Teresa Maebori and Steve Okamoto display their new JACL Ruby Pins. (Photo: Kris Ikejiri)
Unlike 2022, there were candidates for most national offices.
PHILADELPHIA — For City of Brotherly Love (and Sisterly Affection, as City Councilmember Nina Ahmad was wont to remind visitors regarding the city’s updated nickname) denizen Teresa Maebori, the JACL’s 54th National Convention provided her two surprising and well-deserved parting gifts.
At the Sayonara Gala, held at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown’s Independence Ballroom on July 13, longtime JACLers Maebori and Steve Okamoto (San Mateo Chapter) each received the organization’s highest recognition for service: the Ruby Pin, presented by newly re-elected National JACL President Larry Oda.
On July 11, Maebori also received the JACL’s JACLer of the Biennium prize at the confab’s Awards Luncheon. (See related story here.) Both recognitions took her by surprise — and for the now-retired teacher and soon-to-be former Philadelphian, a nice sendoff: As she noted at the luncheon, “I will be moving to Seattle in about two months. And so, I’m really up to my eyeballs in packing.”
For both Maebori and Okamoto, service to the Japanese American community was handed down by their parents. As she noted at the Awards Luncheon, both of Maebori’s parents served as president of the now-defunct White River Valley JACL Chapter. As for Okamoto, he said, “My dad was … the first president of the Japanese Culture and Community Center of Northern California. … My mom … was a president of the JACL in Alameda.”
In contrast to 2022, the organization’s last national election year when no one was running for any national office and Larry Oda, who served back-to-back terms as national president from 2006-10, made a last-minute bid to lead the organization by successfully running to again lead the organization, 2024 offered a sense of normalcy for JACL, despite a concerning membership decline to below 8,000.
With Philadelphia news radio anchor (and former Southern Californian) Denise Nakano handling the master of ceremony role, the evening began with a rendition of the National Anthem by Bryant Carter Jr., welcoming remarks from Oda and short speeches from guest speakers Razin Karu, executive director for the state’s Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Affairs, and Jason Higashi, representing Diamond Sponsor State Farm.
JACLers sign Judge Johnny Gogo’s incarceration memorial legacy project flag. (Photo: Gil Asakawa)
For those in attendance, it was also an opportunity to sign a 48-star U.S. flag, a project started by Santa Clara County Judge Johnny Gogo to have Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in government-run prison camps during WWII — when there were only 48 states in the Union — to “take back the narrative” of experience. (See “The Signatures Say We Were Here,” Pacific Citizen, March 4-17, 2022.)
Following dinner were remarks by Bret Perkins, senior vp of external and government affairs for Ruby Sponsor Comcast — and the announcement by JACL Executive Director David Inoue that former President Donald Trump had just survived an assassination attempt, also in Pennsylvania, more than 300 miles from Philadelphia in Butler, Pa.
Lightening the mood were National Youth/Student Council Chair Mika Chan and NY/SC Representative Claire Inouye, who conducted the NY/SC’s opportunity drawing. The grand prize — a two-night stay at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas —was won by Mariko Fujimoto, former JACL membership coordinator.
Next on the program and presided over by David Kawamoto were the presentations of the previously announced winners of the Japanese American of the Biennium Awards, criteria for which is the consideration of the extent of the impact upon society and/or influence an area of American life a recipient’s contributions or achievements have had, within six categories — 1) arts/literature/communications; 2) business/industry/technology; 3) education/humanities; 4) politics/public affairs/law; 5) medicine/science; and 6) sports and unique professions and occupations — with JACL membership not required. The 2024 JA of the Biennium recipients were Dr. Satsuki Ina, in the education/humanities category (received in her absence by Stan Shikuma); Dana Makoto Sabraw, chief judge for the U.S. Courts of the Southern District of California, in the politics/public affairs/law category; and Los Angeles-based telejournalist David Ono, in the arts/literature/communications category.
