Japanese American youth: What needs to happen in our community so that we can be powerful accomplices in the movement for Black lives? How can we ensure that our cries for “Never Again is Now!” are rooted in collective BIPOC action—not simply in Nikkei or API self-interests?

This digital workshop series will empower Nikkei young people—and others who wish to attend—through education, community-building, and dialogue. Join us for these much-needed learning sessions where we’ll be “cleaning our own house” and examining our history (such as the creation of the "model minority" myth and Black/Asian solidarity). By coming together to learn and connect, we hope to give youth the anti-racist tools they need to navigate the world today, and to lay the foundation for a future we all believe in.

Japanese Americans have survived forced assimilation, collective trauma, and racially motivated incarceration during World War II. Recently, we’ve had to navigate the world in an era where anti-Asian hate is an increasing threat. Our own experiences under white supremacy have created resilience and empowered activism in members of our community. Today, we wish to continue building on our civil rights work and values of social justice. As People of Color who carry our own history of oppression, we are also a settler group on Indigenous land, benefitting from a system built on the enslavement and oppression of Black people (and often upheld as the good, obedient “minority” to draw a wedge between us and our BIPOC siblings). In other words, we as Japanese Americans have work to do.  

Geared toward youth, open to all, and created through an intergenerational committee of API activists, this series is proudly presented by Seattle JACL and sponsored by the Robert Chinn Foundation.

Upcoming workshops:

Workshop with guest speaker Ayanna Yonemura
- Saturday, April 17, 2-4 pm (PT)
*Please note we are extending this workshop to two hours for more time in breakout group sessions.

We are honored to partner with Ayanna Yonemura, Ph.D., to host two workshops this spring. Ayanna Yonemura is the author of "Race, Nation, War: Japanese American Forced Removal, Public Policy and National Security." She has been honored with two Fulbright Fellowships and a US Civil Liberties Public Education Fund National Fellowship. She is currently working on her second book, "Women, Wars and Public Policies: From Hostile Shores to Storming Seas" (forthcoming from Routledge in 2022).


Past workshops:
 
We were honored to have our first four workshops led by Dr. Kyle Kinoshita, an instructor with the University of Washington. Kinoshita previously served as Chief of Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction for Seattle Public Schools, and helped to implement the ethnic studies program during his time with SPS. You can watch recordings of workshops 2-4 on Seattle JACL's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtR0m0iyOo7ZvEsIsmUrXwg/featured

- Workshop 1: Origins of racism and anti-Blackness
Saturday, Nov. 21, 2-3:30 pm (PT)

- Workshop 2: Modern anti-Blackness and white privilege
Saturday, Dec. 5, 2-3:30 pm (PT)

- Workshop 3: Weaponization of the “model minority” myth
Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, 2-3:30 pm (PT)

- Workshop 4: Advancing anti-racism in the JA community, past and present
Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021, 2-3:30 pm (PT)

- Workshop 5 with guest speaker Ayanna Yonemura
- Saturday, March 27, 2-3:30 pm (PT)


Questions? Contact the planning team at info@seattlejacl.org.