Mervyn Dymally Bust Dedication


  Dymally bust with Sculptor, Nijel Binns    
 
Over a hundred friends and associates attended the unveiling of a bronze bust, honoring the late Honorable Mervyn Dymally. It was unveiled on February 27th at the Mervyn M. Dymally School of Nursing on the Charles R. Drew University campus in Los Angeles. NCRR collected funds from friends in the community and shared a donation line on the 6 line plaque of the bust, reading NCRR and Japanese American Friends. Miya Iwataki and Family also had a line on the plaque. Dr. Dymally was a good friend of NCRR and the Japanese American community. He was the first black lieutenant governor and first foreign-born black state assemblyman, as well as a member of Congress for six terms (1981-1993).

Shortly after Dymally entered the US Congress in 1981, his friend Mas Fukai introduced him to the issue of redress for Japanese Americans. Dymally embraced the issue and worked closely with NCRR members, including Miya Iwataki, Bert Nakano and Gerald Sato to write legislation that reflected the community demands.

In 1982, Dymally, introduced the legislation for monetary redress and an apology to Japanese Americans for their unwarranted wartime incarceration. The first redress legislation was introduced by Mike Lowry (D-WA) in 1979.

Dymally opened his office in Washington D.C. to NCRR members during the 1984, 1987 and 1989 lobbying delegations and enable his staff members, including Miay Iwataki and Jim Fukumoto to work on the issue.To celebrate the landmark passage of the Civil Liberties Act by the United States Congress in 1988, Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress (NCRR) invites the public to a free viewing of excerpts from six films on August 10, 2013. These films recall the profound impact that racism, incarceration, displacement and disruption had on Japanese Americans during World War II and the work that still needs to be done today.
 
  Alice Dymally