Author: Marleen Wallingford

he House of Representatives has now passed a voting rights and election reform package that includes key legislation from both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Amendment Act. These fundamental reforms affirm statements made previously this week by President Biden and Vice President Harris during a visit to Georgia to discuss voting rights. Key parts of this legislation will protect and ensure fair and open elections, including the use of a wide range of forms of identification for in-person voting, making Election Day a federal holiday, guaranteeing the right to mail-in vote, and requiring reasonable public notice for changes to voting policies. It additionally includes illumination around dark money, makes it harder for billionaires and special interest groups to buy elections, and much more.

The JACL is thankful that President Biden and Vice President Harris are drawing attention to this issue, and we are happy to see congress capitalize on this moment and push forward with this legislation. Voting rights are essential to the preservation of our democracy from the local to the national level. We hope that the Senate will recognize the right to vote as fundamental to our democracy and that they will pass legislation to enable the representation of as many Americans as possible in the electoral process.

December 7, 2021

For Immediate Release

Matthew Weisbly, Education & Communications Coordinator, mweisbly@jacl.org

Sarah Baker, VP Public Affairs, sbaker@jacl.org

Today the JACL reflects on the 80th anniversary of the devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Imperial Japanese forces. The attack resulted in the deaths of over 2,400 Americans stationed in Hawaii. This event is especially painful to the Japanese American community because the attack led to the direct questioning of loyalty and incarceration without trial of over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry. Those that were not incarcerated continued to face hate and discrimination from their fellow Americans who saw them as indistinguishable from the faces of the enemy.

We recognize the 33,000 Japanese Americans who served in our nation?s armed services, despite the fact many had family members and they themselves were being imprisoned by their country. Even in their loyal service, they served within segregated units, yet they would become one of the most highly decorated combat units in the war.

It is without a doubt that the attack on American soil and loss of American lives was a dark day for our nation. However, the subsequent racial hysteria and demagoguery that led to the profiling and targeting of people of Japanese ancestry led us into an even darker place. It is only when we remember the wrongs of this past that we can be sure we do not repeat the same wrongs in the present day.

The trauma of this event persists within the Japanese American community, and it is important that we continue to fight against discriminatory practices that unjustly profile and surveil minority communities. Although we are unlikely to see actions on the scale of mass incarceration of nearly 120,000 people, in the past few years we have seen people from majority Muslim nations banned from our country and refugees denied entry disproportionately those with darker skin, all under the guise of national security need. And in the past year, COVID fear has led to the scapegoating and direct acts of hate and violence against Asian Americans. It is important we remember the history of racism as we continue to fight current racial injustices.

JACL and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) are inviting seventy-two educators to explore the historical significance and enduring legacy of the World War II Japanese American incarceration experience and the reparations movement. While past participants are primarily social studies and humanities teachers at the K-12 levels, all are invited to apply.

This NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture workshop will be offered twice: June 19-24 and July 10-15, 2022. Participants will be staying in the historic Little Tokyo neighborhood in Los Angeles with the majority of programming being at our host institution, the Japanese American National Museum (JANM), with day trips to Santa Anita Park (a WWII temporary ?assembly center?) and Manzanar National Historic Site (one of the ten permanent WWII ?internment? camps). This will be one of the last times we are able to host a workshop with living camp survivors as the WWII generation passes the torch to future ones.

Learn more and apply here: https//jacl.org/2022-neh-landmarks

NEHgrant#NEHWhyHere#K12#highered

?A phenomenal sequence of lectures and field trips that offered new perspectives on civil liberties? – 2016 Landmarks Participant

JACL is saddened to learn that Holly Yasui has passed away due to complications from COVID-19. While Holly is best known for her father, Min Yasui, who challenged the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II all the way to the Supreme Court, she was also a fierce fighter for civil rights on her own. In the past few years, her passion was bringing to life the film Never Give Up! Minoru Yasui and the Fight for Justice and telling the story of her father?s crusade and how it applied to the modern struggles of the Muslim Ban and immigrant family incarceration and separation. 

JACL Executive Director, David Inoue fondly recalls Holly, ?When I first met Holly at a rally in Washington, DC, she was especially enthusiastic about JACL?s leadership in fighting on behalf of other communities. This was not only her father?s legacy and his strong belief in JACL?s purpose, but she made fighting for justice her own mission. Her unexpected passing is a shock and tragic loss to us all.?

