The Japanese American Citizens League is a left-of-center organization that claims to be the voice of Japanese Americans. ¹ The organization advocates for racial preferences in college admissions, ² slavery reparations for African Americans, ³ and liberalizing U.S. immigration laws. ⁴

Introduction

The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) was founded in 1937 to defend the civil rights of Japanese Americans. ⁵ The organization is perhaps most notable for campaigning for legislation to pay restitution to surviving citizens subjected to President Franklin Roosevelt’s World War II-era policy of relocating and interning American citizens of Japanese birth or ethnicity; legislation granting roughly 60,000 former internees $20,000 each in restitution passed in the 1980s. ⁶

Finances

In 2021, JACL received $1,642,679 in contributions, ⁷ $3,518,723 in total revenue, ⁸ incurred $1,965,735 in expenses, ⁹ and held $15,801,018 in net assets. ¹⁰

Contemporary Advocacy

Slavery Reparations

Japanese American Citizens League supports federal legislation that would provide concrete research on the feasibility and scope of a nationwide, federal scale reparations policy for African Americans. ¹¹ The legislation was first introduced by former Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) in 1989 and is today sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX). ¹²

Immigration

JACL has lobbied for the repeal of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (AEA), a law which allows the President of the United States to apprehend, detain, and remove foreign nationals of enemy nations located within the United States during wartime. ¹³ The law was used during World War II to detain Japanese nationals and Japanese American citizens. ¹⁴

JACL has supported Representative Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) Neighbors Not Enemies Act, a bill that would repeal the AEA. ¹⁵ JACL criticized the Trump administration for using the AEA as legal support for denying citizens of certain countries the administration claimed were terrorist-compromised entry into the United States. ¹⁶

Black Lives Matter

During the 2021 JACL national convention the organization passed a resolution in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. ¹⁷

The resolution resolved that whereas there has been “longstanding violence and racism against Black communities implies that Black lives are devalued,” it is not sufficient for JACL to not be racist, and that the organization must actively work to challenge racist attitudes within the Japanese American society and challenge “racist attitudes, programs, policies and systems” that African American communities, according to JACL, live under. ¹⁸

The same resolution expressed support for the BREATH Act, ¹⁹ a bill that would divest federal funding for policing and divert such funds to community-based approaches to crime reduction and which has been labeled as a “radical reimagining of public safety.” ²⁰

Affirmative Action

JACL denounced the Supreme Court for its determination in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina that both private and public universities violate the equal protection clause of the constitution by using race as a consideration in the college admissions process. ²¹

Leadership

As of 2023, David Inoue was the executive director of Japanese American Citizens League, prior to joining the organization Inoue was the administrative director of Christ House, a medical shelter for homeless men in Washington, D.C. ²²

Inoue has previously worked as a government relations analyst for the medical hospital lobby, the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems. ²³

1. “Mission.” Japanese American Citizens League. https://jacl.org/mission
2. “JACL Denounces June 30th Supreme Court Decisions.” Japanese American Citizens League. June 30, 2023. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://jacl.org/statements/jacl-denounces-june-30th-supreme-court-decisions
3. “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act (H.R. 40/S 40).” Japanese American Citizens League. https://jacl.org/hr40
4. “The Neighbors Not Enemies Act.” Japanese American Citizens League. https://jacl.org/nnea
5. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Japanese American Citizens League. 2021. Part I, Line 1.
6. “History.” JACL. Accessed August 22, 2023. https://jacl.org/history.
7. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Japanese American Citizens League. 2021. Part I, Line 8.
8. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Japanese American Citizens League. 2021. Part I, Line 12.
9. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Japanese American Citizens League. 2021. Part I, Line 18.
10. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Japanese American Citizens League. 2021. Part I, Line 22.
11. ^[1] “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act (H.R. 40/S 40).” Japanese American Citizens League. https://jacl.org/hr40
12. “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act (H.R. 40/S 40).” Japanese American Citizens League. https://jacl.org/hr40
13. “The Neighbors Not Enemies Act.” Japanese American Citizens League. https://jacl.org/nnea
14. “The Neighbors Not Enemies Act.” Japanese American Citizens League. https://jacl.org/nnea
15. “The Neighbors Not Enemies Act.” Japanese American Citizens League. https://jacl.org/nnea
16. “The Neighbors Not Enemies Act.” Japanese American Citizens League. https://jacl.org/nnea
17. “A RESOLUTION OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE JAPANESE AMERICAN CITIZENS LEAGUE RELATING TO SUPPORT FOR THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT.” Japanese American Citizens League. July 18, 2021. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e8e0d3e848b7a506128dddf/t/60f5d3f8278e6e621e651a2f/1626723320667/R-1_As+Adopted.pdf
18. “A RESOLUTION OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE JAPANESE AMERICAN CITIZENS LEAGUE RELATING TO SUPPORT FOR THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT.” Japanese American Citizens League. July 18, 2021. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e8e0d3e848b7a506128dddf/t/60f5d3f8278e6e621e651a2f/1626723320667/R-1_As+Adopted.pdf
19. “A RESOLUTION OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE JAPANESE AMERICAN CITIZENS LEAGUE RELATING TO SUPPORT FOR THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT.” Japanese American Citizens League. July 18, 2021. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e8e0d3e848b7a506128dddf/t/60f5d3f8278e6e621e651a2f/1626723320667/R-1_As+Adopted.pdf
20. Rogers, Kirsten. “The BREATHE Act offers a radical reimagining of public safety” iGNiTE. May 19, 2021. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://ignitenational.org/blog/the-breathe-act-offers-a-radical-reimagining-of-public-safety
21. “JACL Denounces June 30th Supreme Court Decisions.” Japanese American Citizens League. June 30, 2023. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://jacl.org/statements/jacl-denounces-june-30th-supreme-court-decisions
22. “David Inoue.” LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-inoue
23. “David Inoue.” LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-inoue