1

BAMBOO HERITAGE

President’s Message: Spring has finally arrived! Your Hoosier Chapter JACL had a nice Spring Luncheon social gathering April 13th where fourteen people got together to get the warmer part of the year going on the right foot. Please contact me at 317-509-3342 if you are missing something you need from your JACL or if you have ideas of what you could bring to our Chapter and the community, no matter how small. Every little bit counts. Peter L. mandplango@gmail.com

The May 2019 newsletter of the Hoosier Chapter Japanese American Citizens League

Calendar/Save the Date:

May 11 Spring Program

Our Hoosier Chapter Spring Program is at the Indiana History Center starting at 11:00 a.m. Nicole Martinez-LeGrand will lead us on group tour of the Asian History Collecting Initiative Exhibit. Folks can eat together afterwards. Contact Nancy Conner to attend (nynconner@gmail.com) or call (317-748-7608; if no answer, please leave a message).

June 23

Asian Fest at the Indiana State Museum. It should be a nice warm day in Indiana. Contact George Hanasono (317-848-7950) if you would like to join the volunteer crew that has been making this a great outreach event for JACL the last ten years or so. http://aaalliance.org/event/asian-fest-2019/

July 13

Our Hoosier Chapter Annual Picnic will occur on this Saturday afternoon, free from rain, with a slight breeze, and some warm sun.

September 15

Our Fall Program will be at the Indianapolis Museum of Art with a tour of the “Seasons of Japan”. Visit the IMA now to see the flowers like the photo on this page.

Visit our website too: www.hoosierjacl.org

and email the Board at: info@hoosierjacl.org

2

OUT AND ABOUT Several Hoosier chapter members attended the Karen Korematsu presentation at Sinclair Community College in Dayton on Saturday afternoon, March 23. Her father, Fred Korematsu, fought for the civil liberties of all communities. He was arrested after refusing a detention order in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor in 1942; and although he lost his case to the Supreme Court in 1944, his conviction was overturned in 1983 when new evidence was found. He received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 for his principled stand for justice. Karen carries on her father’s legacy, and advocates for civic engagement and for protecting rights as citizens. http://www.korematsuinstitute.org/ And a few weeks later, in conjunction with the JACL Midwest District Conference in Dayton, there was an event at the Dayton Metro Library which had several Hoosier Chapter members in attendance.

The Dayton Library also had artifacts on display based on the “Connecting the Pieces” exhibit https://www.du.edu/ahss/anthropology/museum/exhibits/virtualexhibits/amache/index.html

YOUTHFUL ENTERPRISES JACL has a youth publication that you or someone you know might be interested in: the Nikkei-mashou! Here is the link to see it:

https://us16.campaign-archive.com/?u=2d3acd3e811fa203e713c7ffc&id=7eac09a82c&fbclid=IwAR30WWoQEirw1FOuWj2bTuv5_VcnQyquKGnI9yztr4pi7XdaJJBoWM0x3dQ

The Nikkei-mashou! is put together by the folk on the National Youth / Student Council (NY/SC is the JACL acronym). Here is the link to sign up to get the Nikkei-mashou! sent to you:

https://jacl.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=2d3acd3e811fa203e713c7ffc&id=efc1fa7d11

Our chapter’s own Eric Langowski recently finished his two year term on the NY/SC helping with this sort of thing and more. Speaking of young Asian Americans in Indiana, here is an inspirational article: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/26/meet-rep-chris-chyung-indianas-first-asian-american-state-lawmaker/2300048002/

3

IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR

Congress passed Public Law 102-450 in 1992 which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. Bloomington celebrates the month in April while the students are still in town and had a several activities: https://news.iu.edu/stories/2019/03/iu/releases/25-asian-american-pacific-islander-heritage-month.html

For Asian Heritage Month 2019 in Indiana, the Asian American Alliance hosted the kickoff of Asian Heritage Month 2019 at the Indiana Statehouse in the rotunda on May 1st from 7.45 AM - 10 AM. The event included a special message by Honorable Governor Eric Holcomb followed by an interactive dialogue with IEDC president Elaine Bedel and remarks by Indiana Civil Rights Commission Executive Director Greg Wilson.

Did you know that largest growing segment of Asian American immigrants/refugees in Indiana in recent years is likely the Burmese Americans? https://thebaci.org/about-us/overview/

A NATION OF LAWS

Locally we recently had the opportunity to proactively help our legislators pass an enforceable, inclusive and comprehensive bias/hate crimes law with distinct enumerated classes. They did not exactly proceed with this suggested direction of action. But they did finally take some action:

Added to the list of things that can be aggravating factors:

Then though the legislators did not revise/expand “the list”:

4

ART AND CULTURE AROUND TOWN

Remember from last month’s newsletter that 2019 has a heavy focus on Japanese related exhibits at the Indianapolis Art Museum: https://discovernewfields.org/search?search_paths%5B%5D=&query=Japanese Our Hoosier Chapter will have a program on September 15th at the IMA when five of the exhibits will be on display simultaneously. You don't have to wait until September though; two new exhibits open up in May.

