Open Letter to the Mayor of Seattle
September 14, 2023
Seattle Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League
 
Dear Seattle JACL members and supporters,

Last night at around 5:15 p.m., a man with a sledgehammer smashed nine windows of the Wing Luke Museum along Canton Alley South. The man said that the attack on this community anchor was driven by anti-Asian beliefs. Stan Shikuma, Seattle JACL Co-President, was at the Wing Luke Museum leading a tour as part of Tsuru for Solidarity's 2023 retreat when it happened.

Multiple people called the Seattle Police Department but were told that they could not immediately respond because it was a vandalism incident where no one was hurt. Frustrated by the lack of response, Shikuma sent the letter below to Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office:
 
Dear Mayor,

An older white man just took a sledgehammer and broke 8 windows of the Wing Luke Museum in Canton Alley. He says he did it because “the Chinese have ruined my life” and  ”I came to Chinatown because something had to be done”.

The Wing Luke staff are quite traumatized by the attack on their building and quite upset that 911 said they WILL NOT RESPOND!

This is outrageous and unacceptable - that a major community institution is attacked and vandalized (to the tune of thousands of dollars, maybe even tens of thousands) and Seattle Police basically said they can’t be bothered!
 This is yet another instance of neglect and lack of respect and concern for Asian Americans in general and the CID in particular.
 
I am appalled and very, very angry.

Stanley N Shikuma, Co-President
Seattle Chapter Japanese American Citizens League
 
The Seattle Times reported the break-in. The article link:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/wing-luke-museum-vandalized-man-arrested-for-alleged-hate-crime/

for JACL Members Only
Monday, September 25 - 1:30pm
Spokane Buddhist Temple
927 S Perry, Spokane
(Come in the basement door on Perry)

The 2023 JACL Sponsored BOSANKAI SERVICE
Sunday May 21, 2023 at 1 pm
at Greenwood Cemetery's Upper Terrace
211 N Government Way, Spokane 

Each year we recognize and remember the people from the Spokane Japanese community, or those who have strong ties to the Japanese community, who have passed away around prior May to current May of each year. 

In-person event
Sunday April 23, 2023
​12:30pm - 1:30pm
Montvale Event Center: Third Floor Ballroom 1019 W 1st Ave

Come meet writers Elizabeth (Betsy) Aoki and Elaine Cockrell whose work illuminates and celebrates the Japanese American experience.

Betsy is a poet, fiction writer, and game designer whose award-winning first collection Breakpoint combines lyrical free verse with found “code poems” to explore the technological and societal landscape. Betsy infuses both her Japanese heritage and her love for tech into her poetry which takes readers on a powerful journey through Japanese folklore, family stories, and internment camps using modern and magical imagery.

Through exhaustive research and her own family stories, Elaine Cockrell’s historical novel A Shrug of the Shoulders paints a vivid picture of the forced internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. Through multiple points of view and dozens of vivid settings, author Elaine Cockrell creates a mosaic of Japanese-American perseverance: one tiled with humor, frustration, despair, anger, and love.

​EWU Get Lit! presents this cross-genre event in collaboration with the sponsorship of the Spokane Chapter JACL.

To attend this event, you must purchase a Book Fair & Events Pass which covers entry into the two-day Book Fair and all 17 events taking place at the Montvale Event Center. Tickets will go on sale Monday, March 20th at 8am. 

source: Pacific Citizen

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project in south central Idaho, which would threaten the future of the Minidoka Pilgrimage, has been released by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The public comment period will end on April 20, 2023. ​

For more information on how to get involved, please visit the following links:

​Call to Action:
https://www.minidokapilgrimage.org/call-to-action

Latest updates on the Lava Ridge Project:
https://www.minidokapilgrimage.org/issue-lava-ridge-wind-project

Links to news media:
https://www.minidokapilgrimage.org/media

source: Pacific Citizen

In observance of the 2023 Day of Remembrance, the FDR Presidential Library and Museum presented a conversation with author Bradford Pearson, author of “The Eagles of Heart Mountain: A True Story of Football, Incarceration and Resistance in World War II America.”

“One of Ten Best History Books of 2021.” —Smithsonian Magazine

For fans of The Boys in the Boat and The Storm on Our Shores, this impeccably researched, deeply moving, never-before-told “tale that ultimately stands as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit” (Garrett M. Graff, New York Times bestselling author) about a World War II incarceration camp in Wyoming and its extraordinary high school football team.

