JAPANESE AMERICAN CITIZENS LEAGUE / JACL
Headquarters: 1765 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
DC Office: 1828 L Street NW, Suite 802 Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 223-1240 Fax: (202) 296-8082 E-mail: dc@jacl.org
Press Release dc@jacl.org
Floyd Mori Presented Award
Floyd Mori, National Executive Director of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), was
presented with a surprise award recently. Mori had been invited by Judge Dale Ikeda to speak at a Day
of Remembrance event held by the JACL in Fresno, California, earlier this year. Judge Ikeda heads up
a group working on the Pinedale Assembly Center where some Japanese Americans were taken near
the start of World War II. Similar Day of Remembrance events are held throughout the country in
remembrance of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
That evening, Floyd Mori was presented with an award from the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno
which includes the local Muslim and Arab American Community. The award was called “The Voices
of Courage Award.” It was given for speaking out against racial profiling of Muslim and Arab
Americans following the attacks of 9/11.
Mori was National JACL President at the time of September 11, 2001. He had just returned on
September 10, 2001, from a trip to Japan during which he represented the JACL in a ceremony held for
the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Japan Treaty of 1951 (San Francisco Peace Treaty).
Speaking at the ceremony were Japan’s Then Prime Minster Koizumi and former United States Vice
President Dan Quayle.
Immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Center, Mori felt compelled to have the JACL speak
out in support of Muslim and Arab Americans. The JACL (under the leadership of Mori as National
JACL President, John Tateishi then National JACL Executive Director, and Kristine Minami formerly
JACL Washington D.C. Representative) issued a press release admonishing America to NOT retaliate
against innocent Muslim and Arab Americans and to NOT repeat the mistake of the internment of
Japanese Americans during World War II.
The JACL was instrumental, with the work of the Japanese American members and other members of
Congress and along with other organizations, in seeking Redress for Japanese Americans who were
unduly incarcerated during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had signed Executive
Order 9066 which allowed the military to remove all citizens and non-citizens of Japanese descent
from their homes on the west coast of the United States. Some leaders within the community were
immediately taken off to prisons. More than 110,000 persons were incarcerated in the hastily
constructed camps in remote areas of California, Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, Utah, and Arkansas after
being first placed in assembly centers in various areas. Most lost their homes and nearly all of their
worldly possessions. This year of 2008 marks the 20th Anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988,
which allowed for redress or compensation to Japanese Americans who were forced to evacuate from
their homes in 1942.
Presenting the award to Mori were Kamal Abu-Shamsieh, Director of the Islamic Cultural Center of
Fresno, and Raafat L. Shahata (M.Sc) P.E., President and CEO of ASC Engineers and Associates, Inc.
located in Fresno. Also in attendance was Larry Oda, National JACL President.
(Photo: left to right. Raafat L. Shahata, Kamal Abu-Shamsieh, Floyd Mori, Larry Oda)