5

HOOSIER CHAPTER BOARD OF MANAGERS MESSAGE

(A note that got misplaced from being published in the March newsletter) The 2018 end of year accounting drew to a close for the JACL Hoosier Chapter and our financial picture had us making more income than we had planned for, mostly due to the tremendous plant sale efforts of Oren Cooley and Yas and Ken Matsumoto. Thanks also to all of you who purchased ornaments at the Holiday Luncheon, the proceeds of which all went to funding our Chapter Programs. Our total Chapter expenses for local programs, organizational expenses, outreach and administrative expenses were only about $750 for 2018; this was about $1,000 less than the total budgetted expenses we had planned to expend. Your Board is looking forward to continuing our Hoosier Chapter programs and activities and appreciates your continuing financial support.

We plan to publish a newsletter every odd numbered month in 2019. If you are unable to get the embedded links in the newsletter to open for you, or can’t find someone with a computer to help you, please let one of us on the Chapter Board know and we can try to help.

ALSO AROUND TOWN …….

The JAS 25th Annual Bon Odori is July 21st 5pm-8pm at the OceanWorld restaurant parking lot: Let’s dance! Or at least walk in a circle and have fun. The Minyo Club of Indianapolis will help lead the celebration. Audience participation is encouraged.

The Bon-Odori Dance is a traditional dance (also one of the most famous and common dances in Japan) done as part of the Obon Holiday in Japan. The Obon holiday is a celebration to honor the spirits of one’s departed ancestors. At this casual summer festival, Japanese often dress up in their summer yukata or jinbei (traditional clothes) and meet their friends and family, dance, listen to traditional music, and eat festival foods.

http://oceanworldsushi.com/2018/04/13/bonn-odori-dance-festival/

A CALL FOR RESEARCH

As sent to us at info@hoosierjacl.org: My name is Marlena Boswell, and I am a PhD Candidate in History at Indiana University, Bloomington. I am currently conducting research for my dissertation, and I am hoping that the Hoosier JACL may be an avenue for finding participants for the oral history portion of my research. I am interested in exploring how multiracial Americans during the 1960s and 1970s related to the racial movements of those decades, and I have a specific interest in individuals who grew up in multiracial families as a result of the US military presence in Japan, Korea, England, and Germany (however, other multiracial Americans may feel free to share their stories as well). If you are interested, please email, Marlena Boswell, at mrb4@indiana.edu or brown.marlena@yahoo.com for more details.

6

HOOSIER CHAPTER JACL CALLS FOR MEMBERSHIP AND/OR DONATIONS...

Hoosier Chapter JACL is a small chapter, and we count on active membership for support and strength. Our chapter is allocated only a small portion of dues paid to National JACL to pay for local cultural and educational programs, supplies, representation at regional and national meetings, scholarships, and community service. Our chapter treasury relies on membership, local fundraising efforts, and donations.

Please become a member of Hoosier Chapter JACL to help us continue chapter and national programs. If you can't join at this time, please consider making a donation to our chapter by tearing off and mailing the bottom half of this page.

Elinor Hanasono Membership Chair Hoosier Chapter JACL

Please also see the attached one-page Hoosier Chapter JACL tri-fold handout attached to the end of this newsletter. This is a new document for us; though there have been other Chapter handouts distributed in the past. Thanks to our Elinor and George Hanasono for their efforts putting together the tri-fold handout. Feel free to share it with a potential new member of the Chapter.

Membership Corner

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mem

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new

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Join

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by

goin

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or b

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(415

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Re

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$ 11

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Th

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JACL MEMBERSHIP FORM Please note: You can also join or renew online at www.jacl.org or by calling (415) 921-5225. STEP 1: PERSONAL INFORMATION ______new or ______returning member JACL chapter: Hoosier Chapter First Name*_______________________________Last Name*____________________________________ Family/Couple name(s)**________________________________________________________________ Address____________________________________________________________________________________ Email* __________________________________________________Phone*_________________________ Email** ______________________________________________Phone**________________________ STEP 2: SELECT MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY (note annual dues) ______ Regular/Individual $ 65 ______ Century Club $ 350 ______ Student/Youth $ 30 ______Millennium Club $1000 ______ Couple/Family $110 ______Thousand Club Life $3000*** ______Thousand Club $200 ______Century Club Life $5000*** ______Thousand Club spouse $ 32 *** one-time payment ______Hoosier Chapter Senior $ 48 STEP 3: PAYMENT INFORMATION: ______Check enclosed, made payable to JACL ______Please charge my credit card: Circle card type: Visa American Express Master Card Discover Card number_________________________________________Expires____________________ Security Code__________ Name as it appears on card______________________________________________________ Billing Address ___________________________________________________________________ Send this form to JACL Membership, P.O. Box 45397, San Francisco, CA 94145 If you do not wish to become a member at this time, please consider making a donation to Hoosier Chapter JACL. JACL is a non-profit, tax exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. For further information regarding Hoosier Chapter JACL, visit hoosierjacl.org. Donation to chapter:____youth scholarship,____public education,____ general fund. Send checks payable to Hoosier JACL to Hoosier JACL, c/o Ron Campbell, 9937 Allisonville Rd, Fishers, IN 46038.