WASHINGTON – Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside), the second vice chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and a congressional leader on U.S.-Japan relations, honored the life of philanthropist Sakaye Aratani on April 18.
Remarks as prepared for delivery:
Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize a profound loss in the Japanese American community: the passing of Sakaye Aratani.
Her death coincides with an ever-dwindling number of adult Japanese Americans who endured the injustice of being forcibly removed from their homes and imprisoned in World War II internment camps here in the United States.
She and her late husband, George Aratani, made a remarkably successful post-war journey in business and became important philanthropic figures within the Japanese American community and beyond.
Every year, I would see her at community gatherings for various Japanese American organizations that she and her husband supported. And every year I was struck by her grace, elegance, and intelligence.
My heart goes out to the Aratani family, and I join with the rest of the Japanese American community in mourning her passing.