More information on the book can be found here at Simon & Schuster.

sources: Pacific Citizen, Spectrum News Hawaii, Maui Now

The U.S. Mint announced five women who will be featured on next year’s quarters, including the late Patsy Takemoto Mink, who was the first woman of color to serve in Congress.

Mink was a third-generation Japanese-American, who was born and raised on Maui. She served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 24 years. 

The late U.S. Representative is remembered for passing Title IX, which was later renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act. The law prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or education program that receives federal funding from the government. 

In 2021, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging the U.S. Mint to include Mink, as well as the late Edith Kanakaʻole, a Native Hawaiian hula teacher, who is featured on this year’s quarters.  

“Patsy Mink was a champion for social justice, equality, and civil rights — she was a trailblazer in every sense of the word,” said Hirono in a release. “As the first woman of color to serve in Congress and a lead author of Title IX, Congresswoman Mink worked to ensure that all women in our country have every opportunity men have.” 

The 2024 American Women Quarters will be released in mid-2023. The U.S. Mint is releasing five new quarters featuring women each year, starting in 2022 through 2025.

The U.S. Mint said the other women featured on next year’s new quarters are Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War era surgeon, women’s rights advocate and abolitionist; Pauli Murray, a poet, writer, lawyer, Episcopal priest, and advocate for civil rights; Zitkala-Ša, a writer, composer, educator, and political activist for Native Americans’ rights; and Celia Cruz, a Cuban-American singer who was known as “the Queen of Salsa.”

“All of the women being honored have lived remarkable and multi-faceted lives, and have made a significant impact on our Nation in their own unique way,” said Mint Director Ventris C. Gibson, in a release. “By honoring these pioneering women, the Mint continues to connect America through coins which are like small works of art in your pocket.”

source: The Rafu Shimpo (Los Angeles)

The U.S. Postal Service will stop selling the Go For Broke Japanese American Soldiers of World War II commemorative postage stamp sometime this year.

The remaining inventory will be destroyed, postal sources recently shared with the Stamp Our Story Committee, the community group that led the 15-year campaign for the stamp.

All commemorative stamps are printed in limited quantities and sold for a limited time, typically one to two years. This coming June will mark two years since the Go For Broke Soldiers Stamp was first issued in Los Angeles on June 3, 2021.

“We strongly encourage interested individuals and organizations to buy up the remaining Go For Broke Stamps — let ’s sell out the stamp!” said Wayne Osako, chair of the Stamp Our Story Committee. “This is a wonderful way to show your support for the Nisei soldiers’ legacy, and to send a message to Washington that more stories like ours ought to be shared.”

The committee hopes that the success of the stamp will lead to a future Sen. Daniel Inouye commemorative stamp and others featuring AAPI subjects. There is an ongoing community effort for a Inouye stamp proposal, currently under consideration at the USPS. Inouye, a decorated World War II veteran who lost an arm in combat, represented Hawaii in the U.S. Senate from 1963 until his death in 2012.

“We would love for people in the community to buy the stamps, particularly those whose loved ones and friends are Nisei soldiers,” Osako said. “Once the stamps are gone, they are gone — the Postal Service does not reprint nor reissue commemorative stamps.”

The USPS has not announced when it will cease selling the stamp. Once the Postal Service stops selling them, the stamp resellers will sell some but raise prices. Anyone can buy the stamp, and legally resell them later at their own price. They can also be resold as part of fundraising.

To continue to raise awareness of the Nisei soldiers’ legacy this year and beyond, the Stamp Our Story Committee is releasing a short documentary film about the story behind the stamp. The 18-minute film, titled “Stamp Our Story: Honoring America’s Nisei Veterans,” will show at various film festivals. The Films of Remembrance and DisOrient film festivals both recently announced that the documentary will be among their featured films this year.

The committee is also urging people to keep sending letters to the USPS and to their congressional lawmakers asking them to issue the Inouye stamp.

For more information please visit Stamp Our Story.

Yesterday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a joint resolution (AJR98) designating January 30 of each year as “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution in New Jersey.” JACL applauds New Jersey for becoming the newest state to honor Korematsu Day in perpetuity. Read the Full Press Release Here.