Houston JACL’s Gary Nakamura with the George J. Inagaki Chapter Citizenship Award and Teresa Maebori with her JACLer of the Biennium Award (Photo: Gil Asakawa)
JACLer of the Biennium, Inagaki Chapter honors
reward individual dedication, collective efforts.
By P.C. Staff
PHILADELPHIA — For Teresa Maebori, the July 11 National JACL Awards Luncheon provided “a complete shock” when JACL National President Larry Oda announced she was the JACLer of the Biennium. It was a preview of more to come: On July 13, she was surprised yet again when she was awarded the JACL’s Ruby Pin, along with Steve Okamoto.
“I thought the highlight of this convention was going to be the baseball game,” Maebori said after accepting the award, referring to the match attended by conventiongoers at which the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the L.A. Dodgers.
Maebori also recalled her time as a Peace Corps volunteer and later, getting recruited into the JACL by the late Grace Uyehara, one of the main engines of the Japanese American redress movement, and later becoming chapter president, Eastern District governor and National Education chair. “JACL’s been in my life blood,” she said. “Now I’m trying to enjoy my retirement years,” which includes an imminent move to Seattle.
The luncheon’s other recognition was for the George J. Inagaki Chapter Citizenship Award. The announcement was made by John Saito Jr., the Pacific Citizen board chair and president of the Venice-West Los Angeles JACL Chapter, which is the award’s sponsor. He said the awards committee reviewed all the chapter applications, weighing applicants’ works in the areas of membership, leadership development, youth engagement, education, advocacy, social justice and social media.
“It is my pleasure to announce that the 2024 George J. Inagaki Chapter Citizenship Award goes to the Houston JACL,” he said, adding, “Its most noteworthy achievement has been its efforts in collaborating with elected officials and community organizations last year to oppose the passage of bills in the state legislature that were similar to the alien land laws of the early 1900s that prohibited immigrants from Japan from owning land in the U.S.”
Gary Nakamura, a past Houston JACL Chapter president who was present at the convention for his role as vp of planning and development, accepted the award on behalf of the chapter’s current president, Colleen Morimoto.
Nakamura managed to keep his composure after taking the stage to accept the award as a proxy for Morimoto. “I’m gonna try my best not to tear up. But wow, what an honor because just two years ago — we almost went under,” he revealed, referring later to internal chapter turmoil that threatened the existence of the state of Texas’ only JACL chapter. “I want to humbly accept this award on behalf of our Houston JACL board members.”
Continuing, Nakamura said, “I have to give a lot of credit and thanks to (executive director) David Inoue and Jeffrey Moy, former president, for sticking by me and Colleen.” He also called out several other chapter members for their behind-the-scenes work, including Dr. George Hirasaki, emeritus professor at Rice University, who “recruited me 15 years ago.”
“I can’t wait to give this award to Colleen and our board. I dedicate this to my late father, George Nakamura, who’s a highly decorated MIS veteran … I do what I do to honor my dad and his family.”
Also during the luncheon, Michelle Amano recognized Brent Seto as the Mike M. Masaoka Congressional Fellow. “This fellowship is named in honor of my grandpa,” Amano said. “And in looking back, the fact that this fellowship was established in 1988 is so poignant. My grandfather was so thrilled when the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was passed and signed by President Ronald Reagan.”
Seto, a University of Washington graduate, was placed in the office of Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) under the fellowship. “I’m thrilled to announce that in the fall, I’ll be joining the office of Rep. Judy Chu as a legislative policy fellow,” he added.
Serving as co-masters of ceremony for the luncheon were Nicole Inouye, herself a former Masaoka fellow, and Alex Shinkawa, a former Daniel K. Inouye JACL fellow who will be attending the University of California Irvine School of Law in the fall.
