Revisiting Camp and Community: A Consideration of Its Relevance for the 2012 Day of Remembrance at the Manzanar National Historic Site
March 2, 2012 2 Comments
Dr. Arthur A. Hansen, shown here delivering the keynote address at the 39th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage on April 26, 2008,
was a guest lecturer over President’s Day weekend at the
Manzanar National Historic Site, February 18-19, 2012.
Photo: Gann Matsuda
Dr. Arthur A. Hansen, Professor Emeritus of History and Asian American Studies, California State University, Fullerton, was the guest lecturer at the Manzanar