Head of rights group quits amidst controversy
— Aug 12th, 1996
SPOKANE (AP) — Denny Yasuhara is stepping down after a stormy two-year stint as national president of the Japanese-American Citizens League.
The league is the nation's leading Asian-American civil rights organization. But Yasuhara said it needs new blood and healthier finances to be more effective.
The 67-year-old league kicked off its national convention in San Jose, Calif., this week.
The organization has been at the forefront of major civil rights struggles waged by Japanese-Americans, including the fight to compensate Japanese-Americans interned during World War II.
But more than 60 percent of the organization's 23,000 members are 65 or older, and Yasuhara said that makes it hard to speak loudly on important issues.
"When you get to be retired and you have adequate income, people don't want to hear about problems," Yasuhara said. "They've been facing them all their life and they don't want to get involved when they're older."
Yasuhara was criticized throughout his tenure as president. Critics on the board of directors called for his resignation and questioned his judgment regarding the league's finances.
The league had to dig $350,000 into its reserves to prop up its $1.3 million operating budget. The organization also laid off nearly a third of its staff and cut travel expenses last year.
It will take years to get back on track, Yasuhara said.
"We just didn't stay on top of it. We were deficit spending. We are beginning to replenish our reserve fund, but it may take six to eight years," he said.
Yasuhara, 70, said two years as president of the league is long enough and he wants to spend more time with his family.
In Spokane, he earned praise even from some whom he has criticized.
Yasuhara was a tough but fair negotiator in a federal lawsuit filed by the league over an alleged racial slur used by a local Democratic party official, said Rev. Jimmy Sirmans, chairman of the Spokane County Democratic Central Committee.
The lawsuit was dropped after party officials apologized.
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