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36th Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance
New 2016 Location: San
Jose State University
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“He put his head
against my father’s shoulder and cried. He
said, ‘Mr. Yamaichi, my boss told me that
they were going to put all of you into
camps.’” |
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-- Jimi
Yamaichi |
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Jimi Yamaichi
revisits Uchida Hall in 2015, 73 years after
he entered the same gymnasium prior to his
imprisonment in a Japanese American
internment camp. Read Jimi Yamaichi's
story about the days leading to his forced
removal from San Jose
here. |
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36th Annual
San Jose
Day of Remembrance |
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"Wartime Hysteria" |
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Sunday,
February 14, 2016
5:30pm-7:30pm
Morris Dailey Auditorium San Jose State
University San Jose, CA 95192
Map
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Post-event
reception: Yoshihiro Uchida Hall
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Free and open to the public
Download PDF
Event Flyer
Paid parking available at the West
Parking Garage and at other nearby
locations. See
campus
map |
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Many Japanese Americans were
notified by the above poster that
persons of Japanese ancestry must report to
the Civil Control Station located at the
men's gymnasium at San Jose State College,
now called Yoshihiro Uchida Hall at San Jose
State University. |
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San Jose
Japantown community leader, Jimi
Yamaichi, will recount his story of
leaving San Jose as a part of the
government's action to incarcerate
Japanese Americans at the
2016
San Jose Day of Remembrance.
The Day of Remembrance event
commemorates the signing of
Executive Order 9066, which led to
the imprisonment of 120,000
people of Japanese descent,
two-thirds of whom were American
citizens.
The 36th annual event will
take place at a historically
significant venue, San Jose State
University, which played an
important role during the forced
removal of Japanese Americans from
San Jose and major parts of Santa
Clara County. On May 24 and May 25,
1942, the San Jose State College men's
gymnasium, now renamed Yoshihiro
Uchida Hall, served as a
registration center that processed
2,847 people of Japanese descent
before they were incarcerated
[1]. |
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The theme
of the 2016 event is"Wartime
Hysteria." In the Civil Liberties
Act of 1988, the U.S government
acknowledged that "a great injustice
was done to both citizens and
permanent resident aliens of
Japanese ancestry" and that the acts
were "motivated largely by racial
prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a
failure of political leadership."
The 2016 Day of Remembrance theme warns against the rise of
wartime hysteria, as well as racial
and religious discrimination, in
today's politically volatile,
emotionally-charged environment as
the nation confronts the issues of
war, refugees, and terrorism. |
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"We
cannot let racism and bigotry overrun
Americans’ conscience and good faith. The
tragedy of Japanese-American internment
cannot, must not, be repeated. Ultimately, I
don’t want the internment to be a
Japanese-American lesson. This should be an
American lesson for all those under the
protection of the Constitution." |
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-- Congressman Mike Honda |
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Another featured
speaker will be
Congressman Mike
Honda, who was
incarcerated at the
Amache internment
camp. He recently
wrote about his
concerns over
today's rising tide
of fear and bigotry
in an op-ed for
Reuters,
"When my
Japanese-American
family was treated
as less than human."
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Mike Honda
is held by his
father when the
family was living in
a Japanese American
internment camp.
Honda family photo. |
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Japanese Americans are processed inside the
men's gymnasium at San Jose State College in 1942.
San Jose Mercury. |
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Other
speakers at the 2016 San Jose Day of
Remembrance include
Japanese American Museum of
San Jose president and SJSU alumnus,
Aggie Idemoto,
CAIR-SFBA
Executive Director,
Zahra Billoo,
local poet,
Ann Muto, and other members
from the community. The annual event
will also include a performance by
the internationally acclaimed,
San
Jose Taiko, and a special
candlelight procession to Yoshihiro Uchida
Hall, the same location where
Japanese Americans were processed
before they were forcibly removed
from the San Jose area.
The event
will be held on Sunday, February 14, 2016,
from 5:30-7:30 p.m, in the
Morris Dailey Auditorium. A post-event reception
will take place in nearby Uchida
Hall. The event is free and open to
the public (the
campus parking
garages charge a
fee). |
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[1] "First Evacuees Leave
Today," San Jose Mercury
Herald, May 26, 1942 |
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The Day of Remembrance is an event that aims to
bring different communities together in order to
build trust, respect, and understanding among
all people and to renew our pledge to fight for
equality, justice, and peace. |
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The event also
features the traditional candlelight procession and an
electrifying performance by
San Jose Taiko. |
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Traditional candlelight procession through
San Jose's historic Japantown. Photo
courtesy of Andy Frazer.
The 2016
procession will lead to the San Jose State
University gymnasium where Japansee
Americans were processed before they were
forcibly removed from the San Jose area. |
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A candle is lit in
memory for
each of the camps.
Photo courtesy of Andy Frazer. |
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San Jose Nihonmachi
Outreach Committee (NOC)
P.O. Box 2293, San Jose, CA 95109
E-Mail:
info@sjnoc.org
Website:
www.sjnoc.org
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our
enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. |