Densho Digital Archive - Randy Senzaki Interview (denshovh-srandy-01-0003)

<Begin Segment 3>

FA: The Japanese American Citizens League says it's a civil rights organization, stands for justice and civil rights. Is it?

RS: It was, I think at one time, at least for the brief moment I was there, the fifteen months I was national director. Although the staff was really besieged and had been criticized severely through the newspaper, maligned actually, by the newspaper. The efforts and the things they were doing were for civil rights. I mean, we were there. I mean, I was there when they bombed Sacramento, I was able to... I feel support there, that community and finding the perpetrator that bombed the JACL office and all the other organizations up there, civil rights organizations. We fought for Bruce Yamashita.

[Interruption]

FA: After all that, Randy, JACL says it's a civil rights organization. After your experience with them, do you really think it is? And use the word, start your answer with the JACL is or is not,

RS: The JACL is not currently a civil rights organization. It's getting to look more and more like a senior citizens' social club. I hate to say that but that's the truth. And it's not dealing with the issues that are impacting on Asian Pacific Americans and all people of color, actually, right now. It's a very difficult, dangerous time in our society when leadership is needed by the Japanese American Citizens League. It needs to, to lend a voice and to, let's say, quote/unquote "walk point" for all of our brothers and sisters of, who are recently arrived immigrants of all Asian nationalities who need our leadership. We've struggled with this, with the institutions here for how many years, JACL, since at least since 1929, so I think we're in a position where we need to pass that on and share that in a larger Asian Pacific American community context.

FA: Do you think that what you did at the Salt Lake City convention to bring the resisters there had anything to do with your firing?

RS: I think, I think what it did was set a stage and stirred the waters up so that people would become more concerned, and that became an issue. It wasn't, I don't think that if it was properly dealt with through the paper, and with the board going back and educating their communities and their districts they came from, that we could have made that transition. But it was waved like a red flag in front of the membership and that's what happened, and I think they wanted to find issues to polarize and divide the JACL against the progressive memberships who were thinking about civil rights and the future for all of us.

FA: Let me just ask that again, and maybe shorten that a bit, Randy. Tell me again what you did in Salt Lake City, tell me that you brought the resisters to Salt Lake City and what happened to you.

RS: I think that the two things were that we brought the resisters to Salt Lake City, they had a chance to very personally and emotionally and in a very human context talk about what the experience meant to them. And that moved me as well as many people there. I wish they would have taken the next step and formally apologized and admitted that there were some wrongs that we want to right. [Interruption] Secondly, I think when we brought to the convention floor the issue of the same-sex marriage -- and remember, one chapter wanted to revoke that stand that was taken by a prior, the prior board -- but we were able to bring members of the gay community to the convention floor to testify along with Congressman Norm Mineta, who made a very eloquent statement about JACL not being afraid and, and having the strength to take a risk for civil rights. And the issue of the same sex-marriage I think really kinda, like, stirred up a lot of denial in the Asian, Japanese American community. Because if we're talking about our children and our children's children, our grandchildren, irregardless of their sexuality, they're human beings, and I think as a civil rights organization, we needed to take that stand also. Those two issues, I think, contributed to the membership feeling that we're going too far out on civil rights for this organization, and it ultimately led to, I think, a separation of the staff from the rest of the organization.