COVID-19 takes life of JACL leader

LILLIAN KIMURA, 1929-2020

Lillian Kimura, the first woman to be elected National President of the Japanese American Citizens League. She was 91 years old.

According to her niece, Margaret Golden, Kimura’s death on April 23 was the result of COVID-19. She was living in New Jersey at the time of her death.

“I am deeply saddened upon hearing the news about Lillian’s passing. Lillian struck me as an extremely kind and generous person from the day we met at the EDC/MDC Bi-District Council meeting in 2007," said David Lin, JACL National President 2012-2016

"She encouraged me to serve and she mentored and coached me when I was on the National Board. And above all, she inspired me to dedicate my service to the JACL just as she had.”

Throughout her career, Kimura was a tireless advocate for civil rights through all of her work at the YWCA where she rose to the position of Associate Executive Director. 

The year of her election to the JACL leadership opened the door for resolutions condemning sexual harassment, supporting family leave, and supporting a woman’s right to choose abortion. Over the next two years, JACL increasingly supported gay rights including the right to serve in the military, culminating in a 1994 resolution supporting gay marriage.

“Lillian was a force of nature. She became JACL National President at a time when few women had broken through the glass ceiling to lead national civil rights organizations," said Karen Narasaki, former President and Executive Director of AAJC. Narasaki worked for JACL in the Washington office during Kimura's reign. 

"I learned a lot about leadership from watching her. She was one of the women executives at the YWCA that ensured that issues at the intersection of race and gender were a priority and that Asian American girls were included at the table.," Narasaki recounted.

"She had an inclusive vision of a multicultural democracy and a strong sense of the role JACL could and should play in helping to build it. Under her leadership, JACL became the first major national civil rights group of color to endorse marriage equality, long before the issue got to the Supreme Court. The nation has lost another woman warrior for equality.”

At the age of 13, Kimura and her family were incarcerated at the Manzanar WRA Center in California. Afterward her family moved to Chicago, where her long association with the YWCA began. 

Kimura attended the University of Illinois, where she earned a degree in social work and eventually moved to New York to work for the YWCA at the national level.

Kimura’s passing comes in quick succession to the loss of Helen Kawagoe, JACL’s only other female National President, and Irene Hirano Inouye, founding President/CEO for the Japanese American National Museum and the US-Japan Council. 

Carol Kawamoto, who served on the National Board with Kimura as the Pacific Southwest District Governor, praised Kimura along with Kawagoe and Hirano Inouye, “It has been very sad to lose three very strong women, Irene Hirano Inouye, Helen Kawagoe, and Lillian Kimura…JACL and community leaders and icons who passed away so close together.”

TGIF Feature: Jay Leno has long record of racist jokes

NBC

Jay Leno, no laughing matter.

By Louis Chan

ASAM NEWS

Former late night talk show host Jay Leno is known for his collection of antique cars. He apparently likes antiquated  and outdated jokes too.

As we reported, Gabrielle Union of NBC’s America’s Got Talent recently called out Leno for joking during a taping that the dogs he saw in a photo looked like something you might find “on the menu of a Korean restaurant.”

AsAmNews has since learned this isn’t the first time Leno has been blasted for using a Korean dog joke. Back in 2002, he met over the phone with members of the Multi-Ethnic Media Coalition and the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition after making a similar joke on the Tonight Show.

Referring to a South Korean Olympian who had been disqualified from the short track competition, Leno said in his monologue, skater Kim Dong-sung “was so mad he went home and kicked the dog, and then ate him.”

CBS reported back then that NBC defended the joke as “irreverent comedy,” and said Leno did not intend to offend the Korean community. The chair of the Multi-Ethnic Media Coalition, Karen Narasaki was quoted after the meeting that Leno was gracious during the conversation and said he wouldn’t have told the joke had he known it was offensive.

It’s not known why,  if that’s the case, Leno chose to regurgitate the joke 17 years later. Efforts to reach Leno through his publicist were unsuccessful. Our inquiries were ignored.

AsAmNews also reached out to Paula Madison who in 2002 worked for NBC as President and general manager of one of its flagship local stations, KNBC in Los Angeles. Madison referred us to her recent comments on Facebook:

“When Jay Leno hosted the Tonight Show, he regularly spoke about Koreans ONLY in the context of eating dogs. I met with him as a result of frequent complaints from the AAPI community.

“I asked him if he had Asian American writers in his writers’ room, and if he had other joke topics to share about Koreans. His answer to both was no.

