Author: Jenny Yamada

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JACL Supports Haitian Asylum Seekers

September 23, 2021

For Immediate Release

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

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

The JACL stands with Haitian refugees seeking asylum in America and is appalled by the blatantly inhumane immigration policies being conducted by the Biden administration. In the past week, we have witnessed images of the mistreatment of Haitian refugees and inhumane conditions in Del Rio. Many Haitian refugees are seeking asylum from the turmoil in their country after a massive earthquake and tropical storm struck Haiti in August 2021, and the assassination of their president in July 2021. This earthquake itself left over 2,200 Haitians dead and over 12,000 injured. Now, instead of a humane approach towards these refugees and their families suffering, we instead see CBP agents on horseback running after Haitian refugees. 

This shocking imagery is unfortunately just a small part of a much larger and disturbing trend of mistreatment of immigrants by the Biden administration. Despite campaign promises that the new administration’s immigration policy would have humane guiding principles, Haitian immigrants and their families continue to be deported in massive plane flights at alarming rates. The Administration is sending planes full of families to Haiti under Section 42, including children under the age of three, without offering them legal protections and the opportunity to file for asylum. The JACL calls on the Biden administration to end these inhumane practices and to stop abusing the emergency powers granted by Section 42. Our communities have seen how hostility and violence towards immigrants and their descendants are often paired with the abuse of emergency powers granted to government officials in times of crisis, and we can not stand by while it happens again. 

JACL Executive Director David Inoue stated, “The frightful images of border patrol agents on horseback hunting down Haitian migrants are not what I would expect from our country. They are unfortunately indicative of how the administration continues to reject and expel those seeking escape from the political, earthquake, and tropical storm inflicted upheaval that the Haitian people have been experiencing. The government continues to use the inappropriate application of a so-called public health emergency under Section 42 to expel Haitians much like false security threats were used to incarcerate Japanese Americans during WWII. It is long past time to end these racist and exclusionary immigration policies.”

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Blog Events

Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month 2021

Happy API Heritage Month! Here are some ways we’re celebrating this year.

Liberation in Practice: Anti-Racism Workshops for Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

This May, the BIPOC community is invited to join APANO to dive deep with leading social justice experts and community-based organizations to expand our knowledge of anti-racism in theory, work, and practice.

Portland JACL is honored to work with APANO on the May 12 workshop dealing with the model minority myth. Check out the full schedule and sign-up!

Radical Self-Awareness Flyer

Member Spotlights

We’re also celebrating by spotlighting some of our members on Instagram and Facebook. During the month of May, we will be showcasing our diverse community of members to honor our histories and strengthen our connections.

We’re still looking for volunteers to be spotlighted! Are you willing to answer a few questions about yourself? Fill out our form today!

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Annual Event Events

DOR 2021 + Resource List

On February 20, we partnered with Vancouver NAACP to put on the virtual event Day of Remembrance 2021 “Redress and Reparations: Yesterday and Today”. If you weren’t able to attend live, you can watch the event recording.

Screen shot from webinar recording Day of Remembrance 2021 “Redress and Reparations: Yesterday and Today

We hope you will also join us in continuing to learn more about our histories, movements, and ways in which we can practice solidarity work together. Below are some resources to continue this journey.

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Annual Event Events

Mochitsuki Headliner

Jan-31st | Elena Moon Park Performance

Elena Moon Park is a classical trained musician, educator, and producer. She is co-Artistic Director of the Brooklyn-based arts organization Found Sound Nation, which uses collaborative music creation to connect people. She has found that working collaboratively is an effective way to tap the hidden potential of our communities and supports social justice.

Elena was born East Tennessee but both of her parents immigrated to the United States from South Korea in their mid-twenties. As a Korean American, she had a limited connection to her cultural background since
she lived in a small southern town with few Asian Americans. She felt disconnected from her Korean roots and has used folk music to explore her own story and ancestral heritage.

Elena Moon Park with kids

Elena will present special New Year’s and Japanese songs for this year’s Mochitsuki event on January 31 at 1pm. Please join us for this live virtual event on the Mochitsuki website.

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National JACL

JACL Condemns Proposed Early End to Counting for the Census

For Immediate Release

David Inoue, Executive Director dinoue@jacl.org, 202-607-7273

Sarah Baker, VP Public Affairs sbaker@jacl.org

In an announcement made on August 3, the Census Bureau discussed the remaining schedule for the 2020 Census, briefly mentioning that it would cut short its deadline to end census counting. This new deadline brings the end of Census outreach and self-response from October 31, 2020, to September 30, 2020, a month shorter than previously agreed upon by both Congress and the Administration. This is an egregious decision that will leave millions of people uncounted and is a further continuation of the Administration’s attempt to undermine the Census. 

This is only the latest in several past attempts by the Administration to change the way in which the Census will consider counting people. The first attempt was the inclusion of a citizenship question that many feared would be used against undocumented immigrants. After the Supreme Court ruled against the inclusion of such a question, the Administration announced a Presidential Memorandum proposing to exclude undocumented immigrants as people in congressional redistricting. The pandemic has already made it difficult to get an accurate count; these additional attempts to change guidelines and rules makes it even harder. 

With so much at stake for underrepresented communities, and especially as we cope with COVID-19, an accurate Census count is more important than ever. Currently, the response numbers are already the lowest they’ve ever been, with a national average of only 62.9%, compared to 63.5% in 2010. In rural and tribal communities the numbers are even lower, and in large cities with high populations of communities of color, they are lower still. Census enumerators will have more communities and households to visit than before. With in-person outreach being so important to disenfranchised communities, an earlier end date means millions of people who are at risk of never being counted. 

