Japanese American Service Committee Urges Congress to Authorize Funding for Japanese American Confinement Sites NPS Grants;
Continuance of Funding Vital to Telling Story of Incarceration and Civil Rights
The Japanese American Service Committee (JASC) strongly urges all Americans to contact their congressional leaders to encourage the continued funding of the National Park Service’s (NPS) Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) grants in the current federal budget proposals.
The Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) Grants Program is vitally important in funding projects related to the Japanese American concentration camps which held over 120,000 Japanese Americans unjustly incarcerated and deprived of their civil and human rights during World War II.
Through the past several years, these JACS grants have helped to educate and inform hundreds of thousands of Americans about the tragedy of Japanese American incarceration, and have raised awareness of constitutional freedoms and the need for civic engagement.
The latest budget proposal released by President Trump has proposed to cut funding for this critically important program, and in doing so, will limit educational efforts by the Japanese American community and other Americans to raise awareness of this important historical wrong.
“Funding from these programs has been crucial for local and national efforts to tell the story of the many Japanese American families and community members that were impacted by forced displacement and incarceration,” stated Michael Takada, CEO of the JASC.
“As Americans we must continue to recognize the importance of transmitting the story of Japanese American incarceration to a new generation of young people,” stated Takada. “Funding for the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program of the National Park Service will be essential for telling this story.”
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