San José, CA – On Sunday, February 19, more than 350 people from the Japanese American community gathered at the San José Buddhist Church Betsuin Hall for the 43rd annual Day of Remembrance. The San José Day of Remembrance was organized the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee. The event commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1942. Executive Order 9066 laid the basis for the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II.

With the theme “Reparative Justice: Together We Rise”, the program stressed the unity of the Japanese American community with others who have also faced a history of national oppression in the United States. The program began with a live statement by Sumi Tanabe, and a video statement by Satomi Susie Yasui, both of them Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans) women who were sent to the camps as children.

After a candlelight procession through San José Japantown, the program restarted with a solidarity statement by Athar Sidiqee, chairman of the South Bay Islamic Association, whose original mosque is just blocks away from Japantown. The Nihonmachi Outreach Committee has had an American Muslim speaker and even a co-chair for 20 years, in solidarity with that community following the wave of attacks and government harassment following 2001.

The guest speaker was Veronica Martinez, representing the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, whose historic lands are just south of San José. The Amah Mutsun have been fighting corporate development on these lands.

Ending the program was a performance by the San José Taiko, a Japanese drum group. In her introduction to the Taiko, Yuzo Kubota said that “I am the voice of the oppressed.” The Taiko then played DoR, written and inspired by previous Day of Remembrance programs.

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San José, CA – On February 16, the San Jose Day of Remembrance held its 40th annual event with the second-highest attendance ever – more than 550 people. The event started in 1981 as part of the nationwide movement of Japanese Americans demanded redress (an official apology) and reparations (monetary compensation) for their incarceration during World War II.

The San Jose Day of Remembrance is held on the Sunday of Presidents Day weekend, which is near the date of February 19, 1942 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which laid the legal basis for the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. Organized by the San Jose Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC), the Day of Remembrance events have grown under the Trump administration as the community protests the incarceration and separation of families at the U.S. border with Mexico.

The theme of the 2020 event was “No Camps, No Cages,” linking the World War II concentration camps to the detention centers holding Central American refugees today. Amy Iwasaki Mass was the event’s Remembrance speaker. She told her story of how her family lived in fear that the FBI would take her father away from them as they did to thousands of Japanese immigrants in the days following the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan. Mass ended her talk by denouncing the “shocking treatment of immigrants by the government” and condemning the “administration’s policy of separating families.” She called on the community to join the Tsuru for Solidarity protest in Washington, D.C June 5 – 7, saying “No camps no cages!” “Tsuru” is Japanese for “crane,” a traditional sign of peace, compassion, hope and healing.

The youth speaker, Joseph Tsuboi of the Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC) of San Francisco, also told his family’s story of the concentration camps and the importance of speaking out for other communities today. He demanded the government “End the ICE raids and close the detention camps” on the U.S. border with Mexico. The intergenerational representation at the event was also seen in the co-emcees, Melanie Shojinaga and Madison Yamaichi, who helped to organize the first Bay Area pilgrimage to the site of Manzanar concentration camp near Los Angeles.

The evening’s guest speaker was the Honorable Norman Mineta, former congressperson from San Jose. Mineta was one of the Japanese American congresspeople who supported the movement for redress and reparations and co-sponsor of HR440, which later became law. Besides recounting his own family’s experiences with the World War II concentration camps, he spoke of the congressional effort to pass the redress and reparations bill, and how the original bill for a commission to study the issue was based on an early bill to set up a commission to study Native Hawai’ian land claims.

Among the night’s speakers was Bekki Shibayama of the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee and the Campaign For Justice. She gave an update on the struggle of Japanese Latin Americans who were kidnapped from their homes in Peru and other countries to be held as hostages by the U.S. government to be used to exchange for American soldiers held as prisoners of war during World War II. They have been denied equal redress and reparations with other Japanese American on the grounds that they did not enter the country legally.

