ALTERNATIVE FACTS: The Lies of Executive Order 9066 is a one-hour documentary feature film about the false information and political influences which led to the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans.

ALTERNATIVE FACTS sheds light on the people and politics that influenced the signing of the infamous Executive Order 9066, which authorized the mass incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans. The film exposes the lies used to justify the decision and the cover-up that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. ALTERNATIVE FACTS will also examine the parallels to the current climate of fear, targeting of immigrant communities, and similar attempts to abuse the powers of the government.

To learn more, click here.

Join us for the San Francisco premiere of Jon Osaki’s “Reparations”, hosted by the Booker T. Washington Community Service Center.

Reparations - Reparations explores the four-century struggle to seek repair and atonement for slavery in the United States. Black and Asian Americans reflect on the legacy of slavery, the inequities that persists, and the critical role that solidarity between communities has in acknowledging and addressing systemic racism in America. This story is told by Black and Asian Americans who believe that our collective liberation can only be achieved by standing with one another. Reparations seeks to raise awareness of the Black reparations struggle and how vital it is to healing this country.

Reparations Trailer

Q&A Guests
Jon Osaki, Director and Producer for Reparations

Jon Osaki is an award-winning filmmaker who has directed and produced promotional, educational, narrative, and documentary films. His initial interest in film grew from his desire to share the stories of the Japanese Community Youth Council, where he has served as Executive Director since 1996. Over the past few years, he has had films screened at film festivals and community events across the country. As a filmmaker, Jon views this genre as the next step in his lifelong pursuit of social justice and equity.

Join Stop Repeating History, The National Urban League, The Advancement Project National Office, Race Forward, and APIAHF on 6/15 at 1:30 PM ET for a special #Juneteenth film screening + panel on reparations and allyship featuring national Black and Asian American Leaders.

The short film “Reparations” examines reparations from 2 different but connected perspectives– specifically reparations for the Japanese Americans incarcerated during WW2, the role Black community in achieving reparations for them, and the need to address reparations for the Black community now.

Panelists: 

• Marc Morial, President, National Urban League

• Judith Browne Dianis, Executive Director, Advancement Project

• Glenn Harris, President, Race Forward

• Don Tamaki, California Reparations Task Force Member*

• Jon Osaki, Filmmaker of “Reparations”

Moderator: Mary Smith, Vice President and Managing Director of Programs, APIAHF

RSVP: https://tinyurl.com/JuneteenthWebinar 

*Don is speaking in the webinar in his personal capacity and his remarks does not reflect the messaging from the Task Force

STOP REPEATING HISTORY & Dartmouth Asian Pacific American Alumni Association

Anti-Asian Hate & Systemic Racism
Are we at an inflection point for change?

May 25, 2021 from 7:00 - 8:30 PM ET

The focus of the panel’s discussion will be on the current resurgence of anti-Asian hate/violence and the opportunity it presents for AAPIs to help change systemic racism in America. An underlying theme for the event is “to those whom much has been given, much is expected”; what can Ivy Leaguers do to help make it so?

The FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize and the KIDS FIRST: David L. Kirp Prize will be awarded.

The honorees are Phenocia Bauerle, Director of Native American Student Development at Cal; Boun Khamnouane, Cal alum and Associate Director of East Bay Consortium; and Aurora Lopez and Tabitha Bell, both Cal undergrads.

The event will feature a keynote by Donald K. Tamaki, Senior Counsel at Minami Tamaki LLP: “Am I an American or Not? The Perils to Democracy When Racism Shouts Louder Than Facts, the Rule of Law, and the Constitution.”

More details at http://bit.ly/ISSIprizes2021

Sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues

Co-sponsored by: Asian American Research Center, Center for Research on Social Change, Joseph A. Myers Center for Research on Native American Issues

The program will be centered around the HBO documentary (The Soul of America) of Jon Meacham's book The Soul of America- The Battle for Our Better Angels and the events of January 6 at the nation's Capitol. The book and documentary are Meacham's analysis of the country's recent legal and political crises in light of many previous instances of division (including women's suffrage, Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow, McCarthyism, Japanese American incarceration, among others). Registrants will receive information on how to screen the film and will be invited to join us for a panel discussion with respected legal scholars and practitioners to discuss the role that the law (and lawyers) played in past crises and division and how they can pave the way for "better angels" to prevail to build a more antiracist society and an America that lives up to its ideals.

