post | May 27, 2022
Clinton Foundation (CF): Two main areas of focus for your work are land conservation and racial justice. How do the two overlap, and why is it so important to consider them as two sides of one issue rather than two separate issues?
Dan Sakura (DS): I started in the Clinton Administration at the Department of the Interior conserving large landscapes, including large tracts of land for fish and wildlife, recreation, and Alaska Native subsistence uses.
In the last ten years, my focus has shifted to preserving cultural sites that reflect our nation’s diverse history. These historic sites include “sites of courage,” where Americans demonstrated remarkable courage, often in the face of racial prejudice and hate. I’m grateful for the opportunity to help preserve Japanese-American incarceration sites, including Minidoka, Tule Lake, Honouliuli, and Amache in Colorado. These sites also show our nation’s courage to acknowledge that we have made mistakes along the road to our nation’s highest ideals.
I’ve also appreciated the chance to support the National Park Service’s (NPS) work to “fill the gaps” in the National Park System. NPS has done an excellent job telling stories about the Civil War and American Revolution. More recently, with bipartisan support, the National Park Service has added sites that tell the complete story of our history like Harriet Tubman, the U.S. Colored Troops, Reconstruction Era, the Freedom Riders, Birmingham, and the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home, where Medgar Evers was assassinated in his driveway, outside his home with his children inside.
Since 2019, and the 400th anniversary of 1619, we’re seeing local support for telling the hard truths about enslavement and racial violence. The National Park Service recently dedicated the Forks of the Road site in Natchez, Mississippi, where enslaved people were sold to plantation owners.
I’m very excited about a bipartisan local initiative to preserve the Springfield Race Riot Site of 1908 in Illinois. Local mobs killed innocent Black people and burned their homes and businesses. The site also tells the story about Ida B. Wells and the founding of the NAACP. And there’s growing interest in preserving the Tulsa Race Massacre Site. Preserving historic sites is a critical tool in combating racial hate and violence.
CF: How has your personal experience as a Japanese-American man shaped your professional journey?
DS: I’m a descendant of three generations of Minidoka survivors who were incarcerated in Idaho during World War II. Thanks to Bill Clinton’s leadership, as Governor to preserve the Rohwer site in Arkansas and as President to preserve Minidoka, we’ve seen remarkable bipartisan leadership to preserve incarceration sites as part of the National Park System.
My grandparents never talked about the incarceration; it was too painful for them. And beneath the surface, there’s a deep well of trauma and pain. Preserving these sites is critical for healing because people of color have suffered incredible trauma, historic and recent, and that trauma continues today.
It’s great to see Secretary Deb Haaland leading an effort to tell the story of federal Indian boarding schools to heal the terrible pain from this untold chapter in our history.
In the case of violence against Asian-Americans, racial hate and prejudice go back over 150 years to laws excluding Chinese and other Asian immigrants. States passed laws to bar Asian immigrants from owning land. Understanding that violence and hate directed against the AAPI community is not new is critically important to help stop the recent wave of hate crimes.
Preserving these sites as part of the fabric of our nation’s educational system complements primary and secondary schools, colleges, and universities. These sites provide fact-based information about our history.
CF: Thinking back across your professional journey, what is one of the proudest moments you’ve experienced?
DS: One of my proudest moments is January 17th, 2001, when President Clinton established the Minidoka National Monument in the White House. My dad was there with me. We’ve fought to preserve it as a place for learning and healing for over twenty years. These sites inspire me. And all Americans, especially people of color, need these sites to give us strength to fight for racial and environmental justice, economic and gender equality, and tribal sovereignty—our stories matter.
CF: If you could press a button and instantly change one thing about the conservation sector, what would it be?
DS: Increased diversity. People of color need to be part of the fight to preserve historic sites, public lands, and our communities from the impacts of climate change. We can make a difference.
CF: In addition to being AAPI Heritage Month, May is also Mental Health Awareness Month. Can you share something you do for mental health or practice self-care?
DS: I like to go biking, hiking, and skiing. I’ve been fortunate to work on land projects that I’ve been able to enjoy with family and friends. I like history. I like reading about how people overcome difficult challenges. I also have a network of people that I can talk to for support. This group is critical because these fights are hard. And so, having that network can help increase your confidence that you’re – hopefully – on the right track.