JACL Weekly Digest

March 19, 2024

JACL National News

Registration and Hotel Booking Now Open for the 2024 JACL National Convention!

2024 JACL/OCA Leadership Summit Marks Special Anniversary

March 18, 2024

On Tuesday, March 12, 2024, JACL and OCA-National completed another JACL/OCA  Leadership Summit! Since 1984, the summit has brought JACL members from across the country to Washington, D.C. to learn about policymaking and non-profit work on a national scale. Starting in 1994, OCA-National joined the summit, increasing the number of attendees and programming possibilities. This past summit marked two special anniversaries for the program, 40 years since the initial program started by JACL and 30 years since OCA joined the program!

JACL Mourns Passing of Judge Raymond Uno

From the Pacific Citizen, March 18, 2024: 

Raymond Sonji Uno, an Ogden, Utah-born Nisei who spent part of his boyhood in an American concentration camp but whose accomplishments included becoming a civil rights advocate, serving as Utah’s first minority judge and in 1970, the youngest person ever elected to the office of national president of the Japanese American Citizens League, died March 8 at Salt Lake City’s Veteran’s Hospital. He was 93.

2024 JACL National Scholarship General and Arts Apps Due April 1!

JACL Chapters News

JACL NY/SC Spring Youth Summit in Salt Lake City!

For youth members in the IDC area! Join the JACL National Youth Student/Council for their spring youth summit at the Salt Lake City Buddhist Temple on Friday, March 22nd at 10am! They'll be joined by former state senator Jani Iwamoto and activist and community member Emilio Camu for an engaging conversation on the AANHPI community in Salt Lake City. 

Springtime Shodo hosted by the JACL NCWNP District Youth Board!

The JACL NCWNP District Youth Board is partnering with Reverend Masato Kawahatsu of the Konko Church of San Francisco to host Springtime Shodo, the first event in Northern California to reunite alumni of the Kakehashi Project! Springtime Shodo will provide Kakehashi alumni from all years the opportunity to learn Shodo (Japanese calligraphy), understand how to get involved with the JA community, and make new friends over food and shared experiences. The purpose of the event is to help attendees deepen their connection to their Japanese heritage and to continue conversations about ways to engage in the Japanese American community. 

There will be a $10 material fee per person to participate. For the food, we kindly ask that each attendee bring at least one dish to share (please include a note with the ingredients). If possible, try to incorporate an ingredient that reminds you of one of the places you visited during your Kakehashi trip!

WHEN: Saturday, March 30 at 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM

WHERE: San Francisco JACL Headquarters (1765 Sutter St. San Francisco, CA 94115)

WHO: Alumni of the Kakehashi Project

RSVP: You can RSVP at tinyurl.com/springtime-shodo

Chicago JACL Youth Mixer and Film Screening - Manzanar Diverted

Manzanar Diverted, Film Screening + Mixer

You are invited to join the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) Midwest District Council Youth Representative and the Kansha Alumni Board for a screening of the film Manzanar Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust on Saturday, April 6th 6-8PM CT. The screening is open to all individuals of all ages and will be followed by a youth/young professionals mixer. 

Explore how Native American communities, former Japanese American WWII prisoners, and environmentalists form an unexpected alliance to defend their water, their history, and their culture. The film screening will be hosted at Christ Church of Chicago, a congregation that honors their deep roots in the Japanese American community. Participants do not have to be a JACL member in order to attend.

Registration is required at bit.ly/mdcfilm or at the QR code. Please contact Ayako (mdcyouth@jacl.org) with any questions!

26th Annual Freedom Walk in Washington, D.C. 

From Our Partners

Summer Internships at Minidoka National Historic Site!

Minidoka National Historic Site is recruiting for summer 2024 interns! This paid opportunity through Northwest Youth Corps is geared towards motivated future park rangers , maintenance workers, historians, teachers , and community leaders! We are recruiting for positions in the Facilities Management and Interpretation/ Education fields.

Application Deadline: April 15, 2023. Applications will stay open until all positions are filled!

Service Dates: May 20, 2024 – September 9, 2024 (16 Weeks).

Program Benefits: $8960 total living allowance, prorated monthly.

While housing is not provided, housing fund may be available upon request.

Interpretation and Facilities Internship: https://nwyouthcorps.workbrightats.com/jobs/1076227

Maintenance internship: https://nwyouthcorps.workbrightats.com/jobs/1076204

2024 Minoru Yasui Day in Portland, OR

In 2016, Oregon’s legislature designated March 28 Minoru Yasui Day in perpetuity to honor the state’s only Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee’s tireless fight for equality, justice, democracy, and civil rights. 

Join us for the 2024 Minoru Yasui Day program hosted by the Minoru Yasui Legacy Project and the Japanese American Museum of Oregon (JAMO). The event is free but registration is encouraged. We hope to see you in person or on the livestream as we honor the legacy of Minoru Yasui, discuss the challenges democracy faces, and explore strategies for protecting our democratic values. 

Blossoms on a Poisoned Sea by Mariko Tatsumoto Available Now! 

The novel is based on the true events of one of history’s most shocking industrial disasters and corporate betrayals that inspired Johnny Depp’s film MINAMATA. The mercury poisoning coverup is told through the lives of Yuki and Kiyo who meet in 1956, then gradually fall in love. Together they fight both the Japanese government and a powerful and ruthless company to save their beloved Bay and her family from an incurable disease that maims, paralyzes and kills.

Hailed as:

“A tough and beautiful book …”

“Devastating and Compelling…”

Jerome/Rohwer Pilgrimage Fundraiser!

The Jerome/Rohwer Pilgrimage Committee is currently working with Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages (JAMP) to make the Jerome/Rohwer Pilgrimage — scheduled for June 5-8, 2024, in Arkansas — an amazing and successful community focused event. 

We need your help.  While registration fees and grants cover part of the cost of the pilgrimage (bus transport, meals, and programming), we still need additional funds to ensure that we can provide a positive and accessible experience to our full community. This includes such important elements like making presentations and intergenerational conversations available via a virtual / online experience, as well as providing scholarships for elders.

Whether you are a first-timer or returning, we encourage you to donate to the Jerome/Rohwer Pilgrimage.

Your donations will build and enhance the Jerome/Rohwer Pilgrimage — this year and beyond. Contributions to the Jerome/Rohwer Pilgrimage fundraiser will help with three goals:

1.  Help finance and improve this year's pilgrimage, including the establishment of an organized group to take the lead in the planning and execution of future annual pilgrimages, as well as the preservation of the two sites.

2.  Honor Jerome and Rohwer family members, including tributes and recognition of loved ones who were incarcerated at Jerome and Rohwer.

3.  Develop programs to preserve and share the Jerome/Rohwer story, including panel discussions with Jerome/Rohwer survivors and cultivating partnerships with other Japanese American and community groups with ties to Jerome and Rohwer.

All donations to the Jerome/Rohwer Pilgrimage Fundraiser will be used to support and successfully run the Jerome/Rohwer Pilgrimage. 

Thank you for your generosity!

The Jerome/Rohwer Pilgrimage Committee

(The group photo above was taken at the 2023 Jerome/Rohwer Pilgrimage, credit: Dean K. Terasaki)

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