THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE JACL Feb. 5-18, 2021 CELEBRATING 9 2 YEARS » PAGE 4 Opposition to Keiro Sites Remain. PAT » PAGE 5 A New Heart MORITA Mountain Podcast A new documentary Set to Premiere. reveals the man behind his iconic movie role. » PAGE 6 #3380 / VOL. 172, No. 2 ISSN: 0030-8579 WWW.PACIFICCITIZEN.ORG 2 Feb. 5-18, 2021 NATIONAL HOW TO REACH US JACL LEGACY FUND GRANTS Email: [email protected] Online: www.pacificcitizen.org Tel: (213) 620-1767 Mail: 123 Ellison S. Onizuka St., Suite 313 2021 PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT Los Angeles, CA 90012 STAFF By JACL National Executive Editor Allison Haramoto he JACL Legacy Fund Senior Editor Grants Committee is Digital & Social Media George Johnston pleased to announce that Business Manager Tapplications are now being ac- awards to further the legacy of the Susan Yokoyama cepted for 2021 Legacy Fund JACL. Each year, a portion of the Production Artist grants. LFG Co-Chairs Roberta earnings from the Legacy Fund Marie Samonte Barton and Toshi Abe encourage Endowment provides the funds to Circulation JACL chapters in good standing run the LFG program. Eva Ting and JACL District Councils to The Pacific Citizen newspaper apply. This year, the maximum For questions or additional (ISSN: 0030-8579) is published semi- grant award is $6,000. monthly (except once in December Legacy Fund grants recipients from the 2019 JACL National information, please contact Ro- and January) by the Japanese Ameri- Legacy Fund grants will be Convention in Salt Lake City. berta Barton (rbarton4106@ can Citizens League, Pacific Citizen, awarded for projects and activi- 123 Ellison S. Onizuka St., Suite 313 PHOTO: PACIFIC CITIZEN comcast.net) and Toshi Abe ties that support the mission of Los Angeles, CA 90012 ([email protected]). Completed ap- Periodical postage paid at L.A., CA JACL and are supportive of the plication submissions are due by POSTMASTER: Send address chang- National JACL Strategic Plan. org/legacy-fund-grants/. tional Convention in San Diego. May 1. Grant award recipients es to National JACL, 1765 Sutter St., Instructions and application The Legacy Fund was estab- Much of the original funds were will be announced at this year’s San Francisco, CA 94115 forms can be downloaded from lished by the JACL National donated by JACL members who upcoming JACL National Con- JACL President: Jeffrey Moy Executive Director: David Inoue JACL’s website at https://jacl. Council at the 1990 JACL Na- gave portions of their redress vention. P.C. EDITORIAL BOARD Rob Buscher, chairperson; Ron Kura- moto, MDC; Danielle Pierce, EDC; Marcia Chung, CCDC; Nancy Ukai, NCWNPDC; Sheldon Arakaki, PNWDC; Kayla Watanabe, IDC; John Saito Jr., JACL Promotes Program Director and We’re Hiring! PSWDC; Marco Torrez, Youth Rep. By JACL National from ESADE Business School in please reach out to me at pozaki@ Subscribe Get a one-year subscription of the Spain. jacl.org.” Pacific Citizen newspaper at: ACL is pleased to announce Ozaki wrote to JACL National, JACL is now looking actively to www.pacificcitizen.org or call the promotion of Phillip “First of all, I’m proud to announce hire a membership coordinator. (213) 620-1767 Ozaki to program director that membership revenue grew in “It’s a great time to work in the Advertise J— membership and fund develop- 2020 — thank you! We could not movement for social justice and To advertise in the Pacific Citi- ment. Ozaki has served on staff for have done that without you! I’m in the Japanese American commu- zen, call (213) 620-1767 or e-mail: a cumulative four years, including honored to take on this challenging nity,” Ozaki wrote. “Plus, you get [email protected] as membership coordinator and new role to carry on my to work with our awesome volun- LEGAL grandparents’ legacy and because teers (and youth) while developing No part of this publication may be Norman Y. Mineta Fellow. reproduced without the express per- Ozaki has extensive fundraising we all know that JACL has a lot highly sought fundraising skills.” mission of the Pacific Citizen. experience and is a founding board to offer. It’s time to engage new Editorials, letters, news and the opin- member of the National Queer funding partners to reinvigorate To view the full JACL mem- ions expressed by columnists other current programs and innovate bership coordinator job posting, than the national JACL president or Asian Pacific Islander Alliance. He national director do not necessarily re- also brings work experience at sev- new ones. If you’re interested in please visit the JACL website at flect JACL policy. Events and products Phillip Ozaki eral tech companies and an MBA joining a fundraising initiative, www.jacl.org. advertised in the P.C. do not carry