Weekly Digest
November 9, 2021

JACL Operating Status

JACL offices will be closed Thursday, November 11 in observance of Veterans Day. 

JACL's physical offices remain officially closed. Staff continue to do the work of the organization remotely with some visits to the physical office.  Please direct all phone calls to our Washington, D.C. Office at (202) 223-1240 and we will get back to you as quickly as possible. Otherwise, we will all be available via email. All staff emails can be found HERE. 

Stay safe everyone and we hope to see you all in person again soon. 

- JACL National Staff

JACL is Hiring for a New Fellow!

JACL is now hiring for the Norman Y. Mineta Fellowship to start in January 2022! The fellowships provide the opportunity to work on advocacy at a national level through the National JACL office based in Washington, D.C. As a fellow, you will become a key component of the D.C. team. In this position you will be working with JACL staff, other fellows, and the executive director, collectively working to mobilize and inform local chapters. To learn more about the position and apply please click here!

H.R. 40 Day of Action Tomorrow!

If you’ve wanted to learn more about Reparations and H.R. 40, now is a good and very important time to join in. H.R. 40 is at a critical moment for getting a vote before December 8.

Join in the H.R. 40 Coalition’s Week of Action.

We’ll be hosting a specific Day of Action and ALL ARE WELCOME!

Register for the zoom link and join any one or all of the events throughout the day, using the same link.

We’ll be convening throughout the day:

10:00a PST - email and phone banking, with updates, targets script samples

12:00p PST - same as above!

5:00p PST - email only session

7:00p PST - community conversation on Reparations

Sponsors: the NCRR/Nikkei Progressives joint Reparations Committee; San Jose Nikkei Resisters; JACL National; Tsuru for Solidarity

Veterans Day Programs

National Veterans Network (NVN) Congressional Gold Medal 10th Anniversary 

The 40-minute virtual event highlighted the two-year journey of the nationwide effort of 23 WWII veteran organizations and nonprofits to secure the Nisei Soldier Congressional Gold Medal that culminated with the historic Ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. The virtual event featured interviews from the principals of the national effort including bill sponsors Congressman Adam Schiff, Senator Barbara Boxer, United States Mint, Smithsonian Institution, WWII veterans, national leaders, and principals representing organizations actively involved in the passage and celebration of the Congressional Gold Medal.

Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA) Veteran's Day Ceremony

National Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism in WWII

Keynote Address 

Colonel Danielle Ngo, U.S. Army

Chief of Staff of the Army 

Senior Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Guest Speaker

Doug Ichiuji

 Board Member, National Japanese American Memorial Foundation

Sponsors 

The Japanese American Veterans Association

The National Japanese American Memorial Foundation

Date: Thursday, November 11, 2021 

Time: 2:00 pm EST / 11:00 am PST / 9:00 am HST

Hidden Heroes: The Nisei Soldiers of WWII

Go For Broke National Education Center has partnered with The History Channel for a special documentary for Veterans Day. As the title suggests, the documentary will explore lesser-known stories of the service of the Nisei and the tremendous impacts they made on the fabric of America. For this production, The History Channel integrated video clips from GFBNEC's Hanashi Oral History Collection. Watch on Veterans Day at 8pm ET/PT.

Minidoka Update and Call to Action

Minidoka -- Lava Ridge Wind Project.  In August, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the Biden Administration's decision to study a massive wind project, up to 400 wind turbines taller than the Washington National Monument, which would be located on the historic footprint of Minidoka and within two miles of the national park's new visitor center. If approved, the Lava Ridge Wind Project would significantly impair the park's ability to tell the story of Minidoka and to serve as a place for learning, healing, and celebrating our heritage for generations to come. Working closely with JACL chapters, the Friends of Minidoka and Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee helped Minidoka survivors, Japanese American organizations, and conservation partners submit public comment letters to the BLM by the October 20 deadline.  

While the Bureau of Land Management is drafting an environmental impact statement, we need your help to stop Lava Ridge through partnerships, advocacy, media, fundraising, and technical expertise including expertise in electric power generation and transmission in the western United States to advise the Minidoka team on strategy.  We also are looking for litigation counsel with expertise in the National Environmental Policy Act and related laws.  If you have questions or would like to help, please reach out to info@minidoka.org and minidokapilgrimages@gmail.com or check out www.minidoka.org and www.minidokapilgrimage.org  

With your support, we can protect Minidoka's sacred ground for current and future generations! Renewable energy shouldn't come at the cost of communities of color. 

Okaeri 2021 Virtual Conference this weekend!

Event Announcement! Our friends over at Okaeri LA are bringing their biannual conference to the virtual space this year! With 24 workshops and a guest appearance from Gia Gunn, #OkaeriLA ’s mission is to create visibility, compassionate spaces, and transformation for LGBTQ+ Nikkei and their families by sharing personal stories and providing culturally-rooted support, education, community-building, and advocacy. Three workshops will be held in Japanese. The registration link is available below! We hope to see you there! 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

Celebrate Secretary Norman Y. Mineta's 90th Birthday!

In honor of Secretary Mineta's 90th birthday this month, our friends at Mineta Legacy Project are making their award-winning documentary film, Norman Mineta and His Legacy: An American Story, free for the entire month of November! Feel free to share with friends and family who may not know of the adversity he faced as a young boy, how he became the first Asian American mayor of a major city and the first Asian American to be appointed to a presidential cabinet. 

Updated Link: USC Seeking Nisei students whose educations were disrupted by WWII 

The following request is from Richard Watanabe, Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of USC, USC Alumnus '86, '88, '95

The University of Southern California has decided to recognize Nisei students whose educations were disrupted by WWII and the racist policies of then-University President Rufus B. von KleinSmid by bestowing honorary degrees to them or their descendants.  Honorary degrees were conferred on living Nisei from that period, but those who had already passed were not honored.  This new decree bestows degrees on all affected Nisei, deceased or living.  An effort is underway to identify those individuals or their survivors so they can be properly recognized.  Above is a 1942 yearbook photo of some members of the USC Trojan Nisei Club along with their names on the right (Courtesy of the Rafu Shimpo). USC is trying to identify as many of the affected Nisei as possible, so they may receive their honorary degrees. If anyone has information on impacted individuals or their families, you can visit the website below to submit information.

Berkeley Oral History Project Seeking Project Participants

UC Berkeley's Oral History Project is seeking Nikkei who have had parents/grandparents/great grandparents who have been incarcerated in Manzanar and Topaz concentration camps.  How do people heal? Through new oral history interviews, this project will document and disseminate the ways in which intergenerational trauma and healing occurred after the U.S. government's incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. These interviews will examine and compare how private memory, creative expression, place, and public interpretation intersect at two sites of incarceration: Manzanar in California and Topaz in Utah. To nominate yourself or someone else for this project please complete the Nomination Form. 

JACL Anti-Hate and Hate Crime Resources

For resources, toolkits, articles, and more about anti-hate programs and hate crimes, you can visit our page on JACL.org by clicking the link below.

H.R. 40 Updates and Join in Support

Last Wednesday, April 14, the House Judiciary Committee voted for the first time in the bill's 30 year history to advance H.R. 40 to the House floor for a full vote! This is a monumental step in bill's life and a start towards righting another wrong in our nation's history. 

JACL Executive Director, David Inoue, discusses JACL’s support of H.R. 40. H.R. 40 would create a commission to examine the institution of slavery, its legacy, and make recommendations to Congress for reparations, beginning a process of repairing and restoring after centuries of enslavement. Click the image above to watch the full video statement. 

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