In 1973, the Supreme Court made the landmark decision that ruled access to abortion and one?s right to choose as protected under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Roe v. Wade has been one of the most contested and debated Supreme Court decisions in recent history. Since the court made its decision, it has come under attack by numerous state and local organizations. Unfortunately, his year has been no different. In the first half of 2021 alone, more than 90 laws restricting abortion access have passed in several state legislatures. Tuesday, Texas enacted the most restrictive abortion law to date; banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. On Wednesday, a narrow majority of the Supreme Court ignored 48 years of precedent in allowing the Texas law to stand.

This six-week number is based on early cardiac activity, which also coincides most often when a doctor is able to confirm someone is pregnant. This means it is not nearly enough time for someone to not only confirm they are pregnant but to also schedule an appointment. The law also includes provisions to ?reward? bystanders for tipping off the local government to anyone who is attempting to aid in an ?illegal? abortion. This could include not only doctors but also family and friends of someone who is attempting to seek an appointment.

The JACL unequivocally supports the right to decide whether and when to become a parent. The National Council officially adopted a resolution, titled Family Choice, at the 1992 convention supporting a person?s right ?to choose and determine the course of their lives.?

JACL Executive Director, David Inoue stated ?This law serves as a dangerous precedent for not only the State of Texas but many others that are currently looking to enact similar laws. While the law should be unable to withstand court challenge, that the Supreme Court has declined to block its enactment is not encouraging. This signifies a clear shift of the court away from upholding what has been considered the settled law of the land and allowing the creation of new and dangerous policies infringing upon individual rights and encouraging reckless vigilantism.?

The scenes that have come out of Afghanistan in the last few days are all too familiar to many within the Asian American community, with many people noting the eerie similarity to images from the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Then, just as now, the United States has a duty to help those scared and vulnerable civilians who are attempting to evacuate in order to protect themselves and their families. The time for debate about the war and its impacts will continue to happen, but now the priority must be to protect those who are at risk and give them refuge.

When the United States left Vietnam in 1975, over 130,000 civilians and refugees were evacuated as part of the withdrawal process, albeit by supposed ?rogue? civilian and military personnel. Currently, under a special visa program for Afghan citizens, less than 2,000, of 20,000 who applied, have been evacuated. Many more still have not had the chance to apply and are still searching for a way out. The top priority for evacuation should be given to those most at-risk members of Afghan society such as women and girls who are targeted by the Taliban, the LGBTQ community, the disabled community, interpreters, and others who supported the United States in Afghanistan.

The JACL has long supported the immigration of refugees seeking asylum in the United States. Four different administrations have been in power during the War in Afghanistan, and now it is on the current administration and Congress to ensure that our Afghan allies that have stood by us throughout the conflict are not abandoned. We call on the Biden administration and Congress to accept as many refugees as possible; through expanding the resettlement limit, increasing the number of Special Immigrant Visas and Priority 2 status refugees, as well as designate Afghanistan as Temporary Protected Status. It should also ensure that there are sufficient transportation sites for refugees seeking to leave the country.

The US should ensure that there is adequate assistance in areas such as housing, healthcare, and other basic necessities and that these immigrant communities are not targeted for deportation in the same fashion that many other post-war immigrant communities were treated. We are still seeing the struggle of Vietnamese, Hmong, and Cambodian refugees who came in the wake of the Vietnam War and who are now at risk of being deported and are incarcerated at higher rates than many other Asian American communities. We cannot allow any incoming refugees to suffer this same fate in the future.

Slots for the 2021 Kakehashi trip remain available. Applications will be accepted until Sunday, June 13 at 11:59 HST or until slots are full. Applications will be accepted on a first come first accepted basis.

Each year, between 100 and 200 participants are selected to participate in the JACL Kakehashi Program, coordinated by the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and the Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE), and supported by funding from the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These participants travel to Japan in the spirit of cross country and cultural exchange, with the added component of connecting Japanese American young adults with their Japanese family’s heritage.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this year’s program will consist of a smaller Virtual Exchange of 92 participants with Japanese college students from the prefectures of Gifu, Okinawa, and Wakayama. If conditions permit, and a trip to Japan becomes possible during this current funding year, participants accepted to the virtual program will be automatically eligible to participate in the physical trip.

