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President's Message
Leon
Kimura ,
2010 Chapter President
It
has been an interesting 3-months since the last Outlook, and in
the realm of Civil Rights and Civic Engagement the San Jose JACL
has been busy staying involved in issues that impact our community.
On a local level and at a pragmatic scale, we have been actively
participating within the system to help select the new Independent
Police Auditor (IPA), retired Judge LaDoris Cordell. We had the
opportunity to sit with our new IPA at our June meeting of the
Asian Pacific Islander Justice Coalition (APIJC) where she explained
the actions she has taken during the fist 30 days of the new job.
It is apparent through her actions such as pre-committing to release
the investigation report of the IPA Office regarding an alleged
information "leak", that Judge Cordell has a high personal
level of integrity and i committed to transparency in her office
of the IPA. We are pursuing additional opportunities to remain
engaged with the IPA to assist as appropriate to help ensure fair
and equitable treatment for all in the realm of local law enforcement.
On a broader scale, the new Arizona law allowing racial profiling
was the topic of intense discussions by the National Board who
voted on May 17, 2010, to sign on as a plaintiff in a class action
suit challenging the constitutionality of Aizona Senate Bill 1070
(SB1070), which is scheduled to go into effect on July 28, 2010.
The JA community has a particularly keen insight and added value
to the discussion of racial profiling in the name of national
security. I took the opportunity to address the San Jose City
Council as they were deliberating whether to take an action against
SB1070 and I applauded their courage to take a stand on the issue.
They voted to join the County of Santa Clara in an amicus brief
against the Arizona law. The vote was not unanimous.
And locally, the Chapter's Board of Directors conducted a healthy
discussion and vote on the Arizona issues at our June Board Meeting
in preparation of our Delegates attendance at the National Convention.
The Arisona JACL Chapter was bringing a Resolution to the floor
opposing the Arizona law which was adopted on July 3, 2010 at
the Convention. Neither votes were unanimous.
So listening to the varying opinions expressed regarding SB1070
showed some of the deep seated beliefs that we all have and that
issues are not always black and white nor can they be when the
plethora of human emotions and experiences color our perspectives.
We can learn to appreciate the value we each bring and trust that
the collective wisdom will prevail in a democratic process. And
thank you Arizona for enabling us all to flex our minds...
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