“My reply to him as NBC Diversity leader was that until his answer to those questions was yes, that he needed to stop with those jokes. I also said if he continued, I would direct the complainants to his office phone. He stopped — for a bit.

“And, given a chance, he’s back at it. There are indeed many global and domestic cultural differences among us. It’s how we highlight those differences that we must consider.”

Frank Wu, Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Hastings, wrote about the Leno incident in 2002. Wu told AsAmNews if he had a chance to meet with Leno, he would simply tell him, ” Man, you need new material.”

“These issues never go away,” continued Wu. “From the kid doing karate moves to the kid pulling back their eyes into a slant to the common cruelties of the playground, it all has an adult version, just as powerful. The problem is for people who tell the jokes, but who aren’t always the butt of jokes, it genuinely seems trivial. They don’t comprehend the trauma. You don’t have to be a hypersensitive PC soul to be troubled — you can’t establish your equality in an environment that denigrates your ancestors.”

We also reached out to NBC which chose to not directly reply to our questions. Instead it reissued a statement it had sent to other media.

“While there will be a further investigation to get a deeper understanding of the facts, we are working with Gabrielle to come to a positive resolution,” NBC stated.

Wu hopes the network will go further.

“This is a teaching moment,” he said to AsAmNews. The joke isn’t even funny. It’s a cliche. That is what is so stupid. By now, Asian Americans have demonstrated, if there ever was doubt, that we have a sense of humor, and we can be funny too. Let’s get more Asian faces on television, in roles that allow us to flip the script.”

Harvard students & long-time civil rights advocates receive Courage Awards

TWITTER

Courage Award recipients, from left, Paul Lee, Karen Korematsu, Karen Narasaki, Sally Chen and Jang Lee.

Harvard students who supported affirmative action in the school's admission policies assures that Asian Americans will have champions in the next generation of civil rights advocates.

The students were among the individuals honored over the weekend in ceremonies in Washington DC with the American Courage Awards from the Advancing Justice | AAJC (Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC). 

The students, represented by Sally Chen and Jang Lee, were joined by AAJC president and executive director Karen Narasaki; former long-time Goodwin Procter LLP Partner Paul Lee; and Fred T. Korematsu Institute founder and executive director Karen Korematsu.

The American Courage Awards is an annual event honoring individuals, groups, or corporations for their extraordinary commitment to the cause of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) civil and human rights.

Along with their fellow Harvard student advocates, Lee and Chen testified in federal court — sharing their personal experiences and emphasizing the importance of race in being able to share their whole stories. 

“These young advocates demonstrate that the next generation of Asian American leaders is ready to safeguard the rights of our communities and advance social justice,” said John C. Yang, president and executive director of Advancing Justice | AAJC. “From their testimony in the case to their interviews in the media, these students have illustrated how Asian Americans benefit from affirmative action and why we must care about this fight.” 

Korematsu was presented with the President’s Award for her leadership in the Asian American community. She is a civil rights advocate, educator, and public speaker. The daughter of the late civil rights activist, Fred Korematsu, She has dedicated her life to carrying her father’s legacy. In 2009, she established the Fred T. Korematsu Institute to advance racial equity, social justice and human rights for all. 

“Karen Korematsu is an undeniable icon in the community and her desire to make the world a better place for everybody is infectious,” said Yang, “Speaking up for the civil rights of Asian Americans courses through her bloodline and we are proud to applaud Karen as she continues her late father’s legacy.”

“Karen Korematsu is an undeniable icon in the community and her desire to make the world a better place for everybody is infectious,” said John C. Yang, president and executive director of Advancing Justice | AAJC. “Speaking up for the civil rights of Asian Americans courses through her bloodline and we are proud to applaud Karen as she continues her late father’s legacy.”

Lee "understands that lawyers have a special role in society, and that part of that role is to pay it forward,” said Yang.  “For Paul it is not only about personal giving, but also about inspiring others to join him in making sure that lawyers continue to give back to the community.”

“Karen Narasaki is a pioneer who grew Advancing Justice | AAJC into the powerhouse that it is today and we are proud to have the chance to say thank you as we honor her with the American Courage Award,” said Yang.  

“A part of Karen’s legacy is pushing organizations and individuals to do more for the communities that rely on them – a job she did so well as the president of Advancing Justice | AAJC - and she has been instrumental in creating the infrastructure for today’s Asian Pacific American advocacy landscape.”

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