There is no guarantee of a physical trip and participants in a virtual-only program this year will remain eligible to apply to a future Kakehashi trip or similar program sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For answers to these questions, please refer to the Kakehashi Program information page and FAQs linked HERE.

Submit your application as early as possible but no later than Sunday, June 13 at 11:59pm Hawaiian Standard Time for acceptance to the 2021 Kakehashi Program.

June 13, 2 p.m.
RSVP Marleen@pdxjacl.org

Join us for a screening of Lauren Yanase’s film about exploring her family’s past. She reflects upon how she decided to develop this documentary.

Shikata Ga Nai: An Inconvenient American, started out as a hint of an idea in the back of my mind almost four years ago. Since first grade, I have been a Girl Scout and had always wanted to get my Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive. Most Scouts who earn this award do so with very hands-on, tangible service projects, refurbishing a church, founding a STEM robotics club for girls, etc. I figured I, too, would do something of a similar nature. However, in my junior year of high school, I was faced with an uncomfortable reality. What I took for granted–an innate knowledge of the horrors my Japanese American family faced during World War II–others (intelligent, empathetic people) were ignorant to or didn’t appreciate the full consequence. So began the most ambitious, emotionally grueling project I had ever attempted: making a documentary.

On Tuesday, April 20, Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three charges related to the killing of George Floyd. Mr. Chauvin in being found guilty, and now awaiting sentencing, received the due process he denied George Floyd last year.

However, the verdict should not be seen as justice. Justice is measured in real transformation; something that our country has yet to truly see. Instead, this verdict is about accountability, and accountability is one step on that path towards justice. Change needs to occur on all levels, in our communities, in our police force, in our justice system, and in our Congress, if we want to see true justice served.

At the end of the day, George Floyd is still dead, his family has been given a bittersweet victory, but they will never see their partner, father, and brother again. In the months since that fateful day, countless more people of color have been killed at the hands of the police. Iremamber Sykap, Adam Toledo, Daunte Wright, Christian Hall, and Angelo Quinto, just to name a few. Others still have been subjected to continued use of unnecessary and excessive force, as they feared for their lives and the very real possibility that their name may be added to the list above.

Let this small victory invigorate us and remind us of the work we do in making change for the better. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is a step in the right direction towards re-envisioning what law enforcement ought to look like in support of the communities with which it has too often been at odds. The systemic racism that led to George Floyd?s death must be rooted out from law enforcement just as we must seek to end its grip on our education, health care, and financial systems.

George Floyd should be alive today. As we continue to say his name, and the names of all those lost to excessive use of force at the hands of the police, we will remember them, remember this moment in our history, and continue forward to create a more just and equitable world.

On Tuesday evening at least eight people were killed and one wounded in a series of mass shootings that took place at three spas in Atlanta, Georgia. While the shootings, which occurred within hours of one another, have not as of the time of this statement been affirmatively linked, it appears likely that there is a correlation between these acts of violence. With one suspect having been apprehended, the motives behind the shootings remain unclear. What is clear is that authorities have reported that many of the victims appear to be women of Asian descent and that the businesses targeted appear to be Asian owned and operated.

Whether these murders were intended to target the victims because of their work, gender, or their Asian ethnicity, they come at a time when our community is already feeling exposed and vulnerable. The impacts of the discrimination and outright racism that have been brought to the forefront by the Covid-19 pandemic have continued to wear us down, and while the motives behind this most recent attack still remain unknown, the implications are harrowing.

We call upon all Americans to do what they can to stop these acts of violence; this must end now. Hate crimes and incidents of bias need to be deplored in all walks of life, through discussions in our families, schools, places of employment, houses of worship, and beyond. We cannot continue to tear one another down for our race, gender, profession, etc. When will enough be enough?

The JACL mourns the loss of lives and condemns these acts of violence. Regardless of whether these actions were racially motivated, we recognize that these events have shaken the Asian American community. We must continue to stand together in solidarity and support one another as we navigate these difficult times. It is our hope that some light is shed on these events and that justice is sought for those who were harmed.