In the NJAHS Peace Gallery
April 12 – August 31, 2008
Re-envisioning Community: Hapa Issues Forum 1992-2007
Opening Panel Presentation and Reception:
Sunday, April 13, 2008, 2 pm – 4 pm

NJAHS’ upcoming exhibit “Re-envisioning Community” is a look back at the Hapa Issue Forum’s (HIF) history through photographs, documents, and artifacts. In 1992, HIF was founded as an organization which sought to give individuals of mixed race a more prominent role within the Japanese American community while expanding the very concept of what it meant to be Nikkei. It eventually received nationwide recognition for its efforts, lobbying successfully for a “check all that apply” option in the 2000 U.S. Census, leading a delegation to the International Nikkei Youth Exchange in Peru, and receiving a JACL National Youth/Student Vision Award. In recent years, however, the organization was unable to sustain a desired level of programming and participation, and officially marked its own disbanding with a commemorative event in September of 2007. This exhibit is intended to draw attention to the work of the organization’s members, and to uphold their mission to celebrate the growing diversity within Japanese America and the API community at large.

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Alert!

The National Japanese American Historical Society has again submitted a request for $2,000,000 to the House of Representatives and the Senate to support the MIS Historic Learning Center in Fiscal Year 2009. Help us realize the dream of a facility dedicated to preserving the legacy of the MIS!

Your voice in expressing grassroots support for the MIS Historic Learning Center must be heard. YOU can make a difference by printing out this downloadable pdf flyer, signing and mailing to:

Senator Daniel Inouye
United States Senate
722 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1102
Phone: 202-224-3934
Fax: 202-224-6747

Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1102
Phone: (202) 224-3841
Fax: (202) 228-3954

Senator Daniel Akaka
United States Senate
141 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1102
Phone: (202) 224-6361
Fax: (202) 224-2126

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
US House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. Office
235 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4965

The Honorable Michael Honda
US House of Representatives
1713 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-2631

Thank you for making it happen!
For donor or other opportunities, click here (www.njahs.org/640).

INALIENABLE: IMMIGRANT RIGHTS
Youth Voices from

INALIENABLE will be a multicultural, intergenerational gathering featuring personal stories, video, cultural performances and speakers. Listen to the stories of civil liberties and human rights violations experienced by immigrants of Japanese, Italian, German and Latin American descent, identified as "enemy aliens" during World War II -- as well as stories by Arab, South Asian, Muslim and Latino youth today, impacted by post-9/11 policies and practices. Learn about the hidden internment stories of World War II and post 9/11. Participate in current efforts to resolve unfinished World War II redress issues; and challenges to current, post 9/11 civil liberties violations.

Enemy Alien Files Consortium - Members: American Italian Historical Association, German American Internee Coalition, Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project, National Japanese American Historical Society. Partners: American Muslim Voice, Arab Resource & Organizing Center, Council on American-Islamic Relations and National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. For information, contact NJAHS: (415) 921-5007 or email: njahs@njahs.org

$800,000 APPROVED FOR NISEI VETERANS CENTER
President Signs Bill; Speaker Pelosi, Congressman Honda, Key Sponsors

San Francisco – On Tuesday, November 13, President Bush signed legislation that provides $800,000 toward the establishment of a Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Historic Learning Center in the Presidio of San Francisco. The provision was included in the 2008 Defense Appropriations bill at the request of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA). Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) were also credited with supporting the funding. Read more…

Building 640 Website Updated!

NJAHS is pleased to announce a major update to its Building 640 website! Titled Building 640 Communique: Information Source for the Military Intelligence Service Historic Learning Center, the website features project updates, background information, MIS news, and ways to support the realization of a permanent home for the MIS story. Building 640 is at a critical juncture; work to preserve the building and begin planning the interpretive components of the Center will be underway in the coming year due to a $1 million federal appropriation. At the same time, NJAHS is in the process of consolidating its core donors as a means to match this tremendous support from the Federal government. »Visit the site!

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NEW DVD Release & Screening of
UNCOMMON COURAGE
Patriotism and Prejudice
Thursday
May 29, 2008
7:00 pm

Moraga Room
Presidio Officers’ Club
Presidio of San Francisco
50 Moraga Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94129

Co-sponsored by NJAHS, Presidio of San Francisco/NPS/GGNRA and The Presidio Trust

Event is FREE to the public.

Uncommon Courage: Patriotism and Civil Liberties tells the story of the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) during World war II and the Occupation of Japan. Thousands of MIS soldiers, primarily Japanese American, fought for United States in the Pacific interrogating Japanese prisoners, translating documents, intercepting communications, and infiltrating enemy lines. Ironically, at the same time, many of their families back in America were locked behind barged wire in isolated imprisonment camps, stripped of their civil rights. A dramatic and moving personal saga, these soldiers showed Uncommon Courage as they fought to overcome fear, discrimination, and racial prejudice in the land of their birth.

For more information call NJAHS at 415.921.5007

Hello Maggie! Book signing with Author Shigeru Yabu and Illustrator Willie Ito
Saturday, April 19, 2008 1 - 3 pm
NJAHS Peace Gallery
1684 Post St. San Francisco, CA
Admission Free!

Hello Maggie! is a children's book about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, published by Yabitoon Books. Internees were not allowed to take their pets with them to camp. The book's protagonist, a young boy, adopts a magpie, Maggie, who has fallen out of its nest. The bird becomes the boy's friend and is embraced by his family and the larger camp community - ironically enjoying freedom within the confines of the Heart Mountain Relocation Center.

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