Weekly Digest
October 26, 2021

JACL Operating Status

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!

JACL is hiring for the position of full-time business manager and part business assistant for immediate hire. To view the position descriptions click the following links:

Business Manager

Business Assistant

To apply for either position, please send a detailed resume with a cover letter summarizing your qualifications as well as your interest in the position and JACL to jobs@jacl.org. Please send any questions about this posting also to jobs@jacl.org.

Tomorrow! HR 40 Reparations Town Hall

Join us for a community gathering, featuring organizers within the reparations movement, to discuss: the status of H.R. 40 in the 117th Congress; the urgency of H.R. 40 getting House Leadership to schedule a floor vote before the end of this year; and upcoming actions around the bill and how you can get involved.

Tomorrow! Virtual Symposium: Understanding and Preventing Youth Hate Crimes and Identity-Based Bullying

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is pleased to host a national symposium on preventing and combating identity-based bullying and criminal extremist hate groups. This event will be held October 27–28, 2021.

This virtual symposium will address important topics like current trends and research on identity-based bullying, cyberbullying, youth-related hate crimes, and how hate groups use social media and technology to reach, recruit, and radicalize youth. It will also provide programs and best practices on how schools, families, law enforcement, and communities can work together to build protective factors in youth and help youth resist and disengage from extremist hate groups.

JACL Executive Director, David Inoue, will be speaking on tomorrow's panel on combating identity-based bullying within the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. 

This Week! Join us for the 2021 JACS Education Conference!

RSVP for JACL National Board Meeting on November 6th

On Saturday, November 6, 2021, the JACL National Board will be hosting its quarterly board meeting. The board meeting will be open to the public, 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. 

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.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

Opinion: Standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building, I learned this lesson

Noah Kurima, one of our recent participants from the 2021 JACL/OCA Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. wrote this powerful piece for The San Diego Tribune about their experience participating in the summit! Noah was also one of the first high school participants we have had in the program in nearly 30 years! Thank you Noah for taking part in the program and sharing your experience with others. 

Multiracial Artists in Conversation hosted by Seattle JACL

Join us for a free Mixed Race Webinar on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021, from 10AM - Noon (PST). As multiracial people, we are constantly put into narrow categories that try to define who we are. But what does it mean to tell your own story? To be able to claim and celebrate all parts of who you are? Speakers for this panel are defining their own narratives through the arts—including photography, visual art, and writing. Mixed Race youth, adults, and families—as well as the arts community—will benefit from this inspiring discussion about what it means to be a storyteller of your own narrative, be it on a canvas, in a book, in a photograph, onstage, or in everyday life.

Okaeri 2021 Virtual Conference

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! 

2022 JACS Grant Applications Open Now!

Fiscal Year 2022 Japanese American Confinement Sites grant applications must be received by Tuesday, November 9, 2021, 5:00pm (Mountain Time). Note: this is not a postmark date.

Congress established the Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) grant program (Public Law 109-441, 120 Stat. 3288) for the preservation and interpretation of U.S. confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. The law authorized up to $38 million for the entire life of the grant program 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. 

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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