Leading off the night’s event was San Jose Taiko, which performed a short version of their 1940s-themed “Swingposium” show. Their performance was a fusion of the big band swing music popular during the 1940s in the Japanese American concentration camps and the taiko drumming from Japan. Also performing during the event was an interfaith choir which sang Love is Breaking Down the Wall.

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San José, CA – On Feb. 17, the San José Day of Remembrance program commemorated the anniversary of Executive Order 9066 issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. 300 people came to the San Jose Buddhist Church hall to remember E.O. 9066, which led to the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II. At the beginning of the program the emcee, Will Kaku, said that the official apology from the government stated that the concentration camps “were due to racial prejudice, wartime hysteria and a failure of political leadership. Although those words pertain to events from 71 years ago, they serve as a warning to us today.”

The first of the evening’s guest speakers was Molly Kitajima, a nisei, or second-generation Japanese American, who was born and grew up in Canada. She told the audience how the Canadian government not only put over 20,000 Japanese Canadians into concentration camps following the U.S., but went further by seizing their land under eminent domain and sold it off cheap. Ms. Kitajima also spoke of her trip to Cuba with other Japanese Americans and their meetings with Japanese Cubans. She ended by saying, “I stand, head high, with those who endured this hardship,” and continued, “I will stand up for others who would be discriminated against as I was.”

The theme of the program was “The Changing Face of America,” which was seen in the diversity of speakers. For the first time, the San José Day of Remembrance invited a speaker from the Sikh community, to express solidarity between Japanese Americans and Sikhs who have been harassed and killed in the years following 2001, and in particular the massacre at the Sikh gurdwara (temple) in 2012. Simran Kaur, Advocacy Manager for the Sikh Coalition, which formed in response to anti-Sikh violence after 2001, proclaimed “Let us stand up together!”

Another highlight of the program was the proclamation presented by the mayor of East Palo Alto, Reuban Abrica, to the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC), which has organized Day of Remembrance events for 32 years in San José. The proclamation was accepted by NOC’s chairperson, Reiko Nakayama.

The Day of Remembrance included a performance by the San José Taiko (Japanese folk drums), including a piece entitled “Day of Remembrance” to commemorate the event. Also speaking were the local Japanese American Congressman Mike Honda, and representatives of the Buddhist Church, the Wesley United Methodist Church and the South Bay Islamic Association, which is just a few blocks from Japantown.

For more photos of the event: San José commemorates 33rd annual Day of Remembrance (Photos)

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The film showed the round-up of Japanese Americans after the Japanese empire attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. Korematsu tried to evade the round-up, was caught and arrested, and set to a concentration camp. He fought his arrest all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1944 upheld the government’s round-up by a six to three margin. Then in the 1980s, a team of young Asian American lawyers fought with Korematsu to overturn his conviction on the basis that the government had suppressed evidence that there was no threat from Japanese Americans. A federal court vacated (cancelled) his conviction, but the Supreme Court did not rehear the case, and did not rule the camps unconstitutional.

The film was followed by a panel of speakers from the Japanese American and American Muslim communities. Tom Izu, director of the California History Center of De Anza College in Cupertino, California, spoke about his own experience of being called a traitor by another faculty member after organizing a program on the WWII concentration camps after September 11, 2001. He was followed by Yasir Afifi, a young college student who found a GPS tracking device attached to his car and is currently suing the government over this. The last speaker was Zahra Billoo, the executive director of the Bay Area Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), who said that it was important for people to fight discrimination and government harassment.

The panel was moderated by Masao Suzuki, a member of the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee and the South Bay Committee Against Political Repression, who spoke of his own experience of being visited by the FBI as part of the FBI raids and federal grand jury subpoenas on 23 Midwest anti-war and international solidarity activists. The program was chaired by Will Kaku of the Japanese American Museum of San José, which organized the event. He quoted the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in urging solidarity between the Japanese American community and American Muslims.

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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.

Fight Back!: Would you like to tell our readers what you told the audience at the Day of Remembrance event in San Francisco when you received the Clifford Uyeda Peace and Humanitarian award?

