David Inoue
As National Council drew to a close this year, there was a sense of calm that we had successfully navigated passage of a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an emergency resolution on protecting Salt Lake City’s remaining Japantown icons. The budget had passed unanimously, and we were looking forward to the APIAVote Presidential Townhall featuring Vice President Kamala Harris. Unfortunately, the Trump campaign elected not to participate.
Part of the reasoning for the Trump campaign’s nonparticipation was that he was across the state at another event in Western Pennsylvania. Word was that they didn’t want to have “competing” events in the same state. Minutes before we began our Sayonara Gala, former President Donald Trump was shot in an apparent assassination attempt at that event in Butler, Pa.
Where typically we would be riding the wave of euphoria following the conclusion of convention, particularly with an event as significant as hearing from the vice president, instead, we interrupted the gala to share the news, and rather than our traditional statement about the successes of convention, we were focused on a response to the shooting, just as we had done five years prior after two mass shootings the weekend we concluded our convention in Salt Lake City.
While the passage of the Gaza ceasefire resolution highlighted the desire for occasional engagement on what might be considered more foreign affairs issues, the attempt on President Trump’s life is a quick reminder that where JACL is most important to the dialogue is in domestic issues.
And even then, we have expanded our breadth of engagement. During the Obama administration, we took a strong position supporting universal health care. Although I was not in a position to influence this much at the time, I was working in expanding access to health care for the unhoused, and seeing JACL engage in this way was energizing for someone whose work would be directly supported by expansion of public support for health care.
Gun violence is another one of these issues we have not historically been as engaged in, nor has the broader Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander community, but we have been touched significantly by guns whether it is my memories of Asian business owners standing on their rooftops during the Rodney King riots to protect their business or the tragedy of the Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay shootings.
While our core mission continues to ensure the memory of what happened to Japanese Americans during World War II remains relevant, where that relevancy is found may shift and develop to include the importance of health care or the sad reminder that the Second Amendment does not offer protection from the tyranny of government overreach.
These are lessons learned from the Japanese American incarceration experience. Sam Mihara often tells the story of how his father lost his vision because he didn’t have access to an ophthalmologist at Heart Mountain to treat his glaucoma.
I can’t help but laugh when I hear Second Amendment rights advocates make the ridiculous claim that had Japanese Americans been armed and resisted incarceration with guns, our community would have been left alone. I am sure this would not have been the outcome of an armed conflict in Little Tokyo.
While the traditional energy of convention may have been lost, especially one where we had the excitement of working with OCA and APIAVote, we must draw energy from what happened with President Trump.
Recognize JACL’s role in fostering difficult conversations, just as we did in reaching overwhelming support for challenging resolutions and a difficult budget. We can play a role in reducing the toxicity in politics and tackling challenging issues like gun violence prevention.
As your national staff works toward this in Washington, D.C., I hope that you will also do so in your local communities. At this year’s convention, we celebrated 40 years of the Leadership Summit. The goal of that program is not to simply bring our members to Washington, D.C., but ensure that those ambassadors understand the power of working in coalition with partners like OCA and APIAVote and carry that spirit back home.
You don’t need to be a Leadership Summit alum to do this, just be a JACL member and reach out to others in your community that share our values to work collaboratively and strive to be better Americans for a greater America.
David Inoue is executive director of the JACL. He is based in the organization’s Washington, D.C., office.
