Week 1 Karen Narasaki As President and Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC), Karen Narasaki is one of the nation's most effective advocates for Asian Pacific Americans and other minority group members. Her compelling life story demonstrates how affirmative action programs are needed even for the so-called "model minorities." Karen Narasaki's commitment to the ongoing struggle for civil rights for the nation's Asian Pacific Americans is rooted in a long history of discrimination. Years before her birth in 1958 in Seattle, her father and his family were interned in World War II because of their Japanese descent. Her father, a third-generation Japanese-American, born in California, went on to serve valiantly with the famed 442nd Battalion in the later stages of the war. Although he was a successful engineer with Boeing, he was unable to make a home for his family in Seattle's middle and upper class areas, because of property covenants that restricted Asian Pacific Americans and other minorities from living in those neighborhoods. As a result, he moved the family to a blue-collar suburb, where young Karen attended under-resourced public schools. Few of her classmates attended college, and the Ivy League schools that her father wished Karen to attend did not send recruiters to her high school. As a National Merit scholar with an almost perfect 4.0 GPA, Karen applied to Yale University, where her credentials were discounted because her high school was hardly considered fertile ground for students aspiring to Ivy League institutions. Fortunately, for Yale, and for Karen Narasaki, the university's interest in building a diverse student body that included African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian Pacific Americans led them to advance her application from waiting list to accepted. Yale's affirmative action gave Karen Narasaki the opportunity to prove herself academically. While working part-time throughout her four years at Yale, she maintained an excellent academic record and graduated magna cum laude, with distinction in her major. Her outstanding performance at Yale opened doors for her that were hitherto closed to women and minority students. However, when she attended law school at UCLA, she still encountered discrimination. For example, her applications for summer jobs were bypassed, even though she was a top-ranked student, apparently because firms were reluctant to hire women and minorities. After graduating from law school third in her class, she served as a Law Clerk to Judge Harry Pregerson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Los Angeles. Later, affirmative action goals at Seattle's largest law firm gave her an opportunity to further demonstrate her qualifications as an attorney. Throughout her six years at Perkins Coie, Karen Narasaki proved to be one of the top-billing associates. Before joining NAPALC she was the Washington DC representative for the nation's largest membership-based Asian American civil rights organization, the Japanese American Citizens League Recognizing that only through affirmative action efforts was she given opportunities, Karen Narasaki continues to advocate for such programs. Under her leadership, NAPALC has worked with others to maintain affirmative action on the federal level and to block attempts to pass English Only legislation in Congress. In her passionate testimony in 1997 against a bill that would have effectively ended affirmative action programs, Ms. Narasaki stated, "Constitutional guarantees and anti-discrimination laws on their own have not achieved true equality of opportunity for all Americans." She persists in battling inequality and seeks to build collaborative relationships with other minority group members, including African Americans and Latinos. For example, she serves as Chairperson of the Compliance/Enforcement Committee of the Executive Committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Among her many achievements was the 1992 Voting Rights Act extension of the language rights provision, which has helped thousands of Asian, Latino and American Indian citizens to register and vote in their native languages. Ms. Narasaki serves on the Board of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Leadership Conference Education Fund and the Independent Sector. She has also served on the Boards of National Immigration Law Center, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), the Asian Bar Association of Washington, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California and the Organization of Pam Asian American Women. Among the many awards Ms. Narasaki has received are the 2001 Washington Magazine 100 Most Powerful Women; the 2000 U.S. Department of Justice Citizen Volunteer Service Award; the 1999 Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance Community Award; the 1999 Award for 100 Most Influential Asian Americans of the Decade; and the 1994 NAPABA Trailblazer Award. Karen Narasaki suggests that young lawyers help their clients and communities to achieve their goals, objectives, and even dreams. In her words, "It is easy to find 100 problems that an idea might solve, but the true value is to find the path to make the idea work." She encourages young lawyers to take risks and find work about which they feel passionate. Karen Narasaki is that kind of lawyer herself. Because of her many achievements, the ABA is proud to salute her during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Photo Usage: Permission to use the above photo was granted by Karen Narasaki. Asian Pacifican American Heritage Month 2002 | Links