IN MEMORY OF BERT NAKANO

Bert Nakano, NCRR's national spokesperson during the height of the redress period, was a tireless fighter for justice. As a teenager Bert, a Hawaii native, witnessed his own family suffer devastating physical and emotional losses before, during and after camp-experiences which became the source of his tremendous passion for redress and justice.

Reluctant at first to take on a leadership role, Bert struggled with himself to take on this responsibility and poured his heart and soul into the fight for redress reparations. He was NCRR's national spokesperson for 9 years, representing the organization at press conferences, speaking in an eloquent yet down-to-earth manner demanding that redress and reparations be granted immediately as the Issei were passing away every day. "Justice Now! Reparations Now!" became the slogan of NCRR and Bert's leadership helped NCRR rally the grassroots of the Japanese American community to join in the struggle.

Bert urged all the redress groups to put aside their differences and join together to form a common strategy to fight for redress/reparations. Encouraging others to speak about their own experiences, he led major delegations to Washington D.C. to lobby Congress for a redress bill. Bert strongly supported other minorities in their struggles for justice and equality. Feeling that a broader coalition was needed, he eagerly joined Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition and was a Jackson delegate at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Bert could often be found walking picket lines in support of workers rights or protesting the unfair treatment of immigrants and attacks on affirmative action. Everyone who met Bert remembers him as being warm and outgoing, enthusiastic and passionate in his beliefs. With Bert's passing on September 27, 2003, NCRR and the Japanese American community has lost a true leader, a great inspiration and most of all, a dear friend.