By RONALD IKEJIRI
Karl Nobuyuki, former national executive director of JACL, passed away on Oct. 5, 2024. Ronald Ikejiri served as JACL’s Washington representative from 1978 to 1984.
Karl Nobuyuki represents the energy and momentum of the 1970s Sansei in the movement to right the constitutional and emotional wrongs because of Executive Order 9066. As the executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, Karl provided leadership in a way that is often not recognized.
In May of 1978, Karl came to Los Angeles to interview me for the position of the JACL Washington representative position. One of the key issues we discussed in that first meeting was the congressional approach to the redress legislation. Karl believed that at the JACL Convention in Salt Lake City in June of 1978, there would be consensus in moving forward with some form of redress petition to the U.S. government in Washington, D.C.
Karl promised me that if I accepted the position, he would block and open holes in the obstacles that would face a national legislative effort. He told me to “consider me a lineman, opening a hole in the scrimmage line so that we can help the Nikkei members of Congress score legislative touchdowns.”
Karl was the national executive director of the JACL during a time of transition of leadership from the Nisei to the Sansei, and the Nisei were not ready to pass the torch to the Sansei.
Nonetheless, Karl in his “out-of-the-box,” creative way of presenting solutions, was able to secure the support of the JACL National Board leadership, with Dr. Clifford Uyeda as president, Redress Director John Tateishi; and regional staff Bill Yoshino (from Chicago), John Saito (from Los Angeles), George Kondo (from San Francisco), and active JACL leaders from New York to Seattle.
After I accepted the appointment as the Washington representative, Karl opened doors quickly for me in July of 1978, and we paid courtesy calls to Congressman Norman Mineta and Sens. Daniel Inouye and Sparks Matsunaga’s offices, and of course Mike Masaoka, the former Washington representative during World War II and the most influential nonelected Japanese American in America at the time in Washington, D.C.
Separately, I met with Sen. S.I. Hayakawa and Bob Matsui, who was not yet a member of Congress in July 1978.
As additional support and “blockers,” Karl also created a JACL Washington Office advisory board with Cherry Tsutsumida, HHS administrator; K. Patrick Okura, National Institutes of Health; Lily Okura, Corp. for Public Broadcasting; Kaz Oshiki, chief of staff for Congressman Robert Kastenmier of Wisconsin; and Harry Takagi, former interim Washington representative.
In addition, I had the benefit of an informal advisory group composed of established Washington “hands” — Frank Sato, inspector general, Department of Transporation; Hideki Hamamoto, General Dynamics; David Nikaido, international U.S.-Japan lawyer; and Dr. Ray Murakami.
In 1979, the JACL Redress Committee requested that a meeting of the Nikkei members of Congress be held, and it was at this meeting that the first steps toward redress began with the consensus to push for congressional legislation for the creation of a commission to study the wartime relocation and internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry. Karl was at the meeting with Clifford Uyeda and John Tateishi. At that time, no one knew the historical significance of that meeting.
While not widely accepted or received by most advocates of redress, the presidential commission approach signed by President Jimmy Carter proved to be the pathway for the eventual passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Without the commission report’s findings that a grave injustice was placed upon those effected by EO 9066 because of “racial prejudice, wartime hysteria and a failure of political leadership,” redress would not have been established.
During the uproar and rejection of the initial commission approach, Karl took the hits and did his job as the lineman so that little by little a consensus in support of the commission was achieved in the Japanese American community.
It has been 46 years since my first meeting with Karl. Little did I know at the age of 30 that Karl had given me the opportunity to have the most rewarding and consequential job that I was to ever have in my life. Thank you, Karl, for allowing me to join you on your remarkable life journey. Your efforts have made an endearing difference for all of us.