Welcome to the Sonoma County Japanese American Citizens League Website! Our chapter is dedicated to educating the public about the Japanese American experience, monitoring legislation affecting minority human and civil rights, addressing hate crimes and fostering Japanese American culture.
We invite you to browse the information provided here and to please consider becoming a member of our organization to support the rich cultural and historical heritage of Japanese Americans in Sonoma County, California.
Sonoma County JACL Scholarship Information![]()
By Janet Tajii![]()
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JACL Scholarship information is available on our website (sonomacountyjacl.org)![]()
Sonoma County JACL![]()
Scholarship Information![]()
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The JACL Scholarship information and applications is available on our website.![]()
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We have many scholarships for incoming 2025 college freshmen, and some for upper division, graduate school with health care emphasis, and financial aid.![]()
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JACL membership is required for most applications. If you are not currently a member, you can join anytime prior to turning in your application using the following link. (Student memberships are $30 per year.) ![]()
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Become a Member![]()
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Any questions? Contact us at scholarship@sonomacountyjacl.org![]()
National JACL![]()
Scholarship Information![]()
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The 2025 National JACL Scholarship and Awards Program is now underway! The program is for students who are incoming freshmen, undergraduates, and graduates, and for those specializing in law and the creative/performing arts. There are also financial aid scholarships.![]()
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Freshman applications are due March 1, 2024. Non-freshman applications are due April 1, 2024. Applicants must be JACL members.![]()
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Guidelines, instructions and applications can be found at the link below.![]()
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National JACL Scholarship Information![]()
jacl.org/scholarships
jacl.org
National Youth/Student Council Bridging Communities JACL Kakehashi Project Scholarships JACL National Scholarship Program2025 JACL National Scholarship Applications Available Now!Program BackgroundThe...
Day of Remembrance - Neghbors Not Enemies![]()
by Ron Tajii![]()
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February 19, 2025![]()
4 PM - 7 PM![]()
Analy High School Library - 6950 Analy Ave Sebastopol![]()
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Please join us at our DOR event: Day of Remembrance - Neighbors not Enemies![]()
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Celebrate the unveiling of a mural by a young artist which bears witness to his community’s complex relationship with history. Learn of the injustice done to Japanese Americans and in particular to a Sebastopol war hero and his family, and the actions by the community that gives hope that humanity and compassion can triumph over hysteria and hate even today.![]()
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Co-hosted by Sonoma County Japanese American Citizens League, Sebastopol World Friends, and Analy High School Ethnic Studies Class & GPS.
Hello,![]()
Because JA's from Sebastopol were sent to Amache, I was thinking if you know of any Amache survivors who might want to take part in the ceremonial planting of an "Amache Rose" at the Sutter County Museum on Feb 22 noon to 2PM, please let them know about this as they would be welcome to participate.![]()
Also, any camp survivors are welcome to sign Judge Johnny Cepeda Gogo's Flag (signed by camp survivors).![]()
Our guest speak is Helen Hannan Parra who was 12 years-old when her father was a lawyer for the Army and went to Amache to help JA's leaving camp with legal issues. After Amache closed he took the family to Tule Lake. The family made friends with the Issei and Nisei in the camps.![]()
The "Amache Rose" is being flown in from Colorado - it is a propagated plant from a rose that was planted by a JA family in Amache and survived without any one caring for it for 70 plus years.![]()
If any Amache survivors are able to make it to our DOR that would be great! Thank you,![]()
Ron Nakano
The JACL Denounces President Trump’s Executive Order Expanding Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp![]()
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January 31, 2025![]()
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For Immediate Release![]()
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Seia Watanabe, VP Public Affairs, swatanabe@jacl.org![]()
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Matthew Weisbly, Education Programs Manager, mweisbly@jacl.org![]()
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The JACL denounces President Trump’s Executive Order expanding the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp to hold as many as 30,000 deported migrants. Guantanamo Bay has imprisoned hundreds of migrants intercepted at sea and more notoriously, suspected enemy combatants who were subjected to torture and denial of basic legal rights. Many who have been held at Guantanamo were never formally charged with a crime and were subject to “arbitrary detention” for years. ![]()
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The expansion of Guantanamo to hold tens of thousands of detainees is eerily evocative of a previous time in our nation’s history. Our country last employed mass incarceration of this scale during WWII when over 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry were imprisoned at concentration camps and detention centers across the country. That was also done in the name of “national security” and as it was discovered years later that the security threat was a falsified one, we similarly question the urgent threat to our national security. ![]()
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It is noteworthy that the expansion of the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay would be “a temporary transit … where we can plus-up thousands and tens of thousands, if necessary, to humanely move illegals out of our country, where they do not belong, back to the countries where they came from in a proper process.” We cannot help but draw parallels to how Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes to “temporary detention centers” for an unknown period of time before being transferred without their constitutional right of due process to more permanent incarceration camp sites deep in the American interior on desolate desserts, mountains, plains, and swamps. ![]()
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JACL demands that we not repeat the inhumanity of mass incarceration that has become part of our community’s experienced trauma. As so many Japanese Americans understand, the inhumanity and cruelty of what happened during WWII, enforced by our own government, should never be repeated again.