With Remarks From: 

Hon. Colin Allred, Representative, 32nd Congressional District of Texas

Featuring:

Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean and Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, Emerita, New York Law School; former President of the American Civil Liberties Union
Don Tamaki, Partner, Minami Tamaki LLP; former attorney to Fred Korematsu
Stephen Vladeck, Charles Alan Wright Chair In Federal Courts, University of Texas School of Law; Member, ACS Board of Academic Advisors

Moderated by:

Heaven Chee, Associate, YetterColeman LLP

1.0 hour of Texas CLE and 0.5 hours of Ethics Credit is pending for this event

Stand Together SF: Systemic Racism and How it has Affected the Asian and Black Communities.

Please join The Human Rights Commission as it shares a special screening of Jon Osaki’s film, Systemic Racism in America, followed by a panel discussion featuring special guests: 

• Jon Osaki, Director, Japanese Community Youth Council

• Jenny Lam, Commissioner, SFUSD Board of Education

• Reverend Dr. Amos C. Brown, NAACP and SF’s Third Baptist Church

Register here for this event. Please share this information with your networks and on social media. 
About Stand Together SF: The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbates existing racial disparities–as a community, we are facing multiple pandemics. Now more than ever we need to stand together to fight against racism and discrimination. The disproportionate number of Latinx and American Indian cases of contracting COVID-19; the increase of hate towards the API community, and the call for social justice for Black Lives means we need to stand together. Our liberation is linked. If we are going to end racism we have to be united in our fight!  #StandTogetherSF

Registration link is above and also may be accessed here: https://bit.ly/StandTogetherSFDec9

#StopRepeatingHistory Co-Founders Don Tamaki and Dale Minamito be featured in upcoming HBO Documentary
The Soul of AmericaTuesday - October 27, 2020

THE SOUL OF AMERICA, debuting TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27 (9:00 PM ET) on HBO and HBO Max, follows writer, journalist, historian and prolific presidential biographer Jon Meacham as he offers his timely and invaluable insights into the United States’ current political and historical moment by examining its past.

Based on Meacham’s 2018 bestseller, The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels and produced by Kunhardt Films (Emmy® winner for HBO’s “True Justice: Bryan Stevenson's Fight for Equality”), the film illuminates our current fraught political reality by exploring historical challenges of the past, such as the women’s suffrage movement, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, McCarthyism and the struggle to pass Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s – all instances in which “our better angels” battled against the forces of hatred and division that are recurring themes in American life. The film also chronicles Meacham’s life and career as a journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian as he shares his insights into America’s past and present.
 
Part political documentary, part biography, the film interweaves archival material and interviews with Meacham along with insights from journalists, academics and civil rights activists. Focusing on pivotal moments in our history that reflect America’s longstanding struggles with racism, sexism and xenophobia, Meacham demonstrates how we continue to confront animosity in American politics, economic anxiety, isolationist and nativist tendencies and conspiracy theories. Helping us to better understand the parallels between current events and their historical antecedents, THE SOUL OF AMERICA ultimately gives hope that the lessons of the past may bring the nation closer to achieving its democratic ideals.
 
In addition to extensive interviews with Meacham, the film features insights from historian and author Lisa Tetrault; Jon Meacham’s wife, Keith Smythe Meacham; journalist and author Evan Thomas; civil rights activist Donald Tamaki; actor and activist George Takei; civil rights attorney Dale Minami; civil rights activist Janice Wesley Kelsey; U.S. Representative and civil rights activist John Lewis, who passed away on July 17, 2020; and others.

2020 Connecticut Legal Conference

Then They Came For Us: The Perils of Silence

The documentary -winner of the ABA 2018 Silver Gavel Award - recounts the mass evacuation and internment of Japanese Americans in the western United States.

