Honoree U.S. Rep. Al Green (left) with JACL’s Larry Oda and Gary Nakamura
The anniversary banquet recognizes the chapter’s longstanding history
and honors individuals for their efforts to uplift the AAPI community in Texas.
By Gary Nakamura
On a pleasant fall evening in Texas, the JACL Houston chapter held its 50th anniversary banquet on Oct. 31 at Rice University’s Faculty Club, where it celebrated the achievements of the chapter’s longstanding history and honored U.S. Rep. Al Green, Judge Peter Sakai and Texas State Rep. Gene Wu.
The event, which welcomed more than 100 attendees and representatives from more than 20 community organizations, began with a cocktail reception and an official welcome by Houston Chapter President Colleen Morimoto, who then introduced the master of ceremony, Gary Nakamura, JACL National vp for planning and development and past chapter president.
Nakamura acknowledged the community representatives and then introduced Japanese Consul General Zentaro Naganuma, Greater LULAC President Sergio Lira, Asian Texans for Justice Executive Director Nabila Mansoor and JACL National President Larry Oda, who each gave congratulatory remarks.
Pictured at the anniversary banquet are (from left) Marc Kashiwagi, Colleen Morimoto, Congressman Al Green, Consul General Zentaro Naganuma, Satoshi Hamada, Gary Nakamura, Larry Oda, Eric Lindsay and George Hirasaki.
Photos: Courtesy of JACL Houston Chapter
A brief overview of the Houston chapter’s major accomplishments from the past 50 years was then given, which included the successful fight to rename Jap Road and Jap Lane in East Texas in the late 1990s, the important role it played in 2009-10 to have the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Nisei Veterans of World War II and being named in 2024 the recipient of the George Inagaki JACL Chapter of the Biennium Award at the National Convention in Philadelphia.
Nakamura then presented special awards to three elected officials to recognize their efforts in uplifting the AAPI community in Texas and elevating JACL Houston’s stature in the community:
- The Visionary Leadership Award was presented to Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai
- The Courage in Leadership Award was presented to Texas State Rep. Gene Wu
- The Champion of Justice & Equality Award was presented to U.S. Rep. Al Green.
Following the awards ceremony, Nakamura announced that the National Japanese American Baseball Exhibit will be officially launching in Houston in the spring.
The traveling exhibit will be on display at the main gallery of the Central Library in downtown Houston, the flagship library of the Houston Public Library System, from the beginning of March through the end of May 2026 to celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month.
National JACL, the Nisei Baseball Research Project and JACL Houston are teaming up to then display the exhibit around the country to educate the American public about the history of the Japanese American community through the prism of baseball.
The exhibit will tell the story of how the Issei and Nisei pioneer Japanese American baseball players built the foundation of their presence in the sport a century ago and paved the way for the Japanese and Asian baseball stars who are now playing in Major League Baseball.
On hand to speak about the goals of the baseball exhibit and give historical context to the displayed artifacts that guests were able to view during the event’s cocktail hour were Kerry Nakagawa, president and founder of NBRP, and Bill Staples, NBRP board member.
The evening’s celebration was an enormous success for the chapter.
“It was a great event . . . having all those high-profile people there, Al Green, Peter Sakai, Gene Wu, plus all the coalition friends . . . made it that much more enjoyable,” said Oda.
Historical baseball artifacts and photographs on display at the banquet
The Houston Chapter looks forward to a very busy but exciting year ahead, starting with the Day of Remembrance program in February at Rice University that will feature guest speaker Don Tamaki, as well as the baseball exhibit’s official grand opening in March.
