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In the 1980s, Eimi Okano and close friend Jeanette Arakawa noticed a flaw in children’s school textbooks.
“There were only white role models, both children and adults,” Okano said. “We didn’t see any ethnic stories at all.”
At this moment, Okano made the decision to begin a years-long fight to diversify California curriculum.
Okano, an activist for the Japanese American community, fair education and social services has dedicated her life to learning about her environment, then finding ways to help.
Upon making their discovery, Okano and Arakawa took several years to create an extensive report on state textbook diversity. Once finished, they took the report straight to the California Board of Education in Sacramento.
When they arrived to present their materials at a meeting, they learned another group had attended to submit a similar report. Activists in Los Angeles were fighting for Latino and multicultural representation in textbooks as well.
So they joined forces.
“[The school board] couldn’t really argue the fact that there was no diversity in the textbooks at the time,” Okano said. “The California student population was not all white. And even if it were, the books still needed to be diverse. The world is made up of people that are not only one race.”
Everything changed after the meeting.
The board of education told publishers that they had to include more multicultural representation or California would not adopt their text, Okano said.
Aside from their work, Okano especially took pride in meeting like-minded people along the way.
Even while facing numerous challenges while growing up in the Bay Area, Okano remains grateful that she was surrounded by loved ones.
When Okano was a child, she and her family were forced into Japanese internment camps. First, they were taken from their Oakland home to the TanForan racetrack, where each family was assigned a horse stall. From there, they were taken to states like Utah and Arizona.
Okano lived in barracks with four or five other families and people ate in one large cafeteria. But to maintain family cohesion, Okano’s dad would often bring food from the co-op so their family could eat together in the barracks.
“I was just grateful that I had my family,” she said.
Okano went on to receive her Bachelors in Education from UC Berkeley in 1958, then her teaching credentials in 1960. She taught in Redwood City elementary schools for two years before taking time to raise her children.
In 1973, Okano co-founded the Asian Americans for Community Involvement to support Southeast Asian refugees resettling in the Bay Area. The organization has since evolved to offer mental health services, substance abuse treatment and shelter for immigrants of all backgrounds.
After her children began school, Okano, also active in the PTA, worked with Santa Clara County’s alcohol and drug prevention program for 18 years. There she not only enjoyed her work, but meeting people in her community who wanted to help others.
In order to make change, Okano says it’s important for people to understand their surroundings and be interested in the news.
“For people who are interested in being movers and shakers, I can’t encourage people enough to volunteer with local services,” she said.