Join MPAC-LA for Japanese American Day of Remembrance

February 18, 2012

Join MPAC on Saturday, Feb. 18, for The Day of Remembrance, an annual community event hosted by the Japanese American Museum in downtown Los Angeles commemorating the 1942 anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing Executive Order 9066. This fateful order led to the forced removal of thousands of people of Japanese ancestry from their homes and businesses on the West Coast and parts of Hawaii, and it led to the unlawful mass incarceration in domestic concentration camps of 120,000 people, two-thirds who were American-born citizens.

In the 1970s and 1980s, community groups, in an effort to redress for the government’s unlawful actions, organized events to draw attention to the Japanese American World War II experience, which led to the Day Remembrance.

The Day of Rememberance has continued as a way to tie the community’s history to current events and to support other ethnic and religious communities that face racial or religious discrimination.

This year’s program will include the traditional remembrance of the Issei and Nisei, the children and generations that suffered in those camps; a performance piece including Japanese American and Muslim American voices; and keynote speaker Robin Toma, Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission. Shakeel Syed, Executive Director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, and Kei Nagao will emcee the event.

In addition to the day's events, MPAC will have a table at the Japanese American Museum urging all concerned citizens to contact their elected officials to voice their support for House Bill 3702, known as the Due Process Guarantee Act. The proposed bill seeks to guarantee all individuals Constitutional right to Due Process, as well as undo the harm done to our democracy by the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which permits indefinite detention of an individual who is accused of terrorism.