Current Projects
VISION
As a national civil rights organization, JACL strives to secure equal treatment and social justice ofr all.
​
MISSION
The Japanese American Citizens League is a nation organization whose mission is to secure and safeguard the civil and human rights of Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and all communities who are affected by injustice and bigotry. The leaders and members of the JACL also work to promote and preserve the heritage and legacy of the Japanese American Community.
​
JACL ALASKA will focus on the following national goals at the local level:
​
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Goal:
To build and support grassroots mobilizations and policy reforms for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) at the national, state and local levels that ensure the full attainment of civil liberties and equal access to the social, political and economic resources in our society.
​
LEADERSHIP
Goal:
To develop and continue to support new generation leaders from within our communities who will strengthen JACL's ability to lead, advocate, build coalitions and sustain the core values of our organization.
​
EDUCATION
Goal:
To use the Japanese American experience of incarceration during WWII as one example of how hysteria and fear can wrongfully victimize any minority group.
​
SOCIAL MEDIA
Goal:
Utilize social media to improve public visibility of JACL's activities and strengthen the JACL brand by engaging existing members and attracting new audiences with compelling content that is relevant to Japanese Americans, AAPIs and all Americans interested in promoting social justice.
​
MEMBERSHIP
Goal:
To increase, to diversify and to maintain the current membership base of JACL.
Fort Richardson Internment Camp (FRIC) Project
The Alaska Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League recently learned of what appears to have been a temporary WWII camp on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. We learned of Fort Richardson Internment Camp (FRIC) through Morgan Blanchard and his company, Northern Land Use Research Alaska, LLC (NLURA) when they were undertaking a Level II Cultural Resources Survey for Jacobs Engineering Group. Morgan shared an aerial photograph that had an outline of a former building, but much of the area has been developed since the FRIC was closed.
Through Morgan's efforts to obtain additional information documenting the FRIC, the project yielded a historic context for the site which included a list of the foreign nationals arrested in Alaska during WWII, a history of the camp, and a history of almost all of the individuals known to have been interned at Fort Richardson in 1941 ad 1942.
Although NLURA concluded that the FRIC is not eligible for listing on the National Registry of Historic Places (NRHP), due to lack of integrity of the site, the existence of the Camp is part of Alaska's recorded history. Our Chapter would like to undertake a project to establish a memorial on the site, and apply for the National Park Service grant program under the Japanese American Confinement Sites. We are also working to obtain records from the National Archies on the individuals who were temporarily placed at JBER to preserve and share this history.
Member Biographies
In order to celebrate and preserve legacies of Alaska Chapter members of JACL, we will begin compiling biographies of our current and past members.
Day of Remembrance 2019 - Sugihara Exhibit
February 19, 2019
JACL Alaska Chapter will collaborate with the Alaska Jewish Museum for 2019 Day of Remembrance - Sugihara Exhibit.