Tateishi, who has devoted more than 25 years of his life to involvement with Asian American communities and their issues, will speak at 7 p.m. in Gemperle Lecture Hall, Room 167 of Demergasso-Bava Hall. Admission is free. CSU Stanislaus is located at One University Circle, off Monte Vista Avenue, in Turlock. For more information, contact Nancy Taniguchi at 383-5161.
"Justice in America: Japanese-American Redress and its 9/11 Ramifications" is the title of Tateishi's presentation. The program is co-sponored by the Departments of History, Anthropology, Ethnic/Gender Studies, and Politics & Administration, and the Livingston-Merced Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). Tateishi will talk about the significance of the Japanese American redress campaign and the vital role it has played in preventing a similar reaction by the government in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Tateishi gained national prominence in 1978 when he launched a national campaign to seek redress for Japanese Americans interned in internment camps from 1942-45. As the National Redress Director of the JACL, he crafted the legislation and public affairs strategies of the campaign that successfully culminated in 1988 wit an apology from the President and Congress and monetary compensation for the internment victims.
Tateishi continued as an advocate of Asian American and civil rights and became National Executive Director of the JACL, the nation's largest Asian American civil rights organization. Author of an oral history of the WWII internment of Japanese Americans titled ""An Justice for All," he has been the subject of international television documentaries and made numerous appearances with TV and radio media all over the country. He was a contributing author to "Last Witnesses," a collection of essays by the children of the internment camps.