, over $29 million has been distributed to 205 programs in 21 states and the District of Columbia. The funds disbursed by this grant program further leverages local resources with a required local match. Organizations eligible for funding include private nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and state, local, and tribal governments, and other public entities.
Among the important programs implemented are those that seek to preserve the stories of those who were incarcerated in these sites and those who served in the highly decorated but segregated Japanese American military units of the 100th infantry, 442nd regimental, and the MIS. These individuals are being lost at an alarming rate, and it is important to preserve their stories as much as possible while we still have the time.
Save Funding for the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant
Save Funding for the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant
Write an op-ed, tell a friend! Share your story or your family’s story about why these programs are important for you.
Want to do more? Call the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus at 202-225-5464.
For more information go to jacl.org and subscribe to our digest for updates.
Thank You for Helping Us Save the JACS Grant!
To do more to support the JACS program, join us in Washington, DC March 31-April 2 for JACS Advocacy Days. Register by clicking HERE.
If you would like more information about the JACS Program visit: https://www.nps.gov/jacs/
If you would like to join or renew your JACL Membership please visit: https://jacl.org/member/
Tell others you took action to save funding for the JACS program and ask them to join you by clicking one of the buttons below.
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