JACL Weekly Digest

October 22, 2024

JACL National News

JACL Decries Former President Donald Trump’s Statement Equating Incarceration of Japanese Americans to Capitol Rioters

JACL Mourns the Passing of Grant Ujifusa, Redress Strategist

Grant Ujifusa, who served as co-editor of the annual “The Almanac of American Politics” and from 1982-92 was the JACL’s redress strategy chair, died Monday in Lafayette Hill, Pa. He was 82. JACL National send our deepest condolences to his family.

Watch the New Member Orientation Recording!

Our new member orientation took place last week! Participants had the opportunity to hear from special guest Kevin Onishi from Keiro, hear from JACL leadership, and find out all JACL has to offer. Watch the recording below!

Applications for the 2025 Norman Y. Mineta Fellowship are Available Now!

The Norman Y. Mineta Fellowship is named for the late Secretary and Congressman from San Jose, CA. The fellow will monitor key legislative initiatives of importance to the JACL mission, and design and implement JACL-sponsored programs among other tasks and duties.

This fellowship provides the opportunity to work on advocacy issues and educational programs at a national level through the JACL Washington, D.C. Office. As a fellow, you will become a key component of the national staff; representing JACL and its members within D.C. and various community networks. Fellows can expect to play a large role in policy initiatives and execute programs such as JACL / OCA Leadership Summit, the Kakehashi Program, and JACL National Convention.

Priority Deadline: November 11, 2024 at 11:59 PM HST. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Program Dates: Start January 2025. This fellowship term lasts 1 year, with the possibility of being extended for an additional year.

Get Out the Vote Phone Banking with our friends at APIAVote - 1 Date Left!

Join us and our friends at APIAVote for some upcoming non-partisan phone banking sessions! Callers can sign up for one or multiple shifts on either day. 

Looking Into the Future Together - Make Your Suggestions and Contributions to JACL

This past summer, JACL gathered in Philadelphia for its 54th National Convention themed “Looking Into the Future Together”. With our partners APIAVote and OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates, we brought together the Asian American civil rights community for three days of programming. Together, members were able to learn about and discuss issues affecting our communities ranging from the local issues of disappearing ethnic neighborhoods to the global issues of anti-China rhetoric impacting us as Asian Americans. Joining forces also primed us to think about the future of the Asian American community and the role we play in our government and society, culminating in the Presidential Town Hall which featured remarks from Vice President Kamala Harris...

After reflecting on what our organization has done, we look forward to what JACL will be. *Okagesama de, kodomo no tame ni. Because of our ancestors, we are in relatively privileged positions so for the sake of our children, let us invest together and be ancestors they will also look up to. We ask you to contribute to JACL by telling us what JACL means to you and what you envision JACL to be for your descendants, whether they be third generation or 8th generation, Japanese American or simply passionate about protecting civil and human rights. We also need your financial support. After you give us your suggestions, please donate what you can so JACL will have the resources to respond to a changing world and our changing Japanese American community.

We are one community with many voices and we want yours to be heard. All comments will contribute to preparing JACL for our centennial in 2029 and beyond.

JACL is Hiring! Looking for a Director of Fundraising and Membership Development

JACL Chapters News

If any JACL Chapters would like to submit stories or events to the Weekly Digest, please send inquiries to Education Programs Manager, Matthew Weisbly at mweisbly@jacl.org

Care & Consumption J-Talks: Godzilla Edition hosted by JACL MDC

Last chance to RSVP to join us! This week, the JACL Midwest District Council (MDC) will be launching a partnership with the Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Program Alumni Association (JETAA) of Chicago - Illinois, Wisconsin & Indiana on the return of the of webinar series J-Talks: Strengthening Ties Through Dialogue which centers around themes of identity, social issues, cultural understanding, and leadership as experienced by people with meaningful connections to Japan.

In honor of Godzilla’s 70th anniversary, this year’s J-Talk Webinars are a series of interviews that center around the themes of Care & Consumption in relation to the King of the Monster's origins, history, and cultural impact. Our first webinar will happen on Thursday, October 24th at 7:00pm online via Zoom with Derrick Fields (pronouns: they/them), Founder of Waking Oni Games and President of the Japanese Arts Foundation. More information: https://www.jetaachicago.com/post/the-return-of-j-talks-godzilla-edition-kicks-off-on-thursday-october-24th-with-derrick-fields

Join us as we connect with JET alumni and members of the US-Japan community about how we interact with Japanese culture and how our perception evolves over time.

