The Hawaii Friends of Civil Rights is awarding its annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Friends Awards.

The two individual honorees are longtime civil rights advocate and state Board of Education member Kim Coco Iwamoto and retired University of Hawaii professor Miles M. Jackson.
Two organizations — The Japanese American Citizens League of Hawaii and Unite Here! Local 5 — are also being honored.
Hawaii Friends of Civil Rights noted the Japanese American Citizens League has a mission to protect the civil rights of Japanese Americans and all victims of injustice and discrimination.
It says the union’s efforts have raised the standards of wages and benefits for all of Hawaii’s workers in and out of the tourism industry.