Schedule:

• Registration: 1:30 PM ET - 2:00 PM ET

• Screening: 2:00 PM ET - 3:00 PM ET

• Panel: 3:00 PM ET - 4:00 PM ET

Panelists:

• Alicia R. Kinsman, Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants

• Karen Korematsu, Fred T. Korematsu Institute

• Donald K. Tamaki, Minami Tamaki

CLE Credit: CT: 2.0 (Ethics) | NY: 2.0 (Diversity & Inclusion)

Cost: $25 including screening and discussion

Combatting Racist Rhetoric, Prejudice and Injustice: Exposing the Lies, Finding the Truth and Implementing Effective Solutions Towards Achieving Racial Justice

Thursday, August 20, 2020

5:00 -6:00 PM PT/ 8:00-9:00 PM ET

Free screening of award-winning documentary feature film, ALTERNATIVE Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066, and panel discussion about the film’s relevance to combatting racist rhetoric, prejudice and injustice today.

Panelists:

• Don Tamaki, Managing Partner, Minami Tamaki

• Manjusha P. Kulkarni, Executive Director, Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON)

• Jody D. Armour, Professor, USC Gould School of Law

• Rachel Brown, Founder and Executive Director, Over Zero

• Catherine Endo Chuck, President, JABA (Moderator)

Hosted by:

• Japanese American Bar Association

• Orange County Asian American Bar Association

• Stop Repeating History

ALTERNATIVE FACTS: The Lies of Executive Order 9066 Screening and Stop Repeating History: WWII Incarceration and the Parallels to Today Discussion

Hosted by: Tadaima Virtual Pilgrimage

Panelists:

• Jon Osaki, Director, ALTERNATIVE FACTS

• Karen Korematsu, Founder and Executive Director, Fred T. Korematsu Institute

• Lorraine Bannai, Director, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

• Wendy Tokuda, Bay Area Broadcaster (Moderator)

Panel 1: Xenophobic Scapegoating

Don Tamaki & Erika Lee

What spurs people to use phrases such as "China virus" or "Kung Flu"? What's the reason behind the fear of immigrants in American? Asian American professors and lawyers who have played key roles in defining, and defending, Asian American history will speak on scapegoating and its consequences.

Panel 2: Dangers to Democracy

Dale Minami & Bill Ong Hing 

As social and political movements incorporate digital platforms, there is a new aspect to freedom of speech that is highly contested. What are the dangers to our democracy as future generations grow increasingly dependent on social media and the internet to consume information and create social change? 

Panel 3: Pathways to Racial Justice & Inclusion

Helen Zia & Konrad Ng

Protests have claimed the main narrative of today's civil rights movement, but not everyone is made for the streets. Historians and activists join us today to speak on other ways to achieve racial justice and inclusion. 

On July 14, the ACS Columbus Lawyer Chapter and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Central Ohio hosted a panel discussion concerning the film ALTERNATIVE FACTS: The Lies of Executive Order 9066.

ALTERNATIVE FACTS tells the story of false information and political influence that led to the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans and the Supreme Court case of Korematsu, the case of Korematsu, a horrifically-decided case that upheld the constitutionality of the internment of Japanese-Americans. It also examines the parallels to the targeting of minority groups today and similar attempts to abuse the powers of government.

Our distinguished panelists shared reflections on the documentary and connected the lessons of Korematsu to the present. Judge Chen was appointed by President Obama to the federal bench in May 2011 after an illustrious career, including work as a staff attorney at the ACLU, where he specialized in language discrimination cases. Among many other impactful accomplishments, Don Tamaki served on the legal team that reopened the 1944 Korematsu case, overturning Fred Korematsu’s criminal conviction for defying the removal of Japanese Americans. Finally, Dahlia Lithwick speaks frequently on criminal justice reform, reproductive freedom, and religion in the courts, and her columns and podcast untangle the most complex legal issues of our time.

Introductory Remarks:

Anna Sanyal, Member, ACS Columbus Lawyer Chapter Board of Directors and Immediate Past President, Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Central Ohio

Featuring:

The Honorable Edward M. Chen, District Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Donald K. Tamaki, Managing Partner, Minami Tamaki

Moderated by:

Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor and Legal Correspondent, Slate: Host, Amicus Podcast; Recipient, 2018 ACS Progressive Champion Award