Japanese American Citizens League

JACL National and film producer Lane Nishikawa have agreed to work together to produce the first educational documentary film about the 90-year history of the JACL. 

OUR LEAGUE OF DREAMS received a $25,000 Japanese American Community Foundation Grant Award through the assistance of the San Diego Chapter JACL. This will cover the costs of shooting in the first five cities. We need your help to meet our production budget goals. Lane has mapped out seventeen cities that he would like to shoot interviews. 

Your individual donation or JACL Chapter donation will go a long way towards helping us achieve our goals. We will make sure that your names are prominently highlighted in the end credits of the film.

All donors ($100 & over) will receive a DVD copy of OUR LEAGUE OF DREAMS for their personal library. Once the film is completed, JACL National and Lane will work with any JACL Chapter that wants to hold a public film screening event in their city to fundraise for their chapter, to educate their youth, and network to new audiences for potential new members.

From Lane:

“Our groundbreaking, educational documentary film project, OUR LEAGUE OF DREAMS, will chronicle the history of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organization in the U. S. Established in 1929, the JACL fought for the rights of our immigrant parents, tackling immigration, naturalization, and miscegenation. They led the 10-year redress and reparations campaign to undo the unjust internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, resulting in the signing of H.R. 442, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. No other diverse community has ever challenged our government and won. This victory gave Japanese Americans a renewed sense of belonging, removing a 40-year burden of guilt. It gave new meaning to the sacrifice of our young men who fought so valiantly to prove our loyalty. The JACL now had a revitalized mission, to stand up for all those who are unjustly discriminated against in our country. The JACL marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King in Washington, gave testimony during the Loving v. Virginia trials, and was the first national civil rights organization to support same-sex marriage. After 9/11, they stood behind Arab and Muslim Americans to ensure our government did not repeat what happened to Japanese Americans in 1942 and continues to fight today, as our country battles with immigration and naturalization bans, racial profiling, and walls that divide us. The JACL fights for the dreams of all Americans.”