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Japanese
American Citizens League
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A
spry eighty years young, the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL),
http://www.jacl.org/,
is America's oldest national Asian American civil rights organization.
Since its founding in 1929 to advance the civil rights of Americans
of Japanese ancestry, the organization today has expanded its mission
to advocate for all Asian Americans and others confronted by injustice
and prejudice. The leaders and members of JACL also work to promote
cultural values and preserve the heritage and legacy of the Japanese
American community. |
| The
112 chapters and its 16,000 members are organized into seven regional
districts. The Pacific Northwest District has nine chapters located
in Alaska, Washington and Oregon. The Greater Puget Sound area is
home to five of these chapters; Seattle, Lake Washington (the Eastside
suburbs), Puyallup Valley, White River Valley (Auburn-Kent) and Olympia. The 650 members of the Greater Puget Sound area chapters collaborate in many civil rights and cultural heritage projects with such groups as the Nisei Vets Committee, the Wing Luke Asian Museum, the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition, Densho, the Arab American Community Coalition, the Organization for Chinese Americans, the Institute for Community Involvement, the Coalition to Undo Racism Everywhere and the Hate Free Zone of Washington. Nationally the organization works with the Asian American Justice Center, the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League and the ACLU. Locally the chapters have conducted candidate's forums, registered voters at the Fourth of July Naturalization program at the Seattle Center, held workshops/community forums on internalized racism and affirmative action featuring Tim Wise, and held mochi making and bon dance demonstrations. This summer the Utah area chapters will host the 40th Biennial national convention in Salt Lake City where the national council will conduct the business of the organization. The 2008 convention will also mark the 20th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which allowed for redress for those remaining of the over 110,000 Japanese Americans who were unjustly removed from their homes on the west coast and placed in internment camps during World War II. A convention plenary session on "Redress, Then and Now," will include panelists who were or are involved with the civil liberties issues of the past and present. John Tateishi, appointed as the JACL's Redress Committee Chair in 1978 and former National JACL Executive Director, will speak on "The Role of the JACL and the Legislative Process that Brought about the Redress Legislation." Richard Foltin, Legislative Director and Counsel in the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Office of Government and International Affairs in Washington, D.C., will discuss "Reasons Why the AJC Came on as a Coalition Supporter and the Importance of Coalitions on Issues Such as Redress." Muzaffar Chishti, Director of the Migration Policy Institute at the New York University School of Law, will discuss "The Relevance of the Issue of Redress and its Relationship to the Muslim Community since 9/11." Members come from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds. Any citizen or non-citizen sharing our interests in social justice and Japanese culture is welcome to join JACL. Information & membership: Karen Yoshitomi - PNW district office Tel: (206) 623 5088 E-mail: jaclpnwro@msn.com |
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