We are a group of high school students who are a part of Kizuna's Leadership in Action Program. The civil liberty that we decided to base our project on is racial justice. We interviewed a few Japanese-American individuals who have either experienced the incarceration camps themselves or know people who have. Our goal with this project is to share their stories with the public so that we can recognize the racial injustice in Japanese-American history.

StepsIn is a youth-led fashion brand dedicated to advocating for immigrant’s rights and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities like our own. We aim to use fashion as a platform for storytelling and social awareness.

Podcast created by aspiring leaders, bringing awareness around the US Juvenile Justice Systems; discussing how our systems can improve and prevent the growing rate of criminal activity within the youth.

The subject of our project is freedom of speech, for which we created an interview documentary to showcase the stories of our interviewees. We strived to both honor their experiences and shed light on censorship issues both during the time of Japanese incarceration and today. We produced this documentary in hopes of spreading awareness for the significance of free speech in relation to advocating for civil liberties.

Our goal is to inform people about present day issues and controversy over national security, how it relates to everyday life and inform them about what they can do to prevent its repetition. We aim to explore the delicate balance between national security and civil liberty while celebrating the rich tapestry of Japanese-American culture.

Our goal is to educate K-5 students about online bias, misleading information, the effects of technology, and how to be safe and informed on the internet. It is important that we teach younger generations about internet safety and media literacy.

With technology as a worldwide utility, it is imperative that we educate our audience with the intentions of ensuring safety.

Our team agreed on this project by our mutual interest and our agreement on the impact that this project would have.

Brought together by the 2024 Kizuna Leadership in Action program based in the Japanese American community in SoCal, Lexie, Josiah, Krystal, Landa, and Rianna bonded over their shared concern for human rights. They believe that education is one of the most important factors to inspire the future generations. By working countless hours over the course of many weeks, they have brought forth all of their efforts to create a children’s book that sheds light on Japanese American Incarceration.

In this story, we will be following the life of Kenji Tashiro, a young boy who faces immense changes in his life but learns to to overcome them with “Kizuna”— the Japanese word depicting the enduring bonds people share.