Stan Shikuma accepts Dr. Satsuki Ina’s JA of the Biennium Award on her behalf from National President Larry Oda. (Photo: Kris Ikejiri)
From a statement written by Ina, Shikuma read, in reference to a resolution passed by the JACL’s National Council in 2019: “I would like to take this opportunity to urge members of the JACL today to revisit the promise of a sincere and reparative apology to the people who were held prisoners at the Tulelake Segregation Center for acts of resistance and dissent . . . .”
JA of the Biennium Award winner Dana Makoto Sabraw discusses his decision to stop the government from separating children of illegal immigrants from their parents. (Photo: Gil Asakawa)
Declaring that it was neither a Republican nor Democratic issue, Sabraw, drawing a comparison to how President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 had direct, deleterious effects on ethnic Japanese during WWII, said his ruling ordering the cessation of the government’s practice of separating families that were caught trying to illegally enter the United States at the southern border and to reunite the 2,500 children — “now about 5,000” — already separated from their families, said, “I found that it was unconstitutional. There was no principled basis under the Fifth Amendment to do that. . . . It’s one of the saddest chapters in the history of our country, along with the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans and of slavery.”
Kawamoto then introduced Ono, whose long list of professional awards for his journalism underscored his “main goal to be a truth seeker.” Regarding his dedication to sharing with wider audiences the story of Japanese American incarceration during WWII (see “‘Witness: The Legacy of Heart Mountain,’ ” Pacific Citizen, Aug. 8-21, 2014) and the valorous service of Nisei veterans who served in the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service via “Defining Courage” (see “Nisei Vets’ WWII Saga Goes Live and In Person,” Pacific Citizen, Nov. 4-17, 2022), Ono said, “So many people have no idea on why this is an important story within America’s history and how it has been such a violation of our rights. They don’t get it even to this day, 80 years after it happened.” Ono also paid tribute to actress Tamlyn Tomita, who was in the audience, for serving as his guide over the decades regarding all things Japanese American.
JA of the Biennium Award winner David Ono speaks after receiving his award. (Photo: Gil Asakawa)
Also part of the evening’s program was a performance by Japanese musician Rino Aise, who sang a few traditional Japanese songs, accompanied by a sanshin, Okinawa’s precursor variation of the shamisen. Accompanied by two taiko drummers, she would later sing and play the program to a close as audience members danced the tankō bushi.
Before that, however, there was a video produced by OCA National Summer intern Erika Braun titled “A Journey of Remembrance” honoring community members who had died since the 2023 convention.
The oath of office for the newly elected JACL officers, meantime, was administered by Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii).
Another drawing, donated by IACE Travel, of a roundtrip ticket to anywhere in the world United Airlines flies, was won by Greg Suko, who also happened to be one of the point persons for next year’s JACL National Convention in Albuquerque, N.M.
In his closing remarks, Oda, who was elected for an unprecedented in JACL’s history fourth term as national president, thanked the Philadelphia chapter and all who helped with planning and executing the convention.
“We have had a very productive and efficient convention,” Oda said. “Who would have thought that we would pass a budget in possibly record time?”
In his closing remarks, JACL Executive Director David Inoue said, “We passed some really significant resolutions and CBL amendments,” noting that people in Gaza also have “the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
“We affirmed the importance of cultural districts, whether it’s the local Chinatown here in Philadelphia or the historic Salt Lake City Japantown,” Inoue continued. “Also, we revised our membership policies and how we meet every year as an organization. And I hope these changes help us as an organization to better serve you, our members.”
In addition to Diamond Sponsor State Farm and Ruby Sponsors AT&T and Comcast, other convention sponsors included Sapphire Sponsors AARP and Verizon; Platinum Sponsors Major League Baseball, T-Mobile, the Motion Picture Association and US Bank; Gold Sponsors Caesars Entertainment, IW Group, National JACL Credit Union, Sheldon Arakaki and David and Carol Kawamoto; Silver Sponsors Japanese American National Museum and Keiro; and Bronze Sponsors Compassion & Choice, Toji Law and CBL Wine Co. LLC.
