PORTRAITS OF JAPANESE AMERICAN ACTIVISM

Lloyd Inui, founding member and former Director of the Asian American Studies Program at California State University—Long Beach

Karen Ishizuka, award-winning producer and writer

Jim Matsuoka, founding member of Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress

What’s the face of Japanese American activism today? Male or female? Young or old? Gay or straight? It’s all of these things, as I’ve come to learn.

Recently, I had the honor of being invited to photograph the Legacy of Japanese American Activism Conference—an intergenerational conference of Nikkei activists to discuss critical community issues and to take action around these issues.

Held on November 5, 2011 at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, the conference provided an opportunity for different generations of Nikkei activists to come together and develop a broader perspective on the issues that they’re working on. 

The conference was dynamic in that it used a workshop format. So instead of there being typical speakers and attendees, everyone was an active participant. The topics of the workshops included: Activism in the Great Recession, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Educate to Transform!, LGBT[JA]Q?, and The Role of Community Activism in Little Tokyo.

There were many respected activists on the workshop panels. However, there may have been more in attendance. One younger participant explained it the best. She revealed that she was intimidated by all the noted activists at the conference. But in the end, it didn’t matter because everyone showed mutual respect for one another and valued each other’s ideas.

Humility seemed to be a common characteristic of all these activists. When we asked some of them if we could take their portrait, they often replied, “Why? What did I do?”

At the same time, I couldn’t help but be humbled by the many achievements of all these activists, from fighting racism to surviving internment to protesting against war. In many ways, we wouldn’t be here without their sacrifice and hard work.

Even though the conference was about Japanese American activism, it seemed to also apply to activism in general. So in looking at and photographing the different faces throughout the conference, I saw less Japanese American or Asian American activists and more concerned human beings who want to make a difference.

I was deeply honored to be a part of this historic event. Hopefully, the next generation of activists will be born from and nurtured by inspiring events like this one. Naturally, their faces will continue to change.

To learn more about the Japanese American Activism Conference, visit:

http://jalegacy2011.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/jalegacy2011

To learn more about our portraits, visit:

Lloyd Inui: http://www.janm.org/projects/inrp/english/staff.htm

Karen Ishizuka: http://janmstore.com/karenishizuka.html

Jim Matsuoka: http://jalegacy2011.wordpress.com/narrative-interview-essays/jim-matsuoka/