The JACL-DC chapter is happy to present the sixth post in our blog series, Meet Our Board. As a way to introduce you to our 2017 board members, this series will feature posts from members throughout the year. Past posts include one by our youngest board member, Christie Mori and at-large member, Craig Shimizu. Be sure to keep checking back for future posts from these individuals who are here to serve the DC chapter.
I’m the youngest child of parents who were 12 when their families experienced the forced removal to Rohwer and Poston incarceration camps. My childhood in Chicago was a direct result of my father’s family having nothing to go back to in Los Angeles and no choice but to start a new life in Chicago from Rohwer, Arkansas. A new life in a tough city, but a city with a big heart and growing Japanese American community post WWII.
Up until six years ago, my only home was Chicago. I was born and raised in Chicago’s Northside. I can still remember the JACL Chicago basketball clinics and the many volunteer coaches that gave endless hours to keep all of us so busy with basketball drills on cold winter weekends at a local school gym. I was a happy camper to wear a yellow gym shirt with blue JACL lettering, but I really didn’t know what JACL meant at the time. I must have been 7 or 8, with zero basketball talent.
It wasn’t until I found myself in corporate communications and public affairs, including holding various corporate foundation positions, that I finally understood the importance of the work of JACL. Its mission to secure and safeguard the civil rights of all communities affected by injustice and bigotry is what drives me and is what I continue to work toward both in my professional and personal life.
I currently work for AARP, where my role is to increase AARP’s social impact work and membership outreach within the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and American Indian/Alaska Native communities. I also enjoy writing a column for the Pacific Citizen called “Reimage Everything…” While most topics are related to AARP tools and resources, I comment about my new phase in life at 56 and being a remote distance caregiver and father to two daughters.
When I first moved to D.C., I met John Tobe in my first month and he introduced me to the JACL DC Chapter and the greater JA community in the metro area. As they say, the rest is history. My family (Teresa, Samantha, Caroline, and our beloved dog Harley) has had a great opportunity to meet so many of you at various chapter event and I hope to talk with you all again at future events.
JACL DC 