Iwao Lewis Suzuki: I tried to say three things. First, that our country, the United States, is the only country that has used atomic weapons. We need to raise our voices to say that atomic bombs should never be used again. No More Hiroshimas! No More Nagasakis! (1)

Second, the United States should withdraw our military from Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. troops are not there to liberate people, they are an occupying force.

Third, the Okinawan people’s movement to have U.S. military bases withdrawn from Okinawa is very strong. The United States should withdraw all of its military bases from Okinawa.(2)

Editors notes:

(1) The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and August 9th, 1945. Hundreds of thousand of civilians were massacred, mainly women, children, and the elderly. Under the U.S. military occupation of Japan, it was against the law to give out information about the atomic bombings.

(2) The United States has a number of military bases on the island nation of Okinawa, which is part of Japan. Over two-thirds of all U.S. military forces in Japan are on these islands, which have only 1% of Japan’s population and ½ of 1% of Japan’s land area.

#BerkeleyCA #AntiwarMovement #AsianNationalities #JapaneseAmericanInternment #DayOfRemembrance #NuclearWeapons #Nagasaki #Hiroshima #IwaoLewisSuzuki #ExecutiveOrder9066

The theme of the Day of Remembrance program was “Civil Liberties Under Siege”. The NOC keynote speaker, Will Kaku, said, “We remember the judicial debates on terrorist detentions, the USA Patriot Act, National Security Registration System, last year’s congressional commissions that singled out Islam and terrorism. And just a few months ago, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act that contains a provision that allows the indefinite detention of American citizens and yet we had to remind people once again that our families were also held without the due process of law.”

A special guest speaker was Karen Korematsu, of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education. Karen’s father, Fred Korematsu, along with other Japanese Americans, fought a legal battle against the concentration camps all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. While the original U.S. Supreme Court decision which upheld the concentration camps in the interests of national security was later vacated (overturned on a technicality) in the 1980s after another long court battle, the U.S. Supreme Court never ruled that the camps were unconstitutional.

Another special guest speaker was Zahra Billoo, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Ms. Billoo spoke of the government repression of American Muslims following Sept. 11, 2001 that continues to this day. She also thanked the Japanese American community for its solidarity with American Muslims during these difficult times.

Local Japanese American congressperson Mike Honda also spoke and a spontaneous cheer broke out when he said that he voted against the National Defense Authorization Act. Mike Honda and his family, including his 95-year old mother, participated in the candle-lighting ceremony to honor the memory of those incarcerated in the camps.

The program wrapped up with an award to PJ and Roy Hirabayashi, founders of San José Taiko. San Jose Taiko is a Japanese American drum ensemble that has become a regular performer at the Day of Remembrance events, and they played a special number called Day of Remembrance at the event.

#SanJoséCA #AsianNationalities #JapaneseAmericanInternment #DayOfRemembrance #ExecutiveOrder9066 #FranklinRoosevelt

The event was emceed by NOC member Masao Suzuki, who pointed out the forces of “racism, war hysteria, and political misleadership” that led to the World War II concentration camps for Japanese Americans were also at work today in attacks on Arab Americans and American Muslims. Jimi Yamaichi, who was sent to the concentration camp at Tule Lake, California, told the audience about his fight to join the local carpenters union, which excluded Japanese and other Asians before World War II. Jimi Yamaichi was also among 26 young men at Tule Lake who refused to be drafted into the U.S. military along with hundreds of others at other camps.

The special guest speaker for the evening was Zahra Billoo, the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations. Billoo commented on CAIR courage award that had be given to Mr. Yamaichi, and in turn was thanked by the emcee, Masao Suzuki, for her work on his behalf after he had been questioned by the FBI in connection with the Federal Grand Jury targeting Midwest anti-war and international solidarity activists. Yasmine Vanya of the South Bay Islamic Association also spoke and thanked the Japanese American community for their solidarity and support in the days following Sept. 11, 2001.

