Weekly Digest
January 24, 2023

JACL Mourns Victims of Lunar New Year Shooting and Other Shootings this Weekend

Batter Up: A Conversation About Asian American Representation at MLB

In partnership, the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) are proud to present a panel discussion, "Batter Up: A Conversation About Asian American Representation at MLB". This event will feature celebrated leaders, who will discuss their own career paths, the importance of representation in leadership, and how to increase diversity among players, fans, and stakeholders in baseball. Viewers will also learn about JACL’s critical work in civil rights advocacy and how they partner with other organizations to achieve these goals.

This webinar will be moderated by Shane Barclay, Owner and President of Japan Ball.

Panelists Include: 

• CJ Widenhouse: Senior Director, Legal and Business Affairs at MLB
• Darrell Lampa: Director, Talent Acquisition at MLB
• Jane Son: Co-Head, Foundation & Community Engagement at New York Mets
• Katherine Cheng: Vice President, People & Culture and DEI at Seattle Mariners
• Stephen Nelson: Host/Play-by-Play at MLB Network & NHL Network

Winter 2023 JACL National Board Meeting

On Saturday, February 4th, the JACL National Board will be hosting its quarterly board meeting. The board meeting will be open to the public and be held in person. A hybrid option will be available but you must RSVP in order to join. Details on joining the meeting and other information necessary will be sent out following registration, no later than 24 hours prior to the meeting's start time.

For those attending in person, the board meeting will be held at the JACL National Headquarters in San Francisco's Japantown at 1765 Sutter Street at 9:00 am PST on February, 4th. Anyone attending in person will be required to follow COVID guidelines, including wearing a mask during the meeting and following vaccination requirements.

JACL NY/SC's Back to School Campaign!

The first-ever JACL National Youth/Student Council Back to School Campaign offers youth the opportunity to hear about the JACL as an organization and receive a special registration discount if they attend an event! You can reach out to NY/SC Youth Representative Sheera Tamura for more details at stamura@jacl.org. 

Chicago Next Gen. Nikkei Open House

Next Gen Nikkei is hosting a virtual open house event on January 31st at 6 pm! If you’ve wanted to plan an event for the JA community, this is your opportunity to plan with them to make it happen. Come ready with questions about past NGN events, previous members, and more. NGN is excited to shape the group together this year! Hope to see you there! You can let Rebecca know at rebecca@jaclchicago.org or Ty at ty.yamamoto1@gmail.com, if you’re interested. 

The Yellowhead-Blue River Road Camps 

Online Talk by Leanne Sumiko Riding

From our friends at The Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre 

Wednesday, February 1, 2023
7:00pm PST
Online
Free to attend

In 1942 when Japanese Canadians were forcibly uprooted from their homes in the coastal regions of British Columbia, they were treated as a labour resource. Male individuals were ordered to labour camps and work projects, including the Yellowhead-Blue River Highway Project. In this talk, Leanne Sumiko Riding will give an overview of the road camps and the men who lived there, including the names and locations of the camps, local geography and environment, populations, building types, opening and closing dates, and current conditions of the camps. She will also share her insight on the passive and active resistance in the camps, camp gardens and issei (first generation) self-expression, entertainment such as baseball and hiking, and local reactions of the broader Canadian community.

SoCal JACL Chapters Installation Luncheons

Call to Action: Protect Minidoka National Historic Site!

From Friends of Minidoka: 

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project in south-central Idaho was released by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on January 17, 2023, and sent to the EPA for approval. It was published in the Federal Register on January 20. The public comment period started Friday, January 20, and will end at 11:59 pm MDT on March 21, 2023. For more information about the Lava Ridge proposal, see additional posts on the Friends of Minidoka site linked below. 

• View the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) from BLM Here

• Submit your comments to the BLM. Click the link below for tips on submitting effective comments.

• When you submit your comments to BLM, please cc or email your comments to info@minidoka.org.

Call for Day Of Remembrance Events!

As we're coming up on Day of Remembrance, JACL is once again asking all of our chapters and supporters to send us information on any events that you know of so that we can share it with the wider membership and Japanese American community! 

Please send any information you have on your DOR events, including date(s), times, any website/social links, and images/flyers you might have! We'll continually update the listing so if you currently only have some information and are still waiting on more, send us what you have and we can update the event page. The event page and calendar will be made available later. 

