Ed Nakawatase
Ed Nakawatase is a Philadelphia activist.
Radical
Ed Nakawatase, a third generation Japanese American, was born in an internment camp in Poston, AZ, and grew up in Seabrook, New Jersey, the son of plant workers at Seabrook Farms. In 1963 at age 20, Ed dropped out of college and headed to Atlanta as a SNCC staff member in what he described as a ’high moral enterprise.”
“It was 1963. There was the march on Washington, and there were demonstrations happening all over the country protesting racial discrimination. It was moving and terribly exciting,” Ed told me this weekend. ’It just seemed beside the point to stay in college.”
Ed worked as an intake person in the Atlanta office with SNCC luminaries like John Lewis and Julian Bond. That’s a photo of Ed above working at his desk. It was a basic job such as it was, taking calls and logging reports. That hardly mattered. As he put it, he wanted to locate himself at a “transcendent moment of history.”
“If I was anything, I was incredibly lucky – lucky that at a very young age I was witness to one of the greatest social struggles in our nation’s history at the pinnacle of its power and moral force.”
He spent one Christmas in jail, after he and others from the office were refused service at a local restaurant, the Toddle House, which would become the site of a number of SNCC sit-ins (you can see a photo here).
“We were arrested for criminal trespass. There were about 12 of us: two or three white women, three black women, five or six black men, and then there was me. I wanted to be jailed with the guys – for obvious reasons – but I was told I couldn’t because I wasn’t ‘colored.’ So I spent two days in the city jail alone, which was a pretty frightening experience, and then got transferred to the county jail where I spent Christmas.”
Being Asian American wasn’t much of an issue within the SNCC community, where gaps around education and class privilege tended to reveal more division. But outside SNCC, it was different.
“It always seemed a little dangerous in varying degrees in the white community.”
“To have been in the South in the 1960s, to have seen the sheer vehemence and hatred against black people was something,… and despite that, they changed the country. There were probably more things that happened then than I could comprehend at the time.”
His experience, of course, shaped his life, providing him with an “alternative view of the country” and its needs than he could have learned elsewhere. He became more conscious of American history. He learned about the internment camps that his parents rarely discussed and other parts of Asian American history, drawing “inspiration from the African American movement like many Asian Americans of my generation.”
“It made me realize the possibilities of social struggles and organizing. By my sights we are better as a country than we were, in terms of race certainly but also in terms of [other aspects of inclusion] like sexual orientation. I see that advancement as a tribute to the power of social movements. That’s what’s made the difference – as opposed to great leaders or acts of Congress. It was the people.”
Ed spent almost a year and a half in Atlanta before returning to New Jersey to finish his studies and continue his social activism. He was active in the anti-war movement in the 60s and 70s, the redress movement around the internment of Japanese Americans and spent more than three decades as the national representative for Native American Affairs for the American Friends Service Committee, active in many pivotal moments of the American Indian Movement as well.
Today, Ed’s happily ensconced in Germantown where he’s lived for decades. He’s an unabashed “left wing socialist” who’s also “congenitally optimistic,” as he describes himself.[1]
Corbett protest
Asian Americans United May 12, 2012:
On Tuesday May 15th, Governor Corbett is coming to Prince Theater in Philadelphia to address the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. During his time as Governor, Corbett has made massive cuts to education, medical assistance, and social services while he is spending $685 million on new prison construction. His recent budget alone proposes $264 million in cuts to higher education, $319 millio... See More — with Lai Har Cheung, Xu Lin, Alice Vuong, Judy At Aau, Paul Socolar, Masaru Edmund Nakawatase, Erika Almiron Niz, Mica Root, Wei Chen, Nancy Dung Nguyen, Desi Burnette, Maxine Chang, Helen Gym, Betty Lui, Erika Funk, Ellen Somekawa, Joan May T. Cordova and Alix Mariko Webb.
Defending Asian students
Asian Americans United December 2, 2013:
On December 3rd, 2009, 26 Asian immigrant students were attacked both inside and directly outside of South Philadelphia High School. The students boycotted school for eight days, demanding accountability from school leadership. AAU worked with a strong and passionate team of allies to support the students. Most importantly, the students were unified, they stood strong and they didn’t back down…and... See More — with Alison Sprague, Duong Nghe Ly, Nancy Dung Nguyen, Wei Chen, Cecilia Chen, Neeta Patel, Xu Lin, Betty Lui, Masaru Edmund Nakawatase, Judy At Aau, Joan May T. Cordova, Ellen Somekawa, Helen Gym, Alice Vuong and Maxine J. Chang.
