<Begin Segment 6>

EK: So, yeah, well, if you don't have anything else to add onto that, I'm super excited because these next questions were created or developed by me with the help of Kyle. And I just want to say, first of all, I enjoyed reading everything that I could find on you on the internet. Just like constantly looking for more and more articles, even if they weren't used to create questions, I genuinely enjoyed reading and just about you. So no more of me rambling, but I guess just the first question that, through these, through my interest in reading about you, is that serving as the president twice for the Seattle JACL chapter -- that could be wrong, but I am aware that you have served as the president -- what has this position meant to you? And how has being in this position helped you achieve your overarching goals of advancing justice for individuals who experience discrimination such as BIPOC communities, the LGBTQIA+ groups, and just marginalized individuals?

BT: Well, that's a good question. So, yeah, I love our incoming president this year and I'm sure he knows what I'm talking about is sometimes you don't think about being president and you don't think about what that's going to mean. And it's, there's an excitement about it, but there's also a tremendous apprehension. What it meant to me first -- and I really mean this -- I was very cognizant of what a big honor that was to be president. And in our old JACL office, when you walked in, it was -- we had a long meeting table. But along the wall was the pictures of every president that we've had since 1921. And when you looked at that wall, you saw everybody who was anybody in Seattle and you realize you felt like they were all watching you. [Laughs] And you realize you have a big responsibility to carry on their tradition and to uphold the organization. So what it meant to me was, was not to goof up, but try to do my best and advance JACL. And I think we did that. It was, it was a challenge, but I think that we faced everything very well.

What it meant to advance social justice issues and minority communities, that was, that's an easy thing to answer because if you're a member of Seattle JACL, you are definitely, that's part of your, the reason why you're there. I mean, and it was in 2004, they were still battling the remnants of 9/11. Seeing why we need to remember our heritage, a legacy of incarceration, because the same thing was happening to Arab American and Muslim Americans, it was the same stereotyping, the same racism, the same accusations without any type of proof or anything like this. And it was just -- basically it was just pure racism. And it was... what was interesting about it was you could see how racism is ingrained in hysteria and how hysteria and the fear of the unknown just feeds these irrational feelings, and you realize how important it is to just, to bring it back to a personal basis. And I think that one thing we did and it was -- it wasn't my work as much as our civil rights committee, for example. We, they did work on recognizing... there was a family called the Hamudi family, a Somali family in the south end that was being deprived of food stamps. They ran a store, they couldn't accept food stamps anymore, and how that devastated their family. And so bringing this issue from racism and the fear of a terrorist to an individual family, it was easier for the community to see, wait a minute, let's think about what's going on. Because actions have consequences and this is what's happening to this innocent family with their kids. So, that was one thing that I was proud of the chapter. The part about the LGBT community, you know, I would never classify myself as an activist because I know too many people that are activists for the LGBT community, and that would be [inaudible] their efforts to put me in that same class. But I will say that I am a proud gay person and I volunteer and speak up when I need to, yeah.

EK: Perfect, thank you.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2022 Seattle Chapter JACL. All Rights Reserved.