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Karen Narasaki

Karen Narasaki, President and Executive Director of the Asian American Justice Center, has served the Asian American community as a civil rights and human rights activist for over 25 years. Born in Seattle to Japanese American parents, when Ms. Narasaki and her siblings were growing up many parts of the city had property covenants that prevented minorities from buying homes. Her decision to go to law school came at a time when there were very few female lawyers, and even fewer Asian American lawyers.

After graduating from UCLA Law School, Ms. Narasaki became active in Washington’s Asian American Bar Association and met some of the nation’s foremost Asian American civil rights activists. When she was recruited to run the D.C. chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, Ms. Narasaki made the decision to take the position based on something her father told her about the Japanese internment: “It happened because the community was not strong enough to defend itself.”

Ms. Narasaki wanted to make sure that no other community experienced what her parents and their families had gone through during World War II. When the Asian American Justice Center was founded, she was brought on to advance the organization’s mission to create an inclusive society by promoting programs ranging from affirmative action and language access to immigration and media diversity.

Ms. Narasaki is chairwoman of the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition, vice chairwoman of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a member of the National Commission on Adult Literacy, and on the board of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. A regular guest on News & Notes with Ed Gordon, she has also been featured on various other syndicated news programs and in national newspapers as an immigrant and voting rights expert.

Washingtonian Magazine has named her one of the 100 most powerful women in the capital three times in the last decade. She has also received accolades for her work from the American Bar Association, the Congressional Black Caucus, International Channels Network, and A Magazine. This year Ms. Narasaki will be receiving the National Immigration Forum’s 2011 Heroes of the American Dream Award, in recognition of her matchless contributions to immigrant rights and the pursuit of social justice.

You can read more about the Asian American Justice Center’s immigration efforts here: http://www.advancingequality.org/immigration.