Portland JACL

10/11/2026

We celebrated the elders in our community with a lovely luncheon. Our community leader, Tiffany Koyama Lane congratulated the seniors. As she described, their hard work and sacrifice were for all of us. It is hard to see but our three special presenters told stories about each of our honored guests. A generation who had to overcome imprisonment, segregation, displacement and overt racism. Hard to believe but there were at least three guests who were over 100.

10/10/2026

Voting is coming up. Make a plan. Do your research. Select candidates that reflect your values. Pick the future you want.

10/09/2026

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
We need to treasure our history.

10/07/2026

Vote!

There's still time to join us and our partners at APIAVote for our phone-banking days! ☎️

Help us encourage everyone to vote. If those dates/times don’t work, other shifts may be available.

Also check out our chapter challenge (details on the image below). Learn more and sign up for phone banking and more at https://jacl.org/gotv

10/01/2026

Oregon voters: Please verify your voting address and registration by Tuesday, October 13, so that you can vote your values this Election Day. Make sure your registration is active and current on the Secretary of State's website or by calling 1-866-673-8683. Please note: This link will take you to a third-party website, sos.oregon.gov.

09/28/2026

This was before graphic novels were widely available

“This is not the first time, and I know it won’t be the last time, that participating in a (National) History Day project extends long past the season and opens doors for more opportunities to extend learning and continue the pursuit of knowledge in areas of passion.”

Five Orange County students won the Outstanding High School Project award for the Unsung Heroes Discovery Award competition for their documentary film on the powerful story of Japanese American artist Miné Okubo. Okubo produced a groundbreaking graphic memoir, "Citizen 13660", documenting her time of forced incarceration during WWII at Tanforan Assembly Center in California and at Topaz in Utah. Learn more and watch "Miné Okubo: The Unsung Hero Who Drew What America Tried to Hide" here: https://tinyurl.com/5fpyvzfw

09/28/2026

https://apnews.com/article/trump-detention-immigrants-court-c2c4fc63122279c4ae4797ae598c810f?utm_source=app&utm_medium=android_share&utm_campaign=more

A federal appeals court says the Trump administration’s policy of holding immigrants without a chance for release recalls some of the darkest moments in the nation's history.

09/27/2026

Our local hero. The only Oregonian to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barak Obama.

New Celebrate People's History poster in the shop! "I felt we had the obligation, as citizens, to tell our government they are wrong! That is the sacred duty of every citizen — because what is done to the least of us can be done to all of us."

On March 28, 1942, Min walked the streets of Portland, to challenge the military curfew targeting ALL persons of Japanese ancestry and leading to the unjust incarceration of 125,000 adults and children. That boldness cost him his freedom, nine months in solitary confinement, and led to his historic United States Supreme Court case. After release from Minidoka, one of ten WWII concentration camps, Min moved to Denver and dedicated his life to uplifting marginalized communities and advocating for Japanese American reparations.

This CPH poster printed at the worker-owned and union-run Community Printers, Santa Cruz, CA.

This is #217 in the Celebrate People’s History Poster Series. Designed by Yuko Ok.

09/25/2026

09/18/2026

https://www.pacificcitizen.org/reparations-impossible-why-we-should-care-and-how-we-can-be-allies/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUZbuFwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMVFIOXJhNmx5VEVWMDlDcGtzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeujM1WhPTirnIfrlJlh_H5Q2Xq7C6oA9ldxioIh9xfZGwfgt3titKa9KrcQk_aem_6ynVyuJPYCfO2zXqIAjliw

We do better when we all do better.

Participating in the panel were (from left) Carol Kawase, Don Tamaki, Masumi Hayashi-Smith and Peggy Nagae. (Photo: Gil Asakawa) The National Convention panel focused on Black reparations. By Gil Asakawa, P.C. Contributor One crowded panel during the recent JACL National Convention at the Paris Hote...