Volunteers Needed at Day of Remembrance - 2/21/10

For any of you interested and available, Nakayoshi has been asked to provide volunteers to serve as VIP escorts at the Bay Area Day of Remembrance this Sunday, February 21 at the Sundance Kabuki Theater in San Francisco Japantown from 11:00am to 4:00pm.

The following is information for the volunteer shift:

11:00am - Volunteer Orientation @ Sundance Kabuki Theater

11:30am - VIP's arrive for program rehearsal, volunteer shift begins

12:00pm - Program Rehearsal

1:30pm - Theater door open to general public

2:00pm - Day of Remembrance Program Begins

4:00pm - Program ends, candlelight procession to reception and refreshments at JCCCNC

4:45pm - (optional) Assist with cleanup of reception

Dress code for volunteers is business casual. If you have questions or would like to volunteer, please e-mail nakayoshi.ncwnp@gmail.com by Friday, February 19, 2010. Thanks! Hope to see you guys there!

2010 Bay Area Day of Remembrance

BAY AREA DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2010
Dreams Interrupted, Dreams Fulfilled

San Francisco, CA -- The annual Bay Area Day of Remembrance (DOR) commemoration will take place on Sunday, February 21, 2010, 2 p.m., in San Francisco Japantown at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, with reception to follow at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California.

This year's Day of Remembrance theme, "Dreams Interrupted, Dreams Fulfilled," recognizes the honorary degrees recently awarded to Japanese Americans whose educations were disrupted by the relocation and internment of the Japanese American community during WWII, and to the enduring value the community places on receiving an education. The 2010 Day of Remembrance will be MC’d by KTVU Channel 2 News reporter Jana Katsuyama, with a keynote by California State Assemblyman Warren Furutani, author of CA Assembly Bill 37, granting honorary degrees to the Nisei who were removed from their educational pursuits. This year's program will also feature the presentation of the 2010 Clifford Uyeda Peace and Humanitarian Award to distinguished human and civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama. Additionally, the Purple Moon Dance Project, choreographed by Jill Togawa, will perform excerpts of their work, "When Dreams are Interrupted,” revisiting the forced removal of the Berkeley Japanese community in 1942.

DOR has been an annual inspiring expression of the Japanese American community's vitality. Through cultural presentations, education and a candle lighting ceremony, the event commemorates the incarceration of over 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II. In post 9/11 years, as the nation has struggled through war abroad and other communities have been targeted as “the enemy,” DOR has also become a time for diverse communities to stand together to carry the light for justice and reaffirm a united commitment to civil and human rights today.

The traditional candle lighting ceremony will feature a diverse array of community volunteers and advocates, and include shakuhachi music by Masayuki Koga. The program will close with an Interfaith Gathering and Procession, led by the Japanese American Religious Federation from the theater to the Japanese Cultural and Community Center, where a reception will conclude the day.

The Bay Area Day of Remembrance program is organized annually by the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium, with support from various Japanese American and Asian American community organizations throughout the Bay Area, including: Asian Improv aRts, Asian Law Caucus, API Legal Outreach, Japanese American Religious Federation, Japanese Community Youth Council, Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project, Campaign for Justice – Redress Now for Japanese Latin Americans, Center for Asian American Media, Nakayoshi Young Professionals, National Coalition for Redress & Reparations, National Japanese American Historical Society, Tule Lake Committee, San Francisco JACL Chapter and the UC Berkeley Nikkei Student Union (partial list).

Tickets prices are $15 (door); $12 (advance); and group rates $10 (for 10 or more in advance). Call NJAHS for tickets at: (415) 921-5007.
Tickets can also be purchased online at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/99800

For more information, visit: http://www.dayofremembrance.org/

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Needed to Apply for California's New Redistricting Commission - Deadline Feb 12th

The East Bay Asian Voter Education Consortium (EBAVEC) is outreaching to the API community regarding the citizen's commission that will be in charge of redistricting in 2011.

As of now, the "California redistricting commission may have no people of color" warned an op-ed by Pete Carrillo of Silicon Valley Advisors and Orson Aguilar of the Greenlining Institute published Jan. 16 in the San Jose Mercury News.

An Associated Press article on Jan. 26 highlighted the low numbers:·

So far, fewer than a quarter of the applications ... are from minority candidates in a state where non-Hispanic whites make up less than half the population.

• "Hispanics make up fewer than 9 percent of the applicants, although they count for almost 37 percent of the state's population."


• "Barely over 4 percent of the applicants are Asians, who make up more than 12 percent of the state's population ..."


• "The proportion of tentatively eligible black applicants, about 7 percent, is roughly on par with that group's 6 percent share of the population ..."

