Japanese American Groups Support Black Reparations

A national rally in D.C. draws support from across the country to promote unity and awareness.

By Rob Buscher, P.C. Contributor

Several Japanese American groups traveled to Washington, D.C., during the week of May 12 in support of Black reparations. The focal point was a reparations rally organized by the National Reparations Network on May 17. This historic rally was organized with the intention of aligning the national narrative on reparations for the enslavement era and its ongoing legacies while demonstrating broad-based public support for this cause. Including members of Tsuru for Solidarity, Nikkei Progressives/Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress and JACL D.C., Japanese American groups were present, traveling from regions across the country including Los Angeles, Maryland, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle.

(See related story here.)

The convener of the rally, NRN, is a coalition of organizations advocating for reparations for Black Americans, specifically those harmed by chattel slavery, Jim Crow laws and modern-day systemic racism. It organizes events promoting unity and awareness around the issue of reparations. NRN describes itself as “a mobilizing big-tent umbrella endorsed by over 150 organizations. Together, we are organizers, educators, artists, legislators, descendants, scholars, youth, faith leaders, allies and funders. We are the reparations ecosystem — lifting our voices as one.”

Like the Japanese American Redress Movement, there are many diverse perspectives on how Black reparations should be enacted. 
Not everyone shares consensus on approach or strategy, and, in some cases, there are disagreements about who should receive reparations and how they should be paid. Some advocates believe that local reparations campaigns at the state or municipal level might be more effective than national reparations enacted by the federal government. While unlikely to move forward amid the current political landscape, many continue to view national reparations as a north star for the movement.

Events like this rally provide an important opportunity for individuals and organizations doing this work in a variety of contexts to come together to demand reparations as a unified movement. With more than 50 groups present, this rally might have been the largest single convening of reparations stakeholder groups in recent decades. The rally featured remarks from legacy reparations organizations like National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, 21st century Black-led reparations organizations, state and local reparations commissions/task forces, descendant initiatives and ally organizations.

NRN Founder Nkechi Taifa wrote in the commemorative journal that was produced for the rally, “This landmark event is more than a gathering. It is a jubilant declaration of unity, a vibrant tapestry of history and culture, a roar of resistance echoing through generations and a sacred space of remembrance and renewal.”

The date was selected for its proximity to May 19 in remembrance of what would have been Malcolm X’s 100th birthday. Coincidentally, Nisei activist Yuri Kochiyama, who organized alongside Malcolm X during his last years of life, shared the same birthday. This was referenced during the speech that Kathy Masaoka gave on behalf of the Japanese American groups during the rally.

Representing Nikkei Progressives/NCRR, Masaoka spoke to the crowd about the long history of solidarity between Black and Japanese American communities.

“Many in our communities, who came of age in the ’60s and ’70s, were deeply influenced by the civil rights movement, the Black Power movement – and we learned about the power of Third World solidarity. So powerful that stories of solidarity between our communities, like that of Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X, were kept from us. A solidarity that was such a threat to a racist system that it had to try to divide us. But it could not — and, instead, we stand here in solidarity with all of you, ready to support Black-led organizations, to fight together to win reparations,” she said.

A longtime organizer with NCRR, Masaoka’s movement work dates back to the anti-Vietnam War and women’s liberation movements. She first became involved as a student of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She also participated in the Redress Movement as a member of NCRR. Connecting her remarks back to the overarching goals of the rally, Masaoka continued, “We would not have won reparations in 1988 if not for the support from non-JA groups . . . especially the Congressional Black Caucus, led by Congressman Mervyn Dymally. . . . We know that the incarceration of our community is but one of the countless examples of racist harms that people of color have faced beginning with the enslavement of African peoples and the stealing of Indigenous land rooted in white supremacy. We know that reparations are owed, long overdue, and it is the only way this country can heal itself.”

Tsuru for Solidarity Black Reparations Campaign accounted for the largest group of JA activists present at the rally, including campaign co-chairs Peggy Nagae and Miwa Tokunaga Griffin. Established in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, Tsuru’s campaign aims to support any efforts to push reparations forward at both local and federal levels while centering Black people’s voices.

Much of the group’s work involves building and fostering relationships among people of the global majority, learning and teaching the history of Black-Asian solidarity and challenging anti-Blackness in the Japanese American community. Tsuru members have effectively done this work by educating themselves and the larger community about Black history. The campaign also seeks to reframe Japanese American stories beyond the context of white supremacy culture, in ways that challenge postwar assimilation and the model minority narrative.

