 |
NEWS ITEMS JAWAUCB Donation to Students Rising Above At our annual luncheon meeting this year, Wendy Tokuda gave an engaging talk with inspirational stories about individuals helped by Students Rising Above, an organization she co-founded. This highly successful organization helps low-income Bay Area high school students rising above tremendous odds attend and graduate from college by providing financial and mentoring support. JAWAUCB donated $200 to Students Rising Above. JAWAUCB Signs Deed of Gift Agreement with Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley Following two years’ discussion, JAWAUCB signed a gift agreement with the Bancroft Library in June (2011). JAWAUCB materials were transferred as a gift to the UC Regents for inclusion at the Bancroft Library with unrestricted access and use. The collection included bylaws, minutes, photographs, scrapbooks, membership rosters, newspaper clippings, and other papers. Board members were relieved that our history was now housed at a safe, institutional site with the information available to researchers or interested others. The agreement allows donations of additional materials. Currently, JAWAUCB is completing oral histories of JA women who attended UC Berkeley before and shortly after WWII. Cherry Tree Project The California Japanese American Alumni Association (CJAAA) has initiated the Cherry Tree Project (CTP), a proposal to plant Japanese cherry trees at the west end of the Berkeley campus. The trees would be a gift to Cal and a JA alumni legacy recognizing our accomplishments and contributions to society. Begun in 2009, a conceptual plan was submitted to Jim Horner, Campus Landscape Architect. Despite efforts to proceed, CTP went dormant for months. With help from Horner and alumni supporters, Kaz Abey of CJAAA has resurrected the project and provided the following update: 1) Preliminary/presentation drawings and cost estimates presented to UC Design Review Ctee. When funds become available, the Office of Campus Landscape Architect will handle contracting with RHAA to prepare drawings, specifications and documents necessary for bidding and construction, call for bids and award construction contract, manage construction, and award contract for long term maintenance With approvals and planning now completed, fund raising is required with a campaign goal of $350,000. Kaz has issued an urgent call for volunteers to join a committee to plan and implement CTP fund raising. For volunteers and further information, please contact "Kazuo Abey" jkabey@lvha.net.
The story of the Japanese American Internment during WW II is told in the current exhibit entitled “Uprooted” at the California Museum of History, Women, and the Arts on 10th and O Streets in Sacramento. The exhibit is ongoing with no end date scheduled. It is a message of personal strength and perseverance in keeping with the museum’s original theme of rights and responsibility. Particularly poignant are photographs of the Japanese American soldiers of the 442nd RCT visiting their families in the camps after serving on the Pacific and European fronts, and the faces of the internees during the confinement. There is a replica barrack constructed by Ted Kubota in August 1983, a scale model guard tower and a previously unopened trunk of belongings of a Japanese American family who left California. The film “Something Strong Within” by Robert A.Nakamura features excerpts from the few “home movies” taken by the internees, in spite of the general ban on cameras. In addition to the exhibit, from January to March, the museum usually sponsors workshops for area students grades 4-12, in the context of ideas of citizenship, constitutionality and redress. Presenters from the Japanese American community share personal stories of the internment. Cosponsors of the program are California State University, Sacramento, Library Special Collections, and the Elk Grove Unified School district. The museum website is www.Californiamuseum.org. |