By BILL WATANABE
You occasionally hear people say something along the lines of “I’ve got my rights,” and most people in America believe that every citizen is privileged to have basic rights – the “right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” But it wasn’t always that way.
Over millennia, people had to demand and fight for their rights because tyrants or warlords or dictators were always ready and willing to take them away. That battle continues to this day.
Eleanor Roosevelt led the campaign for the United Nations’ adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was approved unanimously in December of 1948. For the first time in history, there was an internationally accepted standard for basic human rights that applied to all people.
In 1978, I became a letter-writing volunteer with Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) and I joined a small group based in Hollywood to write letters on behalf of political prisoners imprisoned in different parts of the world. For my first assignment, I was to lead a letter-writing campaign for a “prisoner of conscience” or POC* in the Phillipines.
Our small group of a half-dozen letter-writing activists wrote to the prison administrator where our POC was being held, urging that he be treated humanely and fairly. The POC was imprisoned simply for speaking out against Ferdinand Marcos, who was the military dictator at that time.
To our surprise, we actually received a letter from the prison administrator, who assured us he was being fairly treated; later, we received a thank you letter from the POC himself for our support, which had an impact. Our letters made a difference and that was a wonderful feeling! Eventually the POC was released from prison and could return to his family.
Next, our group was assigned a POC in Argentina who was arrested for being a union organizer – a government offense at that time in Argentina. Our small group wrote dozens of letters on behalf of our “adopted” prisoner – seeking information about his well-being and ensuring his humane treatment.
We did not get any replies to our letters but one day, I received a phone call from a former Argentine prisoner who was now in America and he personally knew our POC, whom he had met in prison. He told me to not get discouraged and keep advocating for our POC because “he was a great man fighting for human justice.”
Those words, when I heard them, were so inspiring and they lifted me up. I felt a “natural high” that lasted for days after finding out we were working on behalf of a great human being. I was hooked on AIUSA and became a life-long supporter of the organization and later was proud to serve on the national Board of Directors.
Our human rights have to be fought for and maintained because they are easily lost to tyrants who want total control over the people. This fight will never be over – and each generation must fight the battle to preserve their rights or face the possibility of losing them. The JA community knows this only too well.
*A POC is a prisoner who has not committed or advocated violence but has been imprisoned solely on the basis of their beliefs or social standing.
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Bill Watanabe writes from Silver Lake near Downtown Los Angeles and can be reached at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those ofThe Rafu Shimpo.