Nancy Matsumoto, a Tsuru member based in New York City, shared her thoughts on what it means to be involved in this work. “One thing I appreciated most about the D.C. fly-in was spending time with like-minded AAPI folks who feel as I do that African American reparations is an important cause for us to get behind,” she said. “We can and should use our people’s experience of successfully lobbying for reparations to help the Black community in its effort.”

Acknowledging that not all Japanese Americans share this perspective, Matsumoto continued, “I think many of my fellow JAs don’t understand or subscribe to this view. Many have unwittingly adopted the racist point of view of the white majority rather than seeing that we have much more in common with the struggles of people of color and the unique ability to use our own experiences to be in allyship with them.”

Nagae and Griffin were also given the opportunity to participate in an annual leadership convening of reparations organizations, facilitated by N’COBRA on May 16. Asked to describe the meeting in two words, Griffin responded, “Commitment to relationship.” She elaborated, “Differences of opinion and conflict are natural parts of life — on their own, they are neutral. But white supremacy and other oppressive cultures label them as ‘bad,’ making it difficult to address them with an open mind and heart. Avoiding or demonizing conflict prevents us from deepening our relationships. As a result, we lose resilience and the ability to build community. Throughout the meeting, I witnessed a mindful intention to truly get to know one another. Respect was present, even when differences of opinion emerged.”

As one of the only non-Black individuals present at the convening of more than a hundred reparations leaders, Griffin reflected on her positionality within the Japanese American community as an Issei.

“With my identity and background, I am often invisible, and my words frequently carry little weight,” she said. “I feel unseen and unheard — not only in white-dominant spaces but also in some JA spaces. However, during the meeting, I felt included. I didn’t need to fight for space. That was new for me, and I’m still processing and reflecting on it.”

Two other Black reparations-related events also took place that week that included Japanese Americans: a reparations happy hour hosted by JACL National and a press conference at the U.S. Capitol. Hosted at the new office that JACL shares with APIAVote and several other AANHPI advocacy organizations, the happy hour invited Japanese American allies to Black reparations and representatives of Black-led reparations groups to meet in an informal social gathering. The event was attended by about 25 people and offered an important opportunity to build and strengthen relationships across organizations in the movement.

On May 15, a press conference held by members of Congress at the U.S. Capitol building announced the reintroduction of the Reparations Now Resolution by Congresswoman Summer Lee (D-Pa). The 24-page resolution outlines the deep entrenchment of slavery within the U.S. government, including facts such as that 10 of the first 12 presidents enslaved people, more than 1,700 congressional members were also enslavers and that both the White House and U.S. Capitol were built by enslaved Black people.

Without mincing words, the resolution goes on to call for the House of Representatives to “recognize the responsibility of the Federal Government to provide reparations, in all necessary forms, including financial compensation, to rectify ongoing harms resulting from violations, by the Federal Government, of Black people’s human right to self-determination and freedom from discrimination, including with respect to housing, health, education, life, security of person, water and sanitation and a healthy environment.” The resolution also calls on congress to pass HR 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, which has been introduced in every session of Congress since 1989.

The late-Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) first introduced HR 40 in 1989. The timing was strategic, immediately after the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was passed, granting redress to Japanese Americans. After Conyers retired in 2017, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) took up the mantle as a sponsor of the bill. Under Lee’s leadership, the bill passed out of the House Judiciary Committee for the first time in 2021 but failed to receive a vote on the House floor. After Lee died in 2024, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) reintroduced it on Jan. 3, 2025, to the 119th Congress.

In its current iteration, the bill has 77 co-sponsors as of press time. This is significantly lower than its 130 co-sponsors during the previous session, despite the fact that the bill text remains the same.

JACL National has also been a longtime proponent of the bill, working with N’COBRA and other legacy reparations organizations to encourage additional members of Congress to co-sponsor the legislation. A significant motivation is the parallels between Japanese American redress and Black reparations.

Said JACL Executive Director David Inoue in a statement provided by the organization: “We are long overdue in fully coming to terms with our government’s complicity in the institution of chattel slavery and continued state-sanctioned and enforced racial discrimination against Black people. The Japanese American Citizens League continues the call for our nation to once again correct a historic injustice as it did for Japanese Americans and seek to truly respond to the harms that our government has inflicted upon the Black community in the form of reparations to bring healing for all Americans.”

For information on how to get involved with local reparations efforts in your region, visit: www.reparationsresources.com.