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Restoring a Lapsed Asian American Initiative
Yesterday at a White House ceremony, President Barack Obama signed an executive order re-establishing an advisory commission “to improve the quality of life of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders through…
The Value of Freedom
We’ve been wondering what Roxana Saberi has been doing since her release from prison in Iran, where she was falsely charged with espionage. This Salt Lake City news article (photo…
Embargoed Interview: Ehren Watada
This month we announced the addition of what could be a controversial interview to the Densho Digital Archive. In our October eNews, you can preview a video clip of Densho’s…
Justice Watch
Judges are in the news. On the same day, we read that U.S. Federal Judge Robert Takasugi has passed away and learn that President Obama–on the heels of Sonya Sotomayor’s…
Hero on the 4th of July
Over the 4th of July holiday, I remembered a news item from the last days of June. Seattle’s historic federal courthouse was rededicated after a three-year renovation. In 2001 the…
Nisei Students Help Others
We’re pleased to share a positive news story today. Teresa Watanabe’s June 6 article in the Los Angeles Times serves as antidote to sad reports of college students having to…
Nikkei of the Future
The question of racial, cultural, and generational identity has been a constant at Densho. The makeup of our staff over the years has consisted of Sansei and Yonsei from Seattle’s…
Q&A with a Law Professor
A lawyer friend of Densho, Eric Muller, answered online questions from Washington Post readers about Ashcroft v. Iqbal, a case the Supreme Court declined to hear on May 18. The…
Asian names are so difficult!
A recent news item from Texas is getting lots of attention from Asian Americans. In a hearing on voter registration legislation, Republican state representative Betty Brown asked Ramey Ko of…
Aloha, Densho
Densho is supporting a bill submitted by Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii to have the Secretary of the Interior conduct a study of internment camp sites in Hawaii. The idea…
Fred Korematsu Center for Law and Equality
Yesterday, on a sunny spring day in Seattle I attended the launch event for the new Seattle University Law School’s Fred Korematsu Center for Law and Equality. I have very…
Separated by Generations, United in History
I have mixed reactions to this week’s Seattle Times article about our Nisei vets. Densho admires their phenomenal courage, as documented in many interviews in our Digital Archive. Also documented…
One Step Forward…
Just when we are starting to feel optimistic about race relations in this country (who in Densho’s extended family isn’t thrilled with the diversity of the Obama cabinet?), we hear…
Raising Awareness
The front page article of yesterday’s Seattle Times about Don Wakamatsu, the Mariner’s new head coach and first Asian American major league baseball coach, was both remarkable and inspirational for…
Information for Freedom
Among the first executive orders signed by Barack Obama were two that require greater compliance with Freedom of Information Act requests. Now, there’s an executive order Densho likes. We are…
It “Was” in the P-I
St. Patrick’s Day 2009 turned out to be unlucky for Seattle, this being the last day of business for the local Post-Intelligencer newspaper that started in 1863. There’ll be no…
A newspaper ends but photos live on
Sad news from Seattle: One of our major daily newspapers is succumbing to the sea change in the media market and the swamping of the economy. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has…
The Beginnings of a Speech
I am preparing a speech I will be making this Saturday for the Seattle JACL Installation dinner. The theme of the event is “Our Nisei, Okage sama de,” or, we…
Washington DC meetings
Over the weekend I traveled to Washington DC and met and talked with the Consuls-Generals from 13 different cities. (In the photo I am having lunch seated between Mitsunori Namba,…
Teachers on Board
On Saturday we held the first of two meetings with a dozen (plus a few) teachers who will help Densho test our civil liberties curriculum units in their classrooms this…
Tule Lake, National Monument at last
We received welcome news this Friday before Pearl Harbor Day: a White House press release announces that the Tule Lake Segregation Center site in California will become part of the…
Democracy Rollercoaster
Over the weekend I presented the Densho Project at the Society of American Archivists Conference in San Francisco. This was the first time I attended this annual gathering and listened…
Excellent editorial
The New York Times printed an excellent editorial profiling a Nisei doctor in honor of the 20th anniversary of redress. We recommend “From a Quiet American, a Story of War…
Tom’s Denver Interviews
I am back in Seattle after a whirlwind 5 days in Denver participating at the JANM national conference. There are so many good memories of meeting people, listening to and…