The middle of the program consisted of a candle lighting ceremony as the names of people of the ten World War II concentration camps were read. Etsuko Kohagura, who was also in the Tule Lake concentration camp, her two daughters, a granddaughter, and two great-grandchildren lit the candles as a shakuhachi (a traditional Japanese wind instrument) played in background. After the ceremony, the audience took candles for a procession around Japantown, the historic center of the Japanese American community in San Jose where the Buddhist Church is located.

After the procession there was a short speech by Karen Korematsu, the daughter of Fred Korematsu. Fred Korematsu was one of three Japanese Americans who fought the concentration camps through the courts, eventually taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. While the 1944 Supreme Court ruled that the camps were legal because national security outweighed individual rights and allowed racial discrimination, this was overturned in 1983 when it was shown that the U.S. government deliberately lied to win the case. The state of California just celebrated its first “Fred Korematsu Day” on his birthday, Jan. 30.

The last speaker was Congressman Mike Honda, who represents the 15th district in San Jose. He spoke about how fear led to Japan bashing in the 1980s and compared this to the rising tensions with China today.

At the end of the program the Suzuki, reminded the audience about the continuing struggle of Japanese Latin Americans. The U.S. government held more than 2000 Japanese civilians from Latin America in Department of Justice prison camps at Crystal City, Texas and other sites to be used as prisoner of war exchanges. Japanese Latin Americans were excluded from the 1986 and 1988 redress (apology) and reparations (monetary compensation) awarded to almost all Japanese Americans held in concentration camps on the grounds that they “entered the country illegally” (true enough, since they were rounded up at the behest of U.S. government and brought to the United States at gunpoint). He urged the audience to support the Campaign For Justice (CFJ) efforts to establish an official commission to report on Japanese Latin Americans.

In addition to the record turnout, the audience had large number of young people from local colleges and a good turnout from the local peace and international solidarity movements and the American Muslim community. Local state assemblyman Paul Fong also came with a proclamation from the California state assembly commending the Day of Remembrance event.

#SanJoséCA #AsianNationalities #JapaneseAmericanInternment #DayOfRemembrance #NihonmachiOutreachCommittee

Jiro Saito told the audience how he was only three years old when his father was arrested in the days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He never saw him again. His father died in a Justice Department prison camp before the war ended. Mr. Saito ended his talk with a passionate plea, “Let no child cry out, 'Otai kaeru, Otai kaeru' ('Let's go home to Otai [California]').”

Jim McEntee, of the Santa Clara County Human Relations Commission, remembered how his Japanese American neighbors “just disappeared.” He warned that today there is the same atmosphere of fear, with the indefinite detention Muslims and Arab immigrants, and the hate crimes against Arab, Muslim, and Asian Americans in the months following Sept. 11.

Susan Hayase spoke for the Nihomachi Outreach Committee, which organizes the Day of Remembrance program in San Jose. She reminded people how the Commission on Wartime Internment and Relocation of Civilians concluded that the World War II concentration camps were a result of “war hysteria, racism, and failure of political leadership,” and how we can see the same today after Sept. 11.

Perhaps the most moving moments came during the speech of Maha El Genaidi of the Islamic Network Group. She stated that Muslims condemn terrorism, and thanked the Catholic and the Japanese American communities for their support for the Muslim community in the days and weeks after the attacks on the World Trade Center. El Genaidi ended with the warning that the U.S. “war on terrorism is becoming a war of terror itself.”

In addition to speakers tying together the World War II concentration camps for Japanese Americans and the current attacks on Arab, Muslim, and Asian immigrants, there were also speakers on the continuing struggle of Japanese Latin Americans to gain redress and representatives from the Buddhist and United Methodist Churches. There was a rousing performance of the Hawai'ian slack key guitar and by the San Jose Taiko (Japanese American drumming group). The program also included a candle lighting ceremony as a memorial to those interned in the concentration camps, followed by a candlelight procession through Japantown.

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