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Ask your Representative to Co-Sponsor the Japanese American Confinement Education Act
The Japanese American Confinement Education Act would permanently reauthorize the Japanese American Confinement Site (JACS) program within the National Park Service (NPS). It would also authorize $38 million in new funding, since the current funding will be completely spent before the end of 2022. This program has been one of the primary resources in the preservation and interpretation of the U.S. Confinement Sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. Since 2009, 247 projects have received over $32.8 million. Funding has gone to 22 states plus the District of Columbia.
Additionally, the legislation establishes a separate, new five year, $2 million per year program to establish and disseminate educational materials about the Japanese American confinement. This grant would require the recipient museum to develop and nationally disseminate accurate, relevant, and accessible resources to improve awareness and understanding of Japanese American Confinement in WWII. This program is modeled after the Holocaust Education Act passed by Congress and signed into law in 2020.
The JACE Act has strong bi-partisan support with Representative Doris Matsui (D-CA)and Representative Rob Bishop (R-UT) as the originators of the bill.
Additional current cosponsors are Mark Takano (D-CA), Liz Cheney (R-WY), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Don Young (R-AK), Ed Case (D-HI), Ken Buck (R-CO), Adam Smith (D-WA), Judy Chu (D-CA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Josh Harder (D-CA), Denny Heck (D-WA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Paul Cook, (R-CA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Kim Schrier (D-WA)
Send an email to your Representative asking them to sign on as a co-sponsor to H.R. 8637.
For more information about the bill, click HERE.
Ask your Representative to Co-Sponsor the Japanese American Confinement Education Act
Ask your Representative to Co-Sponsor the Japanese American Confinement Education Act
Your Congress Member is already a co-sponsors!
Thank you for taking the time to contact your Member of Congress. Fortunately, your member of Congress has already signed on as a co-sponsor to HR 8637, the Japanese American Confinement Education Act. If you would like to call their office, to thank them for their support of the JACE Act, you can call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and the operator can connect you to your representative's office.
Using the buttons to above, please share this action to your social media or your direct email contacts so we can get as many people as possible to contact their members of Congress to sign on to this bill.
For more information go to jacl.org and subscribe to our digest for updates.
Ask your Representative to Co-Sponsor the Japanese American Confinement Education Act
Thank you for giving advocacy to the Japanese American Confinement Education (JACE) Act!
Your advocacy message for HR 8637, the JACE Act was sent to your Representative with your email message.
NEXT STEPS to further reinforce your message:
1) Call your Congress member's office now to ask them to co-sponsor:
Calls are more effective than emails in achieving advocacy success. Your call can reinforce your email. Use the following script which can also be downloaded HERE.
How to Call your Representative to ask them to co-sponsor HR 8637, the Japanese American Confinement Education Act
Call the House of Representatives Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask them to connect you to your Representative. You can provide them with your zip code and they will automatically make the connection, or you can identify your representative and call their office directly by looking them up at: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
Script:
Hello, my name is _____________________ and I live in Representative ____________’s District. I am calling today to ask Representative ___________ to sign on as a co-sponsor to HR 8637, the Japanese American Confinement Education Act. This legislation would support continuing efforts through the National Park Service to educate Americans of the injustices of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. It would permanently authorize the Japanese American Confinement Sites Program with a new 38 million dollars in funding and create a new education program to develop and distribute curriculum and other materials about the incarceration experience. I hope Representative _________ will contact Representative Matsui, who was herself incarcerated with her family during the war, to join the growing bi-partisan list of co-sponsors for this legislation.
Further conversation:
The person on the phone will probably ask for your contact information for their records and maybe for someone to call you back who is more familiar with the program or the National Park Service. If you want to have more background information, you can refer to JACL's information page on the Japanese American Confinement Education Act.
Tips:
- Don’t be scared! House staffers are usually very friendly.
- If the office is busy, don’t give up. Try again in a few minutes or leave a voicemail.
- If you don’t know the answer to a question about the legislation, don’t worry, you can either get the information to them later or refer them to JACL’s national office at 202-223-1240.
- Be sure to thank them for taking the time to talk.
- Email policy@jacl.org to let us know how your call went.
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