[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 146 (Friday, August 13, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E891]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





               CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF JANICE MIRIKITANI

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, August 13, 2021

  Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I rise today, along with Bay Area 
Representatives Barbara Lee and Jackie Speier, to pay tribute to the 
late Janice Mirikitani: a gifted poet and a beacon of resilience for so 
many in America. Janice was a force for social justice, who overcame 
great adversity to empower and inspire so many in the Bay Area and 
beyond through her beautiful art and her leadership of the Glide 
Foundation. Her passing is a great loss to San Francisco and to our 
nation.
  Janice's poetry turned personal pain into purpose. Indeed, she 
experienced a childhood marked by hardship: undergoing the national 
shame of internment as a young girl and then years of trauma as a young 
woman. Janice faced these challenges directly in her intimate and 
powerful poems. Her extraordinary courage and tenacity shine through in 
her writings on the horrors of war, the scourge of sexual abuse and the 
stain of institutional racism, moving and inspiring all who read them. 
And as co-founder and editor of the first Asian American literary 
magazine, Aion, she lifted up more voices like hers: women, people of 
color and underserved communities, who have too often been silenced.
  Janice was deeply committed to her faith and to our Bay Area 
community. Alongside her beloved husband Reverend Cecil Williams, who 
was her partner not only in marriage but in service, she helped launch 
and lead the Glide Foundation. This faith-based social justice mission 
helped transform the lives of countless families in need, by providing 
essential health, nutrition and housing services. That the Foundation 
today, decades after its founding, embodies more strongly than ever 
Janice's powerful vision of ``a radically inclusive, just and loving 
community'' is a testament to her enduring legacy.
  In a note sent to the Glide community announcing her passing, the 
Foundation's President and CEO wrote: ``She spoke her truth and 
inspired others to accept and celebrate themselves, each other, and all 
our differences.'' Indeed, Janice's leadership reflected the best of 
San Francisco: the vibrancy of our city, the pride in our diversity and 
the strength of our community.
  Janice Mirikitani was a proud Californian: born in Stockton, educated 
at the University of California, Los Angeles and San Francisco State 
University, working in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood for many 
years and calling the Bay Area home for nearly her entire life.
  For her creativity and brilliance, Janice received the San Francisco 
Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Ebbie Award, an American Book 
Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature, and a Governor and First 
Lady's Conference on Women and Families Minerva Award. She also earned 
the privilege of serving as the second poet laureate of San Francisco.
  May it be a comfort to her dear husband Cecil, her loving daughter 
Tianne and all their loved ones that so many San Franciscans--and 
Americans across the nation--join them in prayer during this sad time, 
and that the beauty, wisdom and courage of her art will endure for 
generations to come.

                          ____________________