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Please spread the word and encourage your family and friends to also apply. Check out http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/ for more info

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Needed to Apply for California's New Redistricting Commission - Deadline to Apply Is February 12, 2010

Every ten years, we draw new district maps for Congress, the California legislature, county boards of supervisors, and city councils. When we redraw the maps every ten years, we change the boundaries so that each district contains the same number of people. This process is called redistricting.

The next time redistricting will happen is in 2011, and because California voters passed Proposition 11 in 2008, there will be a major change in who draws the maps. Proposition 11 creates a new commission made up of citizens. In 2011, the commission will draw new maps for the state legislature and Board of Equalization. Before Proposition 11, the state legislature drew these maps.

Why does this matter? In past redistrictings, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities have been fragmented by district boundaries. For example, in the 2001 redistricting, the San Jose neighborhood of Berryessa was split among four State Assembly districts, even though over half of Berryessa's population is AAPI.District boundaries that split AAPI communities like this weaken the political voice of AAPI communities. When AAPI communities are fragmented, they do not make up a significant portion of any one district. This diminishes their ability to get their elected representatives to address their needs.The commission will play an important role in determining whether AAPI communities are again fragmented unfairly in 2011, or instead kept whole. To make sure that the commission takes AAPI communities into account, we need the right people on the commission - individuals who are civic-minded, come from diverse backgrounds, and understand community needs.

Who will be on the commission? The commission will have 14 members who are selected from people who apply to be on the commission.
The application process is open to the public. Anyone can apply as long as they meet the minimum requirements to be on the commission, such as being a registered voter and having voted in at least two of the last three statewide general elections (November 2004, November 2006, and November 2008). There are also some rules that exclude some people from being eligible for commission if they have a so-called conflict of interest, as well as some restrictions on the future political activities of individuals once they are appointed to the commission.

What will the commission do? The commission will hold public meetings across California to listen to testimony from residents about their communities and neighborhoods. Based on data it gathers, the commission will draw new district maps for the State Assembly, State Senate, and the Board of Equalization (an elected state tax agency).The commissioners are paid $300 per day when doing commission business. The main period of activity for the commission will be from January 2011 to September 2011. The commissioners can expect to work between 10 to 40 hours per week.

The deadline to apply for the commission is February 12, 2010. You can find more information about the commission and the application process at http://www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov/.

What can you do to help? You may be the right person for the commission - or you may know someone who is. The East Bay Asian Voter Education Consortium (EBAVEC) can be a resource for you - they are working with a statewide network of AAPI organizations to help people learn more about the commission and how to apply.

Please check the website for eligibility: http://www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov/downloads/eligibility_requirements.pdf

Upcoming workshops include:

Date: Saturday February 6th, from 2:00-4:00pm
Location: East Bay Asian Youth Center (EBAYC)2025 East 12th StreetOakland, CA 94606
Please RSVP to Jennifer Pae at jennpae@gmail.com.

To see a list of other workshops and learn more about the network, you can go to www.facebook.com/capafr2011.If you have suggestions for people who might be good applicants for the commission, please contact EBAVEC or APALC at redistricting@apalc.org.

Nakayoshi's 2nd Annual Ski Trip - Sign up Today!

The information and details for Nakayoshi's 2nd Annual Ski Trip is finally here!

If you're interested, hurry and reserve your spot today, we're capping this year's trip to 30 people! The trip dates are Friday, February 26th - Sunday, February 28th.

Our cabin is located in North Lake Tahoe and we'll be snowboarding/skiing again at Northstar.We'll be staying in a beautiful 5 bedroom/3 bathroom cabin. We provide Saturday night dinner and Sunday morning breakfast. Ski lift tickets are included (if you are paying for Option A - see below) and does not include ski/snowboarding equipment rentals.

We'll be arriving in Tahoe on Friday evening, spending most of the day in the snow on Saturday, activities will be organized for Saturday evening and we'll be leaving Sunday afternoon at 12:00pm (unless you'd like to stay on your own to ski/snowboard).

It should be a fun trip this year! If interested in attending, please let us know if you're available to be a driver and if you're available to carpool other people. Parking spaces are limited at the cabin.

Cost: There are two separate packages available for this year's trip. Option A for those who want to snowboard and ski, and Option B f those who want to hang out and have a great time bonding with Nakayoshi members.

Price includes the cabin for 2 nights, gas/carpool money group lift tickets, a Saturday night dinner and Sunday morning breakfast.

Option A- For those that want to snowboard and ski, cost includes lift ticket. TOTAL: $113.68

Option B- For those who don't want to snowboard/ski, but want to hang out. TOTAL: $66.68

*Please note: Rental equipment will be on a per person basis. They are not included in these packages.

For those interested in attending this year's ski trip, email nakayoshi.ncwnp@gmail.com to reserve your spot.