Lewis Kawahara, an ethnics studies instructor at College of San Mateo, received a $7,000 grant to support an Asian Pacific film festival at the campus next year. Kawahara was awarded the funds by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (CCLPEP), which is affiliated with the California State Library.

In late March or early April 2010, the college will host “The College of San Mateo Asian Pacific American Film Festival: An Afternoon Matinee with CCLPEP Films” as a free community educational event.

“The films will educate students and the viewing public about the Japanese American Internment Experience as well as show how war hysteria still affects us today,” said Kawahara. “Also the films can help educate the public on tolerance and diversity issues.”

For more than a year, the instructor spearheaded an effort to confer honorary degrees to Japanese American students whose college studies at CSM were cut short after being placed in U.S. internment camps during World War ll. Kawahara spent hours searching college records to identify and contact affected individuals or their families.

As a result of Kawahara’s work, CSM became one of the first community colleges to bestow the honorary degrees at its commencement ceremony in May of this year. Kawahara’s work was being done in parallel with that of Assemblyman Warren Furutani (D-South Los Angeles County) who introduced this year AB 37 which would confer honorary degrees to Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II and consequently unable to continue and complete their postsecondary education studies.