Dear Editor,
Why should the fact that “Little Tokyo is a Community of Immigrants” protect or exempt us from immigration anger and violence? Have Japanese Americans/JACL/JANM (Democracy Center, I’m thinking of you) actively supported other immigrant/minority communities? Besides an occasional “tsk tsk” in a newspaper article that is . . .
Why don’t JACL chapters suggest (or demand) their members contact their Congressional representatives to vote against a repressive law or a representative who voted for such laws? And march in protests. And donate funds. Or, should we simply ask for more apologies after we’re slapped around or incarcerated again?
Perhaps we should stop being so nice, quiet and polite and focused on the past and then surprised when we are included in a city’s immigrant anger. Perhaps we can do something now. Something supportive. Something more. Something louder.
Sincerely,
Susan Handa, Los Angeles, Calif.
Venice/West Los Angeles
JACL Chapter