David Inoue
It’s the end of the year when every charity is seeking your support. My mailbox is full of end-of-year appeals every day, and hopefully, you will be receiving JACL’s if you haven’t already. So, perhaps the question is, “Why should JACL be included amongst the organizations you support this end of year?”
While we have yet to see the full implications of President-Elect Donald Trump’s policy changes, all indications are that the civil and human rights of many will be at risk. The gains we have achieved for women and people of color are at risk. It was over 70 years ago that JACL fought for the right of the Issei to become naturalized United States citizens after the twisted logic in the rationale of World War II incarceration that stated the continued Japanese citizenship of so many Japanese was indicative of their continued allegiance to Japan. We know the reality is that they continued to be Japanese citizens because they were not permitted to become U.S. citizens.
The same arguments painting Japanese Americans as a WWII national security threat are now being used to paint Chinese and Chinese Americans as allegiant to the Chinese government, when the reality is that many of them are fleeing that same oppressive regime.
We know this as the politics of division. Divide and conquer, but we understand also how the fears of these other communities are the fears of our own. Because no one stood up for Japanese Americans during WWII, we must now stand up for other communities. We also better understand now how these communities are part of our own. The fight for women’s health-care rights or transgender student’s or athlete’s rights are fights for members of our own community.
As much as we are focused on where we will be fighting against the incoming administration and its proposed policies, there are areas where we will seek to work together. We will continue to work to fund and implement programs such as the Japanese American Confinement Sites grants, including the newly created Education grants. Situations like this will be few and far between, but we will need to make sure to take advantage of any opportunities we can to bring positives when we will be challenged by so many negatives.
It is in this sometimes uncomfortable place of working in simultaneous opposition and collaboration that JACL expects to find itself in the coming years. In many ways, we can draw parallels to our community’s situation during WWII. Much of what the president-elect has proposed to do, he can do without opposition, and probably with the full support of Congress.
We will seek to use the courts to oppose, but as we have seen with the stacked judicial system and a partisan Supreme Court, our efforts are likely to result in delay, not necessarily defeat of policies that will be promoted under false pretense such as national security, just like WWII.
It is in this parallel to our experience in WWII that JACL can be one of the strongest voices for what is right, where we have gone wrong as a nation in the past and repeating that history in the present. For JACL, we understand our own history and how we can engage with the administration, but also be a clear voice of opposition when needed.
To do this, we need your support. Thirty years ago, JACL had a membership base several times larger than we do now. With the attacks on DEI growing, our corporate support will be more challenging as companies scale back their support to our communities from fear that they will be called out.
This leaves us with the need for your donations to fill these gaps. Consider your tax-deductible donation at the end of the year to make sure that the Japanese American community has a voice in Washington, D.C., directly to all branches of our government.
JACL will fight not just for your voice, but the voices of all who need representation and a place at the table. But, we need your support to do so.
Thank you, and we look forward to working together with you in the new year.
David Inoue is executive director of the JACL. He is based in the organization’s Washington, D.C., office.