Congress must act to ensure that the 2020 Census reflects an accurate count and portrait of all of America, to ensure that communities that need support receive it over the next decade. This would be important at any given time, but even more so now as we envision our country and its needs with the long-term effects of this pandemic. 

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Blog Election

Voter Engagement

There are fewer than 100 days until the 2020 Presidential Election and with the mournful passing of civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis, we wanted to begin our efforts for voter engagement with Representative Lewis’ own words…

“My dear friends: Your vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union.”

John Lewis
United States House of Representatives / Public domain

This champion of our voting rights compels every eligible voter to register and then vote in this upcoming election. You can check here to see if you are registered. You can update your voter information from this section of the Oregon Secretary of State website, as well.

Please join The League of Women Voters in partnership with Portland JACL at a virtual community meeting on October 10. The League of Women Voters will be providing information on the various measures on the November 2020 ballot (more information to follow). 

The deadline to register to vote in the 2020 Presidential Election is October 13. Register to Vote online.

It is our civic duty to vote. Congressman Lewis’ legacy demands no less!

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Blog National JACL

Use of Federal Agents in Portland

JACL joins SEARAC, Other AAPI Orgs in Denouncing Use of Federal Agents in Portland 

July 28, 2020

Japanese American Citizens League Executive Director David Inoue said, “We denounce the mobilization of federal agents in Portland, and now other cities, under the false pretense to address urban violence and crime. Our federal agents should not be used as political props to antagonize cities because the president does not like the mayor’s political party. The president is unnecessarily placing the lives of both the officers and civilians at risk through these incursions worthy of the world’s worst dictatorships.”

Read the full statement >

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Blog

2020 Census

If you haven’t already, now’s the time to fill out the 2020 census! Census takers will soon start going door-to-door across the country to interview homes that haven’t responded yet. 

Things to know:

Completing the census helps your household and community get its fair share of funding for important government services such as food assistance, maternal healthcare, LGBTQA+ youth programs, and affordable housing. The community makeup information from the census helps enforce anti-discrimination laws like the Voting Rights Act. It also ensures fair representation in government. Oregon stands to gain a Congressional seat as a result of this census.

It’s confidential. It’s your right to participate and when you do, federal law keeps your responses confidential for 72 years.

Be sure to count everyone living at your address on April 1, 2020. The constitution says the census counts everyone living in the United States — that includes young children, undocumented immigrants and their families.

Census links:

Count us in 2020 flyer with information from Asian Americans Advancing Justice

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Blog Newsletter

Sato School in Bethany

Sato Elementary School opened in September 2017. The Bethany community was asked to submit names for the new Beaverton school and the overwhelming choice was to recognize the Japanese American family who began farming in the area in 1926.

Sato School Memorial
Marleen Wallingford, Karen Sato and Ron Iwasaki at the Sato School dedication of the history of the Sato Family placed at the front of the school.

During World War II, the Sato Family was sent to Minidoka. Two sons, Shin and Roy, enlisted. Roy was wounded twice and received the Purple Heart. Shin was also a member of the Japanese American 442 Regimental Combat Team that took part in the heroic battle to save the Texas Battalion that was trapped in the treacherous Vosges Mountains. Nisei soldiers were able to overcome the German defenses. Shin posthumously received the Purple Heart as a result of that battle.

Karen Sato continues to remember her family. Her sister, Lois who passed away in 2013 was the last family member to live on the farm.

When Col. Mike Howard who lives in the area heard the story of the Sato Family, he wanted to make sure the community understood the historical significance of the heroism of Shin and the sacrifice the family suffered. He worked with the school’s principal, Annie Pleau to obtain Beaverton School District’s permission to place the plaque.

I was saddened when I first visited Sato School and there was no memorial. History is a fragile thing and I wanted the kids to know the truth … good and bad, so they can learn from it.

Col. Howard

It was a labor of love for Col. Howard. He grew up living next to the Shimotani Family in Ventura, California. This is where he first heard of the 442 and saw the film, “Go For Broke”. “I was saddened when I first visited Sato School and there was no memorial. History is a fragile thing and I wanted the kids to know the truth … good and bad, so they can learn from it.”

The bronze plaque was produced at a costof $6200. Skanska Construction donated the concrete base and backing at a value of$6200. Bethany Presbyterian Church had donated $3000 but funding still needs to be raised to cover the rest of the cost. The Portland JACL is helping with that effort.

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Newsletter

Black Lives Matter

Board Member Message
by Sachi Kaneko

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

This is a call to action. In an article for the Washington Post, Dr. Obasogie recently characterized the death of George Floyd as the spread of the “police violence pandemic.”  This combined with the effects of the novel Coronavirus are two massive problems within our country that disproportionately affect Black people.  

Black men in America are 3.5 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement than their White counterparts (Obasogie, 2020).  Available data about the Coronavirus show that counties that are primarily Black have “three times the rate of infections and almost six times the rate of deaths as counties where white residents are the majority” (Thebault, Tran, and Williams, 2020).  This is the current climate of being Black in America- it is not chance or happenstance or a series of isolated incidents, it’s systemic.

Systemic racism is a pivotal piece to the founding of our country. Our economy was built on the cheap or free labor of non Whites- a system that continues to persist today. The implicit biases that were fostered by that system to enforce racial hierarchies are long standing and deep.

“The very serious function of racism… is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and so you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is….” -Toni Morrison, Writer and Speaker

Continue reading “Black Lives Matter”