Written by Keoni, 2024 JACL/OCA Leadership Summit Attendee
It was quite a cold day, going from office to office along the streets near the Capitol building, speaking to legislative staff about the pieces of legislation that we want their bosses to vote for. These bills were identified by the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and OCA Asian Pacific Advocates as those that would positively affect the AAPI community. Despite the cool weather, it was very exhilarating being in Washington DC learning about how to lobby and advocate for the communities and applying this knowledge to an actual experience where we got to visit the offices of our representatives in Congress.
The JACL/OCA Leadership Summit
The leadership summit was created in 1984 by JACL (OCA came onboard in 1994). The program was designed to introduce community leaders from around the country to the world of policymaking at the national level. The summit consists of workshops, meetings, panels, and briefings with policymakers, federal agencies, advocates, and the media and culminates with Hill Day. During Hill Day, we visited the office of our congressional representatives on Capitol Hill and met with members of their staff in support of two bills.
My Experience
The entire event was a 4 day experience. I was fortunate enough not just to be a part of the summit, but also have my sister, Kanani, there as well. The following is a day-by-day description of how we spent our time during this program.
Disclaimer: Not all pictures were taken by me but they were shared to all participants of the program. I give complete credit to whoever was the one that was taking the pictures at the time.
Day 1: Welcome
The first day was part travel day and part opening reception. Kanani and I arrived in Washington D.C. on the morning of March 9. We had arrived so early, in fact, that we were not able to check into our hotels yet. As such, we ate lunch at a nearby pizza restaurant. Afterwards, we checked into the hotel and waited until it was time to leave for the welcome reception.
The welcome reception was held in the same building that houses OCA National. It was during this time that I met some of the other participants of the summit from OCA chapters outside of Las Vegas. I also met some of the people from OCA National and JACL that were in charge of assisting us throughout the summit. I thought that the reception was great at introducing us to the people who we will interact with over these four days, but the real work did not start until the second day.
Day 2: Advocacy Training
This day was the official start of the summit. We began the day with a breakfast and then an icebreaker activity to get us better acquainted with each other. The rest of the day was mainly dedicated to various panels featuring people who play a role in advocacy in one way or another. One panel was composed of people from civil rights advocacy organizations. Another panel had people who were representing the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans. The last panel had current members of the staff from some congressional offices.
Finally, at the end of the day, we took a walk to visit the National Japanese American Memorial Tour. This was a very impactful part of the trip because it showcased the locations of all the major internment camps from World War II. It served as a painful reminder of what Japanese Americans had to go through because they were discriminated against in the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Afterwards, Kanani and I took a walk to the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial to pay respects to one of our distant relatives on the wall. We then walked to dinner. The participants from JACL and the participants from OCA had separate dinners. On the OCA side, we went to a restaurant called Busboys and Poets. That concluded the events of Day 2.
Day 3: Visiting the White House
Day 3: This day was a very exciting day. We got to go to the White House. Well, it wasn’t what the average person thinks of as the “White House.” We were in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) which is where many high-ranking officials, such as the Vice President, have offices. It was during this time that we got to meet with representatives from the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI).
After we learned more about WHIAANHPI, we took some pictures. Amazingly, when we exited the EEOB, we ended up within several feet from the West Wing of the White House!
After our trip to the White House, we regrouped so that we could practice what we were going to say on our visits during Hill Day. The composition of the teams was based on where we lived so that we could meet with our own congressional representatives. As such, the rest of my team was Kanani and Cevan Louie with Thu Nguyen supervising us. During this time, we rehearsed what we were going to say and when we were going to say it. We felt very confident that things were going to go well.
When practice was over, we were led to the steps of the US Capitol where we could take pictures, if we wanted. It was a very windy day so that might have caused some issues. Overall, I think that the pictures came out nicely.
Finally, we ate dinner at Chinatown Gardens with journalist David Nakamura. It was definitely a very eventful day. This was all in preparation for Hill Day which is where we were to take what we learned and apply it ourselves.
Day 4 (Hill Day)
Hill Day started early, but we headed up to Capitol Hill to hear from Congressman Mark Takano. He told us stories from his experiences throughout his career and we had a chance to ask him questions afterwards.
After listening to the congressman speak, we then began our hill visits. First, my team went to the office of Senator Jacky Rosen. This was actually a last-minute addition to our schedule so it was very exciting. We met with one of the legislative staffers in the office and the meeting actually went very well even if it was short. It went so well that we were actually invited on a tour through the US Capitol courtesy of the senator! That was definitely a cool opportunity and we agreed to take them up on the offer even if it meant that our lunch was going to get cut short.
Next, we went to the office of Congresswoman Dina Titus who had a cardboard cutout of Elvis Presley in front of her office. We actually ended up being a bit early so we had to wait in the cafeteria for a brief period of time. Then, we had our chance to meet the staffer from the office of Dina Titus. This meeting was even shorter than the first meeting, but we think this one went well too.
Afterwards, we went to lunch. As mentioned, our lunch had to be brief. However, during lunch we also had a chance to hear from some of the other groups about their experiences during Hill Day. Some of them got to take pictures with their representatives and some even got to see high-profile people like Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, Alabama Senator Katie Britt, and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.
We eventually had to depart for our tour. This was going to be the last time we saw our fellow participants so we said our goodbyes and headed back to the office of Jacky Rosen for our tour. I had done the official Capitol tour in 2012 so I was familiar with many aspects of the US Capitol. However, this tour was unique. Going from the office of Jacky Rosen to the US Capitol, we were actually led down to the underground path that congressional representatives and their staff take to get to the Capitol. It was here that we actually got to see John Fetterman up close. He was so tall! We also got to ride the little train that exists in the tunnels down there. We eventually made our way back up to the main floor of the US Capitol building where our tour began.
At this point, it was the standard tour that I had experienced many years earlier. It seemed that it was initially planned for us to visit the chambers of the House of Representatives and the Senate, but I think we were unable to do so on that day. We did, however, get to see the back of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s head as security escorted him from his office to the floor of the House. At the end of our tour, Kanani and I said our goodbyes to Thu and Cevan. We then made our way back to the hotel and then to the airport for our departure to Las Vegas.
Overall, this was a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience and I would recommend to anyone that, if they have even an inkling of interest in the world of advocacy, they should apply for this program.
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