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Japanese American Support for H.R. 40
H.R. 40 is a bill that would establish a commission of 13 members tasked with studying and developing reparation proposals for African Americans and presenting their findings to Congress. These 13 members would be proficient in ‘African Studies’ and ‘reparatory justice’. Furthermore, the commission would not only research reparations, but also develop an appropriate apology directed towards the African American, Black, and African communities of the United States, all of whom have and continue to suffer under our countries discriminatory policies which followed emancipation such as Redlining and Jim Crow. H.R. 40 is much more than studying the institution of slavery and what has occurred within the last 400 years and more about understanding why our country's African American, Black, and African communities continue to suffer today. HR 40 author, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has stated that reparations should include not only financial compensation but also “restitution, rehabilitation, acknowledgment of injustices, apologies, memorizations, educational reform and guarantees that such injustices won't happen again.”
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law H.R. 442 also known as the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. This bill granted redress of $20,000 and a formal presidential apology to the Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during WWII. This was a historic moment for Japanese Americans and a watershed moment in the broader journey of ethnic minorities in the United States. Japanese Americans were long victimized by racial prejudice and the lack of leadership led to the racist mass incarceration of our community during WWII. Our incarceration was but one in the long history of racial discrimination in this country beginning with the displacement of Native people, the centuries of Black enslavement, and the subsequent evolution of slavery to Jim Crow and other forms of systemic racism, all supported and promoted by our government.
Now, more than ever, Japanese Americans are standing in solidarity with Black Americans, recognizing the power we hold through unity. Many Japanese Americans reflect on our own community's journey towards redress, viewing H.R. 40 as another path towards reparations for the Black community that is (1) long overdue and (2) possible because of our own experience of achieving redress with the support of the Black community. Once our nation acknowledges the deep damage that slavery and segregation have done to our country on a national level, healing and then progress can be made for future generations to come.
Send an email to your Representative asking them to sign on as a co-sponsor to H.R. 40 if they have not already. If they are already a co-sponsor, ask them to support bringing HR 40 up for a full vote by the House of Representatives. Entering your information at the right will automatically provide the correct letter for you depending on whether your representative is a co-sponsor or not.
For more information about the bill, click HERE.
Japanese American Support for H.R. 40
Japanese American Support for H.R. 40
Your Congress Member is already a co-sponsor!
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 H.R. 40. If you would like to call their office, to thank them for their support of H.R. 40, you can call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and the operator can connect you to your representative's office.
Using the buttons 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 support this bill.
For more information go to jacl.org and subscribe to our digest for updates.
Japanese American Support for H.R. 40
Thank you for giving advocacy to H.R. 40!
Your advocacy message for HR 40, 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.
How to Call your Representative to ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 40.
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 H.R. 40. (Tell your story of redress and what it meant to your or your family, and why it is important to support reparations for the African American community). I hope Representative _________ will contact Representative Jackson Lee, to join the growing 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 H.R.40 Page Here.
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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