8.+Japanese+American+Citizens+League+(JACL)

Citizens League (JACL)** //by Josh Hersch//
 * Japanese American

**Name:** Takayuki Yamaguchi http://www.nyjacl.org/jacl_logo.gif
 * Race:** Japanese American         **Birthday:** February 12th, 1910         **Date of Incident:** Started in 1929
 * Interests:** (Used to be) playing golf
 * General Info:** He had one brother and one sister. His parents died when he was 24 years old.

 My name is Takayuki Yamaguchi and I was born on February 12th, 1910 in Seattle, Washington. The Japanese American Citizens League (also known as “JACL”) was founded in 1929 when I was 19 years old (“History of the Japanese American Citizens League” 1). The JACL was formed to support the civil and human rights of Japanese Americans and others (Ebihara 1). It was also created to preserve the Japanese heritage and culture as well as the educational and social values of the Japanese American community (“About the Japanese American Citizens League” 2).

http://www.publikhair.com/new_blog/uploaded_images/capt.tok80206180456.japan_oldest_person_tok802-792738.jpg

I remember going to the first JACL National Convention on August 29th, 1930 which was in my home city of Seattle, Washington. I remember how we talked about what we were going to do with the JACL. Then in 1931, the JACL restored American citizenship to all of the American women of Japanese ancestry married to Japanese nationals by promoting the Cable Act. The JACL also helped out AJA (Americans of Japanese Ancestry) by establishing the JACL Endowment Fund. This would provide funding for programs for AJA (“History of the Japanese American Citizens League” 1). During the 1940’s, the JACL started to help recover property losses that were caused the World War II imprisonment of more than 120,000 Japanese people (Ebihara 2). They were sent to ten American internment/concentration camps (“History of the Japanese American Citizens League” 2). They also argued with the United States Supreme Court about how unreasonable this captivity of the Japanese was (Ebihara 2).

http://www.umbc.edu/history/CHE/techerpages/Coleman/wcf090a.jpg

 During the 1950’s, the JACL wanted to allow the Issei (newly immigrated Japanese people) to be able to have American Citizenship. In order to do that, they endorsed the 1952 Immigration and Neutralization Act (Ebihara 2). In 1965, when I was 55 years old, the Congress decided to give us (the Japanese) $38 million in order to rebuild the property that the Japanese lost after getting sent to the internment/concentration camps. This $38 million seemed like a lot, but it was only about one tenth of the actual losses. Because this was not enough money, in 1978, the JACL called for the payments of reparations to everyone that suffered imprisonment. About ten years later, Congress passed the new bill. This was when Ronald Reagan was the president. He signed the bill that promised $20,000 to every Japanese American that was sent to one of the camps. The checks were sent out in 1990, when I was 80 years old. President George Bush was president by then and he sent out a letter along with the checks that read, “We can never fully right the wrongs of the past. But we can take a clear stand for justice and recognize that serious injustices were done to the Japanese Americans during World War II” (Danzer 595).

http://www.utjacl.org/head_jacl.gif/head_jacl-full.jpg

Even to this day, the JACL still supports the Japanese American community and still helps make it better.

-Takayuki Yamaguchi

" About the Japanese American Citizens League ." __JACL__. 2008. 21 Oct 2008 . Danzer, Gerald A, et al. The Americans. Evanston, IL: McDougal Little, 2005. Ebihara, Wataru. "JACL." __Janet__. 28 Aug 1996. Japanese American Network. 21 Oct 2008 . "History of the Japanese American Citizens League." __JACL__. 2008. 21 Oct 2008 .
 * Works Cited **

(c) Copyright 2008 | Josh Hersch