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January, 2019 Issue |
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39th Annual San Jose Day
of Remembrance
"#NeverAgainIsNow" |
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Sunday, February 17, 2019 5:30
p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin
640 North Fifth Street San Jose, CA
Event is free and open
to the public
Download flyer |
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The 39th
Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance
event commemorates the 77th
anniversary of the signing of
Executive Order 9066.
The order led to the forced removal and
incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent
during World War II. Hundreds of people will gather
together at this annual event not only to remember
that great civil liberties tragedy, but to also
reflect on what that event means to all of us today.
The 2019 event carries the theme "#Never
Again Is Now". During the past year, the
story of Japanese American incarceration has been
melded into several big national stories.
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Many prominent
Americans, including former first lady,
Laura
Bush, and actor
George Takei, drew stark
parallels between Japanese American
WWII incarceration and the "zero
tolerance" border policy |
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"I cannot for a
moment imagine what my
childhood would have been
like had I been thrown into
a camp without my parents.
That this is happening today
fills me with both rage and
grief: rage toward a failed
political leadership who
appear to have lost even
their most basic humanity,
and a profound grief for the
families affected." |
--
George Takei |
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Justice Sonia
Sotomayor's dissent in Trump v.
Hawaii (Trump Travel Ban): |
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"By blindly accepting the
Government's misguided invitation to
sanction a discriminatory policy
motivated by animosity toward a
disfavored group, all in the name of
a superficial claim of national
security, the Court redeploys the
same dangerous logic underlying
Korematsu and
merely replaces one “gravely wrong”
decision with another."
Download SCOTUS Trump v. Hawaii
opinion |
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As recipients of an official apology from the
United States government as a part of the
Civil
Liberties Act of 1988, many Japanese Americans, as
well as other Americans, feel that it is our
responsibility to defend our friends, neighbors,
classmates, colleagues, and other communities when
they become the target of discrimination. During
these tumultuous and divisive times, ordinary people
are rising up within their own communities to effect
positive change.
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The Day of Remembrance is an event
that aims to bring diverse 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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Traditional candlelight procession through
San Jose's historic Japantown. Photo
courtesy of Andy Frazer. |
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A candle is lit in
memory for
each of the camps.
Photo courtesy of Andy Frazer. |
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Featured Speaker: Don
Tamaki |
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Don Tamaki, a partner
for Minami Tamaki LLP, was
an attorney for the coram
nobis legal team that
reopened and helped to
overturn the Supreme Court
case Korematsu v. the United
States. Don wrote the
following article for the
Nichi Bei Weekly
in July 2018. |
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On June 26, 2018, by a 5-4 majority,
the Supreme Court in Trump v. Hawaii
upheld President Donald Trump’s
so-called “Travel Ban,” the
thrice-revised executive orders
barring entry of people from
Muslim-majority nations.
When Trump announced his first order
in January, 2017, travelers having
nothing to do with terrorism were
detained, U.S. residents were
stranded abroad, and families were
separated. Thousands of validly
issued visas were canceled. Hundreds
with such visas were prevented from
boarding planes or denied entry on
arrival, including refugees running
for their lives from terrorism who
had already undergone a stringent
vetting process.
Read more... |
Featured Speaker: Teresa
Castellanos |
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Teresa Castellanos is
the Coordinator for
Immigrant Relations and
Integration Services for
Santa Clara County. She has
worked with immigrant
communities for over 25
years. Through Teresa’s work
in collaboration with
colleagues and community
agencies, 131,000 SCC
residents have received
assistance with the
citizenship process.
Previously she worked as
Citizenship Services
Coordinator for Catholic
Charities. She has also
served on the Curriculum
Advisory Committee
representing Special
Education. |
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Remembrance Speaker: Chizu
Omori |
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Chizu Omori was 12 years
old when she and her family
were forced from their home
in Southern California to
the Poston War Relocation
Center in 1942. Under
Executive Order 9066, they
were imprisoned in the
Arizona desert for three and
a half years. Chizu and her
sister co-produced the
documentary
Rabbit in the
Moon, which told about their
family’s WWII incarceration
experiences and the
divisions and tensions that
the incarceration caused
within the Japanese-American
community. Their documentary
was recognized with several
awards including the Best
Documentary Cinematography
at the Sundance Film
Festival in 1999. Currently
in her late eighties, Chizu
is active with the Nikkei
Resisters, a Japanese
American social justice
group in the Bay Area.
Listen to Chizu Omori talk
about how her incarceration
experience fuels her
activism on KALW |
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NOC Keynote Speaker:
Masao Suzuki |
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Professor Masao
Suzuki has taught economics
at Skyline College for 18
years. His main fields of
interest are U.S. economic
crisis and the economics of
race, ethnicity, and
immigration, in particular
the economic achievement of
Japanese immigrants to the
United States. He has
written articles on these
topics for Fight Back!
newspaper and scholarly
journals and has given many
talks on campus and in the
community. Professor Suzuki
has been active in the
Japanese American community
in the South Bay for almost
30 years with the Nihonmachi
Outreach Committee (NOC).
In 2010, Masao
Suzuki was visited by the
FBI as part of the raids and
Federal Grand Jury subpoenas
aimed at antiwar and
international solidarity
activists in the Midwest.
Since then he has worked
with the South Bay Committee
Against Political Repression
(SBCAPR), an affiliate of
the national Committee to
Stop FBI Repression (CSFR).
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Other San
Jose Day of
Remembrance Events |
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Speaking Up! |
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Fred
T. Korematsu
Day of Civil
Liberties
and the
Constitution
January 26,
2019 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Wesley United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall 566 North Fifth Street |
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Japanese
American
Museum of
San Jose
See JAMsj
event page |
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Day of Remembrance Radio Discussion and Community Art Project
Sunday, February 17, 2019 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Japanese American Museum of San Jose
RSVP: PublicPrograms@jamsj.org |
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Panelists from the San Jose Japanese, Chinese, Mexican American, and other communities discuss our shared history of exclusion and how we can come together in defense of civil liberties today. Moderated by Rose Aguilar, host of “Your Call,” a public affairs show on NPR affiliate KALW 97.1 FM. |
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Create paper lanterns, and commemorative, personalized tags as part of a collective art piece designed by local artist, Corinne Okada Takara for the San Jose Day of Remembrance. |
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