RSVP Required via Guestlist: https://guestlist.co/events/787404 

Reparations: Building Solidarity and Community - A screening of Jon Osaki’s film Reparations and a panel discussion

From Our Partners

Japanese Americans and Mexican Americans work together to open museum  in Crystal City Texas featuring Internment Camp exhibit

The above image is an artist rendering of the exhibit space. 

The Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee, a group of Japanese  American and Japanese Peruvian incarceration survivors and their descendants, are preparing to open the first  permanent exhibit dedicated to their experiences in Texas during World War II. Between 1942 and 1948, the little-known Crystal City US Department of Justice site held thousands of Japanese and German nationals,  along with their US-born family members. The camp also imprisoned thousands of Latin American families of  Japanese ancestry who were extradited from 13 countries in Central and South America as part of a prisoner of  war exchange program. The Crystal City detention center exhibit titled “America’s Last WWII Concentration  Camp” and funded by the Tomoye & Henri Takahashi Charitable Foundation, will open during the Crystal  City Spinach Festival on Saturday, November 9, where it will be housed at the My Story Museum - The  Story of Us: Tres Historias en Crystal City. 

Located in South Texas two hours Southwest of San Antonio, Crystal City is currently home to a population of  approximately 6,500 who identified as over 95% Hispanic on the 2020 US Census. Known as the “Spinach  Capitol of the World,” and home to the nation’s largest spinach-growing operation, Crystal City also played a  significant role during the Chicano Movement as the site of numerous student protests in 1969 that led to  school reform and election victories by working-class Mexican American farm laborers who became leaders of  the progressive political group The Raza Unida Party. 

My Story Museum is the brainchild of former city manager Diana Palacios – herself one of the 1969 student  protest leaders, who helped organize a series of school walkouts in response to the unequal treatment that  Mexican Americans were receiving at that time. Palacios imagines the museum as a way to bring local history  to life for both local residents and out-of-town visitors. Exhibits will feature topics related to Crystal City’s  role in the Chicano Movement, the history of Zavala County, a wall honoring local veterans of foreign wars,  and the WWII internment camp.

My Story Museum will host its grand opening on Saturday November 9 from 4-8pm CT. The following  day on Sunday, November 10 from 12-2pm CT a panel discussion will be hosted at the museum including  former internees Kaz Naganuma and Hiroshi Shimizu alongside Crystal City community leaders Diana  Palacios and Ruben Salazar will explore the shared connections between the Japanese and Mexican American  communities that have allowed this project to flourish. 

My Story Museum - The Story of Us: Tres Historias en Crystal City is located at 224 E. Zavala Street,  Crystal City Texas 98839.

DOJ Community Relations Service is Hiring

DOJ Conciliation Specialist with the Community Relations Service

This is a Conciliation Specialist position in the Department of Justice, Community Relations Service (CRS). CRS' mission is to provide tension reduction and conflict resolution services to diverse stakeholders to both resolve and prevent community-level disputes. CRS provides facilitated dialogue, mediation, training, and consultation to assist these communities to come together, develop solutions to the conflict, and enhance their capacity to independently prevent and resolve future conflict.

NPS Announces JACS and JACE Grant Applications Now Available!

The National Park Service is accepting project applications for two types of grants that help preserve and interpret United States sites where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II and educate the public about the historical legacy of the federal government’s war-time policy. 

The deadline to apply for a JACS or JACE grant is Thursday, November 14, 2024. The Notices of Funding Opportunities outlining the grant application and selection process for both grants are available online at www.grants.gov. 

Poston Pilgrimage Registration Now Open!

Poston Pilgrimage – Oct 25 & 26, 2024 

The Poston Pilgrimage is an opportunity to learn more about the Poston Incarceration Camp, where approximately 18,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Visit the current Poston site, learn of our preservation efforts, attend our various workshop and hear from our keynote speaker.

In collaboration with the CRIT Tribal Council, we are upholding the memories of camp life and highlighting the significant links and relationships between the Japanese American incarcerates and members of the tribal community.

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