In Immigrant Rights Movement,
New Activism Meets an Old Injustice
Not long ago, APAs were the target of anti-immigrant sentiment. JACL lead the fight back then. Today, some chapters are continuing the tradition.
When Sachiko Chermin first moved to the United States from her native Kobe, Japan she had no problems getting her visa and green card. The Shin Issei also breezed through the naturalization process to become an American citizen in 2004, so she thought it was a level playing field where everyone had the same opportunities.
Then one day, she learned a different truth.
"Japan is one of the privileged countries when it comes to immigration," said Chermin, a Sonoma County JACL board member. In her experience, she was welcomed — not subjected to immigration raids and racial profiling.
So Chermin, 54, and a handful of other Sonoma County JACLers decided to take a stand for human rights in a May 1 immigrant rights rally and march through downtown Santa Rosa, Calif.
They wore signs that read: "No Raids. No Profiling. Human Rights for all people!" As they marched, they held a large sign with their chapter's name and the JACL logo. During the event, many people asked about the JACL and Chermin explained that the organization has been fighting this type of discrimination since 1929.
"JACL's history begins with immigration problems," said Floyd Mori, JACL national director. From the beginning, the organization has fought for equal rights for Asian Pacific Americans who faced immigration barriers from property rights to marriage laws. Today, some JACL chapters continue the tradition by pushing for immigrant rights at the grassroots level with rallies and educational forums.
In this new millennium, it's a kind type of activism to fight an old injustice.
Familiar Struggles
"I think it's a human rights issue," said Lina Hoshino about the immigration debate. In the last three years Hoshino, a Sonoma County chapter member, has been a constant at May Day events. She marched alone one year and another year with a group of JACLers. This year, they marched together for the first time behind a JACL banner.
Sonoma County, Calif. is rooted in immigrant history. Before World War II, hundreds of acres of farmland were tended by immigrant workers with last names like Sugiyama and Hamamoto.
"A lot of the farm workers have gone through similar experiences," said Gary Sugiyama, a Sansei Santa Rosa-based graphic designer whose family once owned a small farm in Sonoma County. They grew prunes and strawberries before being evacuated to the Amache internment camp.
Today, Sonoma's pastoral landscape is famous for bearing the fruits that make full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon. The identities of the immigrant workers have changed, but their struggles have stayed the same.
"Who picks the grapes?" said Hoshino, 40. "They are part of our community. Their children are the ones who go to school with your children ... and these people are living in fear because of the government's draconian laws."
Lately Hoshino, who is second generation American, has been hearing a lot of news stories coming from the Bay Area about racial profiling and raids targeting the Latino community.
Once upon a time, Japanese Americans were treated in a similar way, she said. They were driven out of their home country because of economic hardship and treated like enemies of American workers.
Because of this shared history Hoshino says, "We should be speaking up as a community."
Rooted in JACL History
"Today's anti-immigration movement mirrors much of the same baseless economic rhetoric and race-based issues faced by the Issei and Nisei," said Mori.
In the 1950s, JACL actively took on discriminatory laws that banned Japanese immigrants from purchasing land and prevented the Issei from becoming naturalized U.S. citizens. At the head of the battle was Mike Masaoka, then national legislative director of the JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee.
"For four eventful decades the Alien Land Act originally passed in 1913 by the legislature and again in 1920 as an initiative measure, has been the backbone of discriminatory activity against the Japanese in California and against their citizen children," wrote former Pacific Citizen editor Larry Tajiri in his April 19, 1952, "Nisei USA" column.
Each issue of the JACL's newspaper provided crucial information about the organization's push to pass the Walter-McCarran Bill of 1952, which gave about 80,000 Issei residents an equal chance at citizenship.
But when President Harry S. Truman vetoed the bill during the JACL's 12th biennial national convention in San Francisco, the national council was called into special session to send hundreds of telegrams to lawmakers. The JACL's action helped lead to an historic presidential veto override. To celebrate the victory, delegates and boosters met Masaoka at the airport on June 28 with banners and signs reading, "Well Done, Mike!"
Today, immigration should still be a JACL and APA issue, said Mori, who pointed out that about 15 percent of the undocumented immigrants are from Asia and are relatives of APA citizens.
"Can we so soon forget that we were just a few decades ago seen as part of the 'yellow peril'?" he asked. "The spirit of wanting to better one's personal well-being that exists in the immigrant community is the fuel that keeps the wheels of progress going in America. It is for both social and economic justice that the fair treatment of immigrants should be important to the entire APA community."
Solidarity in Diversity
In the modern day movement for immigrant rights, diversity is key.
"We want to build solidarity across all communities," said David Cardenas, outreach coordinator for Sonoma County's Graton Day Labor Center.
On a national level, pro-immigration reform groups like the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) are shifting their focus during this presidential election year to magnify APA voices in the immigration debate.
Immigration reform has switched from action to behind the scenes negotiation. Fewer bills are being introduced, said Eun Sook Lee, NAKASEC executive director.
"There are only two months left before Congress goes into recess," she said. But there is still time for lawmakers to try to push through smaller bills with fixes or bills that could cause more damage to immigrant rights.
At the grassroots level the San Jose chapter, last April, mobilized in support of immigration reform at a rally in Mi Pueblo Plaza.
But even within the community, dissenting voices continue to sound out saying it is not an APA issue, said Chermin. Hoshino attributes the divide to a lack of information. Somehow, the media has made the equation that immigration is just a Latino struggle.
"It's become a wedge issue," she said.
Even though most members are united under the JACL's general mission, there are diverse beliefs and opinions.
"We're dealing with a wide spectrum of people from different generations," said Sugiyama, a Sonoma County chapter board member. "The key is finding common ground."
Chermin thinks people who are against immigrant rights don't know the whole truth.
"There is a certain group of people that is not treated in a humane way. We use these immigrants. They are taken advantage by people and businesses, but when it comes to their rights they're ignored."
The Sonoma County chapter is hoping to spread more information in their local community by sponsoring a free May 18 immigration forum.
"All of these issues impact us, they impact our friends and family members. This is our issue," said Hoshino.
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