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.
The House is scheduled to vote on H.R. 9495 on Thursday morning, so email your Member of Congress TODAY!![]()
![]()
Becky,![]()
![]()
Last week, the House of Representatives voted to support a bill that has an inclusion that would give future administrations unprecedented power to target nonprofits and strip them of their tax-exempt status. This bill would allow the Treasury Secretary to label organizations as “terrorist-affiliated” without due process—a direct threat to the charities, advocacy groups, and nonprofits that fight for justice, defend civil rights and support marginalized communities. The measure could target humanitarian aid groups, news outlets, schools, and countless civil society organizations.![]()
![]()
Furthermore, the legislation runs counter to constitutional due process protections by placing the burden of proof on the accused organization and providing only 90 days for organizations to demonstrate their innocence before revoking their tax-exempt status. Even if the Secretary’s decision were successfully reversed, these organizations would risk irreparable damage to their operations and reputation.![]()
![]()
During WWII, Japanese Americans were targeted by the government without due process and many of our civic and community organizations were the first to be targeted by the FBI. Community leaders were swept up and arrested in front of their children for the crime of being Japanese community leaders in these organizations. H.R. 9495 as it is currently written would give the government wide power to strip organizations of their tax-exempt status![]()
![]()
In 2022, over 300,000 nonprofit establishments in the country accounted for 12.8 million jobs or 9.9 percent of private-sector employment. Nonprofits play a crucial role in society, often assisting populations that are underserved or marginalized, focusing on areas that might receive inadequate attention or resources from governments or for-profit businesses. JACL served this role to the Japanese American community before, during, and after the war and continues to be a public voice for much of the Japanese American and broader Asian American community.![]()
![]()
Thank you for taking action to support non-profit organizations like JACL.![]()
![]()
David Inoue![]()
![]()
Executive Director![]()
![]()
Email Your Representative NOW!![]()
Write to your Representative NOW and tell them to oppose H.R. 9495 as it is currently written![]()
![]()
Contact your representative:![]()
Support Non-Profit Organizations and Tell Your Representative to Oppose H.R. 9495
jacl.salsalabs.org
Support non-profit organizations by urging your representative to oppose H.R. 9495. H.R. 9495 would give the administration power to take a non-profit's tax exempt status without due process.
JACL Demands Accountability at the National Archives![]()
![]()
![]()
November 4, 2024![]()
![]()
For Immediate Release![]()
![]()
Seia Watanabe, VP Public Affairs, swatanabe@jacl.org![]()
![]()
Matthew Weisbly, Education Programs Manager, mweisbly@jacl.org![]()
![]()
![]()
A Wall Street Journal article published October 29, 2024, included several serious allegations that the National Archives, led and directed by Colleen Shogan, “sought to de-emphasize negative parts of U.S. history. She has ordered the removal of prominent references to such landmark events as the government's displacement of indigenous tribes and the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II from planned exhibits.” Also of note was requesting the removal of Holocaust materials from a planned exhibit. The article elaborates that “Shogan and her top advisers told employees to remove Dorothea Lange's photos of Japanese-American incarceration camps from a planned exhibit because the images were too negative and controversial.” ![]()
![]()
JACL expresses its concern that the National Archives is pursuing a policy of erasing Japanese American and other histories from the public record. The National Archives, of all places, has a profound responsibility to the unadulterated preservation of the full history of the United States of America. ![]()
![]()
The Japanese American story, while representing one of the most reprehensible chapters in our history, is vital to recognize where a failure in leadership can lead to the trampling of the constitution and abrogation of the rights of over 120,000 people simply because of their race, and despite their United States citizenship in most cases. Archivist Shogan is now demonstrating a similar failure in leadership to that of our leaders during WWII.![]()
![]()
The National Archives is a vital resource for members of the Japanese American community to better understand what our community experienced during WWII. The repository of records has aided countless former incarcerees, their children, and grandchildren in researching their family’s information to facilitate the healing from years of trauma passed down through the generations. Archivist Shogan’s directives are a betrayal to the Japanese Americans who have relied upon the National Archives.![]()
![]()
JACL has requested a meeting with Archivist Shogan to give her the opportunity to defend these allegations. Should these allegations prove true, there can be no other path than for her immediate resignation. The National Archives cannot be an institution with weak leadership that will bow to racist calls for the erasure of Japanese American history, otherwise, we will truly have learned nothing from the atrocities of WWII.
Japanese Americans and Mexican Americans work together to open museum in Crystal City Texas featuring Internment Camp exhibit![]()
![]()
The above image is an artist rendering of the exhibit space. ![]()
![]()
The Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee, a group of Japanese American and Japanese Peruvian incarceration survivors and their descendants, are preparing to open the first permanent exhibit dedicated to their experiences in Texas during World War II. Between 1942 and 1948, the little-known Crystal City US Department of Justice site held thousands of Japanese and German nationals, along with their US-born family members. The camp also imprisoned thousands of Latin American families of Japanese ancestry who were extradited from 13 countries in Central and South America as part of a prisoner of war exchange program. The Crystal City detention center exhibit titled “America’s Last WWII Concentration Camp” and funded by the Tomoye & Henri Takahashi Charitable Foundation, will open during the Crystal City Spinach Festival on Saturday, November 9, where it will be housed at the My Story Museum - The Story of Us: Tres Historias en Crystal City. ![]()
![]()
Located in South Texas two hours Southwest of San Antonio, Crystal City is currently home to a population of approximately 6,500 who identified as over 95% Hispanic on the 2020 US Census. Known as the “Spinach Capitol of the World,” and home to the nation’s largest spinach-growing operation, Crystal City also played a significant role during the Chicano Movement as the site of numerous student protests in 1969 that led to school reform and election victories by working-class Mexican American farm laborers who became leaders of the progressive political group The Raza Unida Party. ![]()
![]()
My Story Museum is the brainchild of former city manager Diana Palacios – herself one of the 1969 student protest leaders, who helped organize a series of school walkouts in response to the unequal treatment that Mexican Americans were receiving at that time. Palacios imagines the museum as a way to bring local history to life for both local residents and out-of-town visitors. Exhibits will feature topics related to Crystal City’s role in the Chicano Movement, the history of Zavala County, a wall honoring local veterans of foreign wars, and the WWII internment camp.![]()
![]()
My Story Museum will host its grand opening on Saturday November 9 from 4-8pm CT. The following day on Sunday, November 10 from 12-2pm CT a panel discussion will be hosted at the museum including former internees Kaz Naganuma and Hiroshi Shimizu alongside Crystal City community leaders Diana Palacios and Ruben Salazar will explore the shared connections between the Japanese and Mexican American communities that have allowed this project to flourish. ![]()
![]()
My Story Museum - The Story of Us: Tres Historias en Crystal City is located at 224 E. Zavala Street, Crystal City Texas 98839.![]()
![]()
Read more here:![]()
News — Crystal City Pilgrimage
www.crystalcitypilgrimage.org
CRYSTAL CITY, TX – (October 1, 2024) – The Crystal City Pilgrimage Committee, a group of Japanese American and Japanese Peruvian incarceration survivors and their descendants, are preparing to ope...