The following open letter from 5 past JACL presidents is in support of a bill requiring the teaching of Asian American history in K-12 in the state of Arizona.
Dear Colleague,
We, past National Presidents of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), are writing to express our strong and unequivocal support of Arizona bill SB 1301, which requires the integration of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) history in K-12 classrooms.
As former leaders of the oldest Asian American civil rights organization in the country, we have led JACL through times difficult and challenging. Throughout each of our tenures, we have ensured that JACL has repeatedly stood for the civil rights of Asian Americans and all Americans. Each of us understood during our time as President and understand today that core to the mission of JACL is the preservation and teaching of the history of Asian Americans. Since World War II, when Japanese Americans, including citizens, were unlawfully detained and incarcerated by their federal government, JACL has supported and worked for the integration of our histories at both the state and federal levels. That work should continue and is especially important today.
We concur with U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Glenn Magpantay, who has shared a public letter expressing support for SB 1301 as aligned with the Commission’s bipartisan report combating anti-Asian American hate.
We stand with the local coalition of 30+ Arizona-based AANHPI & allied organizations, including Poston Community Alliance, which represents one of the two WWII Japanese American incarceration camps in Arizona, in support of this bill.
We join with the 40+ national civil rights leaders, including friends at Densho, the Japanese American National Museum, Japanese American Museum of Oregon, Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee, Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, and more, who have signed a letter on behalf of their organizations urging the passage of SB 1301.
Together, we urge the support of all Asian American and supporting civil rights organizations, both locally and nationally, who share our values and the values of JACL as we have understood them as past national leaders. We cannot fight for equal rights today without fighting for inclusive histories so all Americans understand our nation’s past.
Sincerely signed,
Floyd S. Mori, National President 2000-2004
Kenneth Inouye, National President 2004-2006
David Kawamoto, National President 2010-2012
Gary Mayeda, National President 2016-2018
Jeffrey Moy, National President 2018-Present
