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. Early life and education 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. She became interested in civil rights when at age eight she accidentally overheard the pained voices of her parents discussing where their family would live next. Although her father was a second generation Japanese American, served in the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the U.S. Army, the all-Japanese American unit that fought in Europe during World War II, and an engineer at Boeing, racial covenants in Seattle of the time prevented him from buying a house for his family. 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. Career in advocacy 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