February 2022

Remembrance Day and the Case for Reparations

Dear AAPIPers,

February kicked off Lunar New Year and Black History Month. We hope you feel reinvigorated and connected to loved ones and community, and continue carrying that spirit with you, particularly as horrific incidents of anti-Asian violence (more often targeting Asian women) and anti-Blackness (particularly against Black men) continue. At AAPIP, our hearts wrench every time we witness senseless acts of hate and violence like these.

In this month's issue of AAPIP Connect is Reparations Through Philanthropy: The Okura Mental Health Leadership Foundation, a piece authored by Karen L. Ishizuka, Ph.D., president of Okura Mental Health Leadership Foundation. In the piece, Dr. Ishizuka writes, "This year, on the 80th anniversary of EO 9066, Japanese Americans not only remember our maltreatment, but also ardently call for the passage of H.R. 40 to study and develop reparations for African Americans, because we know from experience that it is not simply a bureaucratic performance, but is a concrete path towards restorative justice – as the Okura Mental Health Leadership Foundation bears witness." 

Lastly, AAPIP is looking for members who are interested in helping us develop our Leadership for Racial Justice Program! The Leadership for Racial Justice program is intended to be an enduring and evolving part of AAPIP’s work with its members. You are invited to help shape the core concepts, critical connections, and understanding of history and current issues to promote the individual and collective action we need to take in philanthropy. Fill out this form by March 1st if you'd like to collaborate with us on it!

In community,

The AAPIP Team

Written by Karen L. Ishizuka, Ph.D.
February 16, 2022

Our mission is to improve the mental health and quality of life for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and other disadvantaged populations by promoting training, research and services and developing national and international leadership. Certainly, in this age of Asian hate and racial reckoning – exacerbated by the psychological liabilities of a staggering pandemic – the interconnection between well-being and civil rights cannot be ignored.

This year, on the 80th anniversary of EO 9066, Japanese Americans not only remember our maltreatment, but also ardently call for the passage of H.R. 40 to study and develop reparations for African Americans, because we know from experience that it is not simply a bureaucratic performance, but is a concrete path towards restorative justice – as the Okura Mental Health Leadership Foundation bears witness. There are now an unprecedented number of co-sponsors for H.R. 40. What is needed now is to contact House Leadership – Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy – to bring it to vote. Let’s all be the most dangerous AAPIs in the country. As John Lewis admonished, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.”

WHAT WE'RE READING

• Program Coordinator
• Associate Director, Communications
• Program Analyst, Children, Families and Communities
• Senior Program Officer, Housing
• Grants Administrator/Office Manager

THANKING AAPIP'S SUPPORTERS

Advancing racial equity will take all of us.