Send any program information you have to Education and Communications Coordinator, Matthew Weisbly at mweisbly@jacl.org

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

San Diego JACL February Monthly Community Dialogue 

Asian American Mental Health Website Study

2023 JACL National Scholarship Applications Available Now!

Scholarship Program guidelines, instructions, and applications have been posted on the JACL website, www.jacl.org, and can be accessed by clicking the “Youth” tab on the menu bar. You may also click the button below "To Learn More or Apply Click Here."

Following previous years, the application forms for the scholarship program will be completely online. Freshman applications must be submitted directly by the applicant to National JACL through the online form no later than March 6, 2023, 11:59 p.m. Hawaiian Standard Time (HST).  

Applications for the non-freshman scholarship categories (undergraduate, graduate, law, creative/performing arts, and financial aid) are also to be sent directly by the applicant to National JACL through the online form no later than April 3, 2023, 11:59 p.m. Hawaiian Standard Time (HST).  

All those applying to the National JACL Scholarship Program must be a youth/student or individual member of the JACL; a couple/family membership held by a parent does NOT meet this requirement. Applicants must be enrolled in school in Fall 2023 in order to be eligible for a scholarship. If a student has received two National scholarship awards previously, they are no longer eligible to apply as the limit is two national awards per person.

Manzanar Commitee Announces 8th Annual Sue Kunitomi Embrey Student Awards Program for K-12 Students

Photo: Some of the winners of the Fifth Annual Manzanar Committee Student Awards Program. Photo by Jason Fujii/Manzanar Committee

LOS ANGELES — On December 4, the Manzanar Committee announced their Eighth Annual Sue Kunitomi Embrey Student Awards Program, a creative works program in which K-12 students may submit essays, short stories, poetry, works of art, including drawings, collages, posters, and works involving technology, including animation, podcasts, movies, or videos.

Winning entrants will receive up to $100.00, and their work will be recognized during the Manzanar Pilgrimage and may be published in the Pilgrimage program, on the Manzanar Committee’s website (https://manzanarcommittee.org), in the Sue Kunitomi Embrey Student Awards printed program, and in the Manzanar Committee’s newsletter, the Manzanar Messenger. The Manzanar Committee will determine the final award amounts.

All submissions must be postmarked no later than February 23, 2023. Winners will be contacted shortly after that date.

Program information and application forms can be downloaded at:

https://manzanarcommittee.org/program-details-application

Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution

JACL Arizona Chapter - First Annual Essay Contest and Upcoming Korematsu Day

JACL-AZ held its 1st Annual Student Essay Challenge in 2021.  It was the vision of one of our board members to provide students with the opportunity to study and develop excellent writing skills while learning about their heritage.  HS topic: “What does it mean to be an American? Norm Mineta Legacy Project.”  Elementary/Middle School topic: Share a story about a family hero or the heroes in your life.  We are very proud of three students that won:  Erika Germinario was our first-place winner in the HS division; Josh Tominaga was our 2nd place winner in the HS division.  Ema Saliba was our first-prize winner in the 8th-grade division.  In addition to their cash prizes, they each enjoyed creating a wonderful video about their individual feelings of excitement as they studied and wrote about their experience.  (Videos available below to view)  A celebration was held during Golden Week at the Japanese Friendship Garden this past April. 

Erika Germinario 

 Watch Here

Joshua Tominaga

Watch Here

Ema Saliba

Watch Here

The families of each student are very proud and excited.  There was an expression of gratitude and appreciation to JACL - AZ for everything members and volunteers do for the community and for inspiring the next generation!

We were also happy to announce the 2nd Annual Essay Challenge recently.  In memory of Norm Mineta, we continue to honor him in our essay challenge.  High School students have the option of learning about the life of the distinguished career of Norm Mineta by visiting http://minetalegacyproject.com.  HS Students also have the option to choose to write about Fred Korematsu and visit the Korematsu Institute at: https://korematsuinstitute.org to learn about Fred Korematsu, who challenged the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066. Arizona celebrates Fred Korematsu Day: Jan. 30, 2023.

Essays due Feb. 3, 2023.  Please note that essays must be anonymous for judging purposes.
Refer to https://bit.ly/JACL22Essay to apply and submit your essay. Deadline Feb 3, 2023, 11:59 PM
For more details, visit jaclaz.org.

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