the implicit endorsement of the JACL or this publication. We reserve the right to edit articles. © 2021 Periodicals paid at Los Angeles, Calif. and mailing office. ‘I’m glad to see the Pacific Citizen SPRING growing and evolving with its website, CAMPAIGN and especially LOVE the much easier- to-navigate digital archives. It’s a JACL MEMBERS treasure trove for JAs to learn about our Change of Address JACL MEMBER? q q q$50 q$100 q$150 q$200 qOTHER ——— community’s history, and for scholars and journalists looking to connect the If you’ve moved, past with the present. Thanks for the please send new Name : improvements, P.C.!’ information to: — Gil Asakawa National JACL 1765 Sutter St. : Address 1 San Francisco, CA 94115 Phone Number : E-mail : (415) 921-5225 ext. 26 Allow 6 weeks for The P.C.’s mission is to ‘educate on the past Japanese American experience and address changes. preserve, promote and help the current and future AAPI communities.’ To avoid interruptions in delivery, * Your donations will help build and preserve a cohesive please notify your library of the Pacific Citizen to educate future generations.* postmaster to include periodicals in your change of address INFORMATION: 123 Ellison S. Onizuka St., Suite 313 | Los Angeles, CA 90012 | TEL: (213) 620-1767 | WWW.PACIFICCITIZEN.ORG (USPS Form 3575) COMMENTARY Feb. 5-18, 2021 3 was based entirely on the intent of traffic stops and confirmed the -an government did this in 1988 with preserving national security. ecdotal stories of what it means to the passage of Japanese American FROM THE Clearly, the impact was focused be driving while Black, that Black redress. E X E C U T I V E on our community, and that is where people are 20 percent more likely to It is time for our government to questions of disparate impact are be involved in a traffic stop. Once do the same for Blacks who were DIRECTOR important to discerning the impact that stop happens, it can also end in wronged by slavery, Jim Crow and of policy. tragedy as in the case of Philando even today by the disparate impact We see disparate impact now most Castile. of policies that surgically target and often in voting laws today. Efforts As we talk about disparate impact oppress Black communities. RACISM ISN’T to increase voting security invari- vs. intent, it is useful to refer back Taking responsibility for mistakes ably lead to reduction in the ability to the Constitution. The 3/5 clause should never come easy. It shouldn’t of minority communities to vote. is famous for its valuation of slaves necessarily be thought of as punish- ALWAYS OBVIOUSLY Voter ID laws can serve as a poll at a portion of free people. Nowhere ment, but there should be cost. For tax, requiring voters to obtain an does that mention the race of who a Japanese American redress, the cost approved ID, which may have certain slave was, though it does explicitly to our country was over $1.6 billion. INTENTIONAL, BUT TAKING costs to obtain. state that nontax-paying Indians What would be the cost of compen- While many people have a driver’s were not to be included in population sating those historically and currently RESPONSIBILITY IS license, this still predicates that some- counts for apportionment. However, wronged by slavery and its legacy? one drives, not always the case for there was essentially only one race HR40 is the clearest path to making By David Inoue, the interpretation of Title VI of the someone living in an urban area with to which slaves belonged, and that that determination so that we can be JACL Executive Director 1964 Civil Rights Act. public transit. Gerrymandering and was Black. held accountable as a country. This section of the law bars dis- redistricting are another way that For most of us, we can legitimately As we remember our own experi- very Feb. 19, we take time to crimination on the basis of race, color minority votes are diluted in value say that we try not to be intentionally ence as a Japanese American com- recall this as the day in 1942 or national origin by recipients of when packed into supermajority racist. But that is not enough. On its munity, we must place our experience that President Franklin D. federal funding and has traditionally urban districts. face, EO9066 is not intentionally in the context of the long moral, or ERoosevelt signed Executive Order recognized the effect of disparate Ironically, the impact is more racist, it is only with the context of perhaps immoral, arc of our country, 9066, which eventually paved the impact in discrimination when obvi- closely aligned with the original how it was implemented we see the and ensure that we all take respon- way for the mass incarceration of ous intent to discriminate may not Constitutional intent of preserving racist impact.