Los Angeles, CA – February 19 is known as the “Day of Remembrance” and 2021 marks its 79th anniversary. This day also commemorates the anniversary of Executive Order 9066, signed and issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942 – a day when the U.S. government executed a legal act of racism. Executive Order 9066 forced the removal and incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of who were born American citizens, to internment camps throughout the U.S. Half of them were children and many were from the Los Angeles community of Boyle Heights.

San José, CA – On June 24, more than 75 people gathered at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) in San José’s Japantown for a program on the struggle for justice by Japanese Latin Americans.

Berkeley, CA – Long time antiwar activist Iwao Lewis Suzuki was awarded the Clifford I. Uyeda Peace and Humanitarian award at the Day of Remembrance program in San Francisco, California on February 19, 2012. Dr. Clifford Uyeda was a long-time Japanese American community activist who championed redress and reparations for Japanese Americans incarcerated in U.S. concentration camps during World War II. He also publicized the almost 300 Japanese Americans who refused the military draft during World War II because their families were in concentration camps and spent on average two years in prison each for their courageous stand. Dr. Uyeda also worked to educate people about the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army during their occupation of China, including the Rape of Nanking. Fight Back! interviewed Mr. Suzuki at his home in Berkeley after the Day of Remembrance program.

San José, CA – On Feb. 19, more than 425 people attended the 32nd Annual Day of Remembrance event in San José Japantown organized by the Nihonmachi (Japantown) Outreach Committee (NOC). This event commemorated the 70th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin Roosevelt that led to the incarceration of almost 120,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II.