Asian Americans United - 28th Anniversary
Asian Americans United November 19, 2013:
Cheers and thanks to all who volunteered (Go AAU, go!), sponsored, hosted, donated, presented, emceed, deejayed, cooked, mixed sangria, performed and celebrated at AAU's memorable 28th anniversary benefit concert/dance featuring Nobuko Miyamoto with Theo Gonzalves! Intergenerational groups presented AAU's Standing Up for Justice Awards to Grayce Uyehara, John Elliott Churchville, and 1Love Movement. Emcee Kao Khue wove the program together like poetry.
Nobuko wrote and sang a new song for the first time: ”You are the ones we've been waiting for...” And all joined in singing: ”We are the ones we've been waiting for.”
...with so much gratitude for all who build communities and work for justice.
<3 — with Eric Joselyn, Duong Nghe Ly, Matt Tae, Regina Liu Kerr, Lai Har Cheung, Srey Boss, Chi-Ser Tran, Grace Rustia, Emily P. Lawsin, Scott Kurashige, Mary Yee, Laurent Widjaya, Paul Uyehara, Alix Mariko Webb, Rorng Sorn, Senn Font, Linh Nguyen, Bryan Mercer, K. Naroen Chhin, Masaru Edmund Nakawatase, Neeta Patel, Tai Joselyn, Doua Xiong, Renyu Wu, John Elliott Churchville, Kavita Levy, Judy At Aau, Theo Gonzalves, Ana Cruz, Janeya Hisle, Ellen Somekawa, Wei Chen, Helen Gym, Sookyung Oh, Dawn Werme Pratson, Xu Lin, Betty Lui, Peter Van Do, Nobuko Miyamoto, Kao Nhia Kue, Jean Hunt, Teresa Engst, Alice Vuong and Maxine Chang.
Asian Americans United - 30th Anniversary
Helen Gym December 15, 2015.
30th anniversary of Asian Americans United - what a crew! — with Linda Deafenbaugh, Chi Joselyn, Betty Lui, Jay Zou, Masaru Edmund Nakawatase, Eric Joselyn, Maxine J. Chang, Teresa Engst, Wei Chen, Lai Har Cheung, Alix Webb, Sachie Hopkins Hayakawa, Judy At Aau, Mary Yee, Xu Lin, Neeta Patel, Kay Yoon, Paul Uyehara, Ken Hung, Debora Kodish and Alice Vuong.
FACTS Board
- Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School board, 2016;[2]
- Heather Davis-Jones, Secretary
- Bret Flaherty, Esq., Co-Chair
- Suzanne Lewis, Treasurer
- Xin Sheng Simon Liu
- Selina Morales
- Ed Nakawatase, Co-Chair
- Ted Wong, Vice Chair
2011 board
Asian Americans United June 11, 2011:
Welcome to AAU's Board!
Ally Vuong, Maxine Chang, Mia-Lia Kiernan, Judy At Aau, Helen Gym, Alice Vuong, Xu Lin, Masaru Edmund Nakawatase, Maxine Chang, Joan May T. Cordova, Betty Lui and Ellen Somekawa.
Board Asian Americans United
Asian Americans United board, as of 2015;[3]
- Alix Mariko Webb, Executive Director
- Ed Nakawatase, President
- Betty Lui, Treasurer
- Neeta Patel, Director
- Maxine Chang, Director
- Alice Vuong, Director
AAU 2008 personnel
Asian Americans United leaders 2008.
Executive Director
Board of Directors Joan May T. Cordova, Helen Gym, Betty Lui, Ed Nakawatase, Neeta Patel, Suzanne Young.
Programming Committee Joan May T. Cordova, Helen Gym, Betty Lui, Ed Nakawatase, Doanh Nghiem, Neeta Patel, Pin Phoeung, Adrienne Poon, Kathy Shimizu, Ellen Somekawa[4]
AAU 2007 Bowlathon
Thank you to our Bowl-A-Thon bowlers who raised the money we needed to pilot our 2007 Paths to Leadership Project. We couldn’t have done our project without your support.
Thanks to: Doua Xiong, Leng Song, Ka Xiong, Dee Song, Daou Hiecke, Xue Song Jin, Steve Ngo, James Li, Andy Cao, James Au-Yeung, Devin Liang, Alex Buligon, the brothers of Delta Chi Psi, Neeta Patel, Ahn Ha, Adrienne Poon, Nicholas Loh and Evan Loh, Olivia Sun and Mae Jane Sun, Helen Gym, Bret Flaherty, Aimon Flaherty, Karina Flaherty, Taryn Flaherty, Linda Chung, Joan May T. Cordova, Gregor Reid, Betty Lui, Kathy Shimizu, Marshall Lee, Suzanne Lee, Kelsey McGowan-Heilman, Eric Joselyn, Tai Joselyn and Chi Joselyn, Ellen Somekawa, Max Klink, Bill Davidson, Suzanne, Michelle Myers and Myong Pok McCloud, Ed Nakawatase and Kenzo Nakawatase, Jean Hunt, and Alice Bailey.[5]