San José, CA – On June 10, 1000 people joined a Unity Vigil called by Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), People Acting in Community Together (PACT), and Meet a Muslim. More than 130 religious, community, oppressed nationality and other organizations endorsed the vigil, which was organized on a week’s notice.

The vigil was prompted by the anti-Muslim group Act for America which put out a nationwide call for protests to be held on June 10. Their San Jose event was called just a week ago, and with the local Facebook page being hosted by a self-identified Trump campaigner in Virginia, their turnout was expected to be low. And it was, with the Unity Vigil participants outnumbering the anti-Muslim group by 20 to 1 or more.

One prominent group in the unity vigil were Japanese Americans, who have been turning out to solidarity events for American Muslims in large numbers. The Japanese American community remembers the World War II incarceration of 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent, who were rounded up en masse on the West Coast and sent to concentration camps in desolate areas in the interior. Racist discrimination, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership drove the concentration camps for Japanese Americans just as they do today with the rising attacks on American Muslims and anti-Muslim policies by the Trump administration.

The Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC) of San Jose brought their banner from a solidarity march with American Muslims in March that said “1942 – 2017: 75 years of resistance. No to islamophobia, no to concentration camps.” Another large group of Japanese Americans from San Francisco and the East Bay, the Nikkei Resisters, brought signs with copies of the 1942 posters ordering Japanese Americans into the camps. Other Japanese Americans at the vigil included members of the Silicon Valley Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), the San Jose JACL, the Sequoia JACL, the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, the Asian Law Alliance, the Wesley United Methodist Church, and the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple.

#SanJoséCA #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #CAIR #Antiracism #DonaldTrump #ACTForAmerica #JapaneseAmericans #UnityVigil

St. Paul, MN – More than 400 people demonstrated at the Minnesota State Capitol building, June 10, to protest the ‘anti-sharia rally’ organized by the anti-Muslim hate group, Act for America (ACT). The small anti-Muslim rally included several white supremacist and neo-Nazi groupings.

In the early afternoon, about 30 of the bigots left the capitol building and began marching. About 50 members of the State Patrol attempted to assist racists, but they were outnumbered and out-maneuvered. For a time, the bigots were trapped in the bushes of an office building. The State Patrol then opened building and helped the racists escape.

Early reports indicate that six people were arrested by the State Patrol.

#SaintPaulMN #Antiracism #Antifascism #ACTForAmerica

The anit-Muslim bigots are gathering under the banner, “March Against Sharia,” and are holding events in cities across the U.S. on Saturday. These events are part of a rising tide of hate speech, which fuels racist hate crimes that target Muslims. The recent deadly stabbings in Portland awakened many to danger of normalizing anti-Muslim hate. While, Trump’s close supporters call for internment camps for Muslims, people of conscience are calling for solidarity against racism and hate.

In the Twin Cities, this is part of an ongoing movement against racist hate and government repression that both target our Muslim neighbors. From defending Somali youth who were entrapped by an-FBI ‘terror’ plot, to standing with Palestinian icon Rasmea Odeh in the face of bogus immigration fraud charges, the Anti-War Committee recognizes that opposition to war abroad has a home front as well. All the countries targeted by the travel ban were first targeted by military attacks; demonizing immigrant communities from countries where the U.S. is engaging militarily helps to demonize the military ‘enemy’ abroad.

Just a few months ago, Trump’s attempts to establish a Muslim travel ban was defeated when tens of thousands hit the streets and flooded airports in every major city to say no.

#SaintPaulMN #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #ACTForAmerica