WASHINGTON — The National JACL has announced that Lynne Nishijima Ward, Diane Narasaki and Harriet Beleal will each receive the organization’s Japanese American of the Biennium Award at its 2018 National Convention’s Sayonara Banquet.
The civil rights organization also announced the winners of the Edison Uno Civil Rights Award and the President’s Community Partner Award.
The Japanese American of the Biennium Award is the highest public award of the National JACL and recognizes up to three individuals. This recognition is awarded to an American of Japanese ancestry at each biennial national convention and honors those who have achieved outstanding achievements in different fields.
The awardees have received regional and national recognition for their achievements, contributions and/or to their particular field. Ward’s category is Political/Public Affairs/Law, Narasaki’s is Business/Industry/Technology and Beleal’s is Education/Humanities.
The Edison Uno Civil Rights Award is given in honor of the late Edison Uno for his lifelong commitment to the basic principles of equality, liberty, and social justice and for 2018 will be posthumously honor Mitsuye Endo, the plaintiff of Ex parte Endo. Endo’s family will be receiving the award on her behalf.
The award celebrates Endo’s courage and sacrifice in pursuing her Supreme Court case that ruled in her favor. Although the ruling did not overturn the exclusion, it allowed for Japanese Americans to return to the West Coast and for remaining concentration camps to be closed.
JACL National President Gary Mayeda is recognizing Comcast with the President’s Community Partner Award for the close partnership that the telecommunications giant has forged with JACL and the broader Asian American and Pacific Islander community both nationally and in the Philadelphia community.
The JACL National 2018 Convention will be held in Philadelphia, Pa., July 18-22. The JA of the Biennium Awards and the Edison Uno Award will be presented at the Sayonara Banquet on Saturday, July 21. The President’s Community Partner Award will be presented at a reception the evening of Thursday, July 19. In addition, the JACLer of the Biennium and George Inagaki Chapter Citizenship Award will be presented at the Awards Luncheon on Thursday, July 19.
To register for the convention or to attend the Sayonara Banquet please go to our registration page here.
