Judge Orders Restoration of Sites That ‘Disparage’ Targeted by EO 14253
In support of plaintiffs opposed to rewriting the “Nation’s history with a white-out pen,” U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley issued a preliminary injunction against Executive Order 14253, signed March 27, 2025, by President Donald Trump that called for the removal of elements that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living” at federal museums, parks and landmarks. Kelly’s order was a result of a lawsuit filed to counteract National Park Service policies that forced staff to, according to the Associated Press, “remove or censor dozens of exhibits that share factually accurate and relevant U.S. history and scientific knowledge, including about slavery and climate change.” Furthermore, the judge ordered the Trump administration to provide a weekly status report on progress made with regard to the restoration of the sites altered as a result of the executive order. Organizations that filed the lawsuit included the National Parks Conservation Assn. and the Association of National Park Rangers.
Torrance, Calif.: Chen, Kaji, Muratsuchi Appear to Be Out in South Bay
According to the Daily Breeze, results from the June 2 primary election show that three Asian American politicians based in Los Angeles’s South Bay — Torrance, Calif. Mayor George Chen, Torrance City Councilmember Jon Kaji and Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi — have lost their bids for re-election (in the cases of Chen and Kaji) and in the case of the termed-out California assemblymember, his bid to become the state’s superintendent of public instruction. Chen’s rival, Councilmember Sharon Kalani, leads Chen with 51.36 percent of the votes vs. his 48.64 percent. Kaji’s opponent in the race for the First City Council District seat, Planning Commission Chair David Kartsonis, had 60.85 percent of the vote vs. Kaji’s 39.15 percent. In the race to see who will face-off on the ballot for November’s general election in the public instruction superintendent race, Republican Sonja Shaw, president of the Board of Education for Chino Valley Unified in San Bernardino County leads in the vote tally, followed by Democrat Richard Barrera, who heads the board of San Diego Unified School District. In a Facebook post, Muratsuchi thanked “everyone who supported me and my campaign . . . .”
Matsushita Honored for 57 Years at Japanese American National Library
Japanese American Religious Federation Housing Inc. gave its
Pioneer and Preserving Leadership Award to Karl Kaoru Matsushita for his 57 years of service as the director of the San Francisco-based Japanese American National Library, which preserves and collects Japanese and Asian American publications, photographs and other historical artifacts. Over the decades, Matsushita’s efforts included collecting and compiling several Japanese American community newspapers, including Pacific Citizen, Nichi Bei Times, Hokubei Mainichi, Nikkei West, Rafu Shimpo, Kashu Mainichi Shinbun, Shin Nichi Bei, Japanese American Courier, New York Nichi Bei, Chicago Shimpo, Rocky Mountain Jiho, Utah Nippo and more.
Duly Noted: AAJA to Honor Ann Curry With Visibility Award at Convention
The Asian American Journalists Assn. also announced that the TV journalist will be the keynote speaker. It takes place June 24-28 in Minneapolis. Keiro President and CEO Beverly Ito has annouced she will retire at the end of 2026. The Little Tokyo Service Center has announced that Takao Suzuki will become its sole executive director this fall. Garrett Oyama, a first-year Ph.D. student at the UCLA Department of Communication, was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
— P.C. Staff