Karen Narasaki

American civil rights activist

Karen K. Narasaki (born April 4, 1958) is an American civil rights leader and human rights activist. She most recently served as a Commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights after President Barack Obama appointed her in July 2014. She is the former president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC. Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC is a Washington, D. C. based, nonprofit, nonpartisan, civil rights organization whose mission is to advance the human and civil rights of Asian Pacific Americans through advocacy, public policy, public education and litigation. Prior to her post at AAJC, she served as the Washington, D. C. representative to the Japanese American Citizens League. Narasaki has also served as the chairperson of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans and as the chairwoman of the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition.

Narasaki was born in Seattle, Washington. She is the twin sister of playwright and actor Ken Narasaki. Both of her parents, who were born in the U. S., were imprisoned in internment camps during WWII. After graduating magna cum laude from Yale University and Order of the Coif from the UCLA school of law, Narasaki worked as a corporate attorney at Perkins Coie in Seattle. While at the firm, Narasaki moonlighted as a civil rights activist at Asian American and women’s rights groups.

In 1986, Narasaki left corporate work to enter the nonprofit sector as an advocate for human and civil rights. She has a long history of civil rights activism. Under Narasaki’s leadership, AAJC which is affiliated with the Asian American Institute in Chicago, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles, and the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco led the passage of the reauthorizations of key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In doing so, AAJC helped unite African American, Latino, Native American and other stakeholders to identify the necessary research, while organizing testimony, training organizers and educating the public about the continuing existence of discriminatory barriers and behavior in voting.

As former chair of the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition, Narasaki is also an advocate for television diversity on behalf of Asian Americans. She serves as a member of the Asian Pacific American Advisory Council, a group of community, civic and business leaders who advise Nielsen Media Research, an international provider of television audience measurement services, on reaching out to Asian Americans. Through AAJC, Narasaki also issues an annual report card on the diversity efforts of major television networks, including NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox. These initiatives have led to more than a 20 percent increase for both regular and recurring roles for Asian Pacific Americans on prime time television shows both on and off camera.

In addition, Narasaki serves in a number of leadership positions in the civil rights and immigrant rights communities. In her early work for the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), she helped increase language assistance provisions in the Voting Rights Act to help new American citizens, including elderly Asian Americans, vote.

Recognized by Washingtonian Magazine in 2001, 2006, 2009 and 2011 as one of the "100 most powerful women in Washington, D. C.," Narasaki has received numerous awards and accolades. In 2005, she was the recipient of the American Bar Association Spirit of Excellence Award, and has received the Congressional Black Caucus Chair's Award, International Channel We the People Award, and was named one of the 100 Most Influential Asian Americans of the Decade by A. Magazine. Along with numerous other awards, she is also the 2004 recipient of the Greater Sacramento Urban League Ruth Standish Baldwin Award, the 2000 U. S. Department of Justice Citizen Volunteer Service Award, the 1999 Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance Community Award, and the 1994 National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Trailblazer Award.