REDRESS: The Inside Story of the Successful Campaign for Japanese American Reparations
Special Book Event and Speaker Panel with John Tateishi and Dale Minami
Community Co-Sponsors: JACL Northern California Western Nevada District, San Francisco JACL
Saturday, March 7, 2020
3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. @ the Center
Free and open to the public. Donations welcome!
Purchase your copy in advance to pick up at the event for $30 (Sales tax included)
We are excited to present to you a special book event and speaker panel featuring John Tateishi and Dale Minami on John Tateishi's new book. REDRESS: The Inside Story of the Successful Campaign for Japanese American Reparations chronicles the unlikely but true story of the Japanese American Citizens League's fight for an official government apology and compensation for the imprisonment of over 100,000 Japanese Americans during WWII. The panel will be led by author John Tateishi, former National Executive Director of the JACL and chair of the JACL's Redress Committee, along with attorney Dale Minami, who led the coram nobis legal team in Korematsu v. United States, which overturned Korematsu’s conviction upheld by the Supreme Court in the infamous the landmark Supreme Court case challenging the exclusion of Japanese and Japanese Americans from the West Coast Military Area during WWII. John Tateishi's Redress provides an insider's perspective on the JACL's role in the campaign for reparations for the Japanese American community.
Author John Tateishi is first to admit that the task was herculean in scale. The campaign was seeking an unprecedented admission of wrongdoing from Congress. It depended on a unified effort but began with an acutely divided community: for many, the shame of "camp" was so deep that they could not event speak of it; money was a taboo subject; the question of the value of liberty was insulting. Besides internal discord, the American public was largely unaware that there had been concentration camps on US soil, and Tateishi knew that concessions from Congress would only come with mass education about the government's civil rights violations. Beyond the backroom politicking and verbal fisticuffs that make this book a swashbuckling read, Redress is the story of a community reckoning with what it means to be both culturally Japanese and American citizens; how to restore honor; and what duty it has to protect such harms from happening again. This book has powerful implications as the idea of reparations shapes our national conversation.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. Do not miss this opportunity to hear firsthand from individuals who worked directly to bring about some of the most notable civil rights victories for the Japanese American community! Space is limited, so please RSVP to programsevents@jcccnc.org.
About John Tateishi:
John Tateishi, born in Los Angeles, was incarcerated from ages three to six at Manzanar, one of America's ten WWII concentration camps. He studied Eblish Lit at UC Berkeley and attended UC Davis for graduate studies. He played important froles in leadign the campaign for Japanese American redress, and as the JACL director, used the lessons of the campaign to help ensure that the rights of this nation's Arab and Muslim communities were protected after 9/11.
About Dale Minami:
Dale Minami is an attorney with Minami and Tamaki in San Francisco. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from USC in 1968 and received his J.D. in 1971 from the UC Berkeley.
Minami has also been involved in litigation involving the civil rights of Asian Pacific Americans, including Korematsu v. United States, United Pilipinos for Affirmative Action v. California Blue Shield (class action employment discrimination lawsuit), Spokane JACL v. Washington State University, (class action to establish an Asian American Studies program) and Nakanishi v. UCLA (challenge to unfair tenure denial)
He also co-founded the Asian Law Caucus, the Asian American Bar Association, the Minami, Tamaki, Yamauchi Kwok and Lee Foundation and the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans (a registered PAC). He was appointed by President Clinton as Chair of the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund and sits on the Advisory Board of the California Civil Liberties Public Education Fund. Minami has served on State and Federal judicial screening committees, has taught at U.C. Berkeley and Mills College and was the Executive Producer of “Life Tastes Good”, a feature film which premiered at Sundance.
About Heyday:
Heyday is an independent, nonprofit publisher and unique cultural insitution. We promote widespread awareness and celebration of California's many cultures, landscapes, and boundary-breaking ideas. Through our well-crafted books, public events and innovative outreach programs we are building a vibrant community of readers, writers, and thinkers. For more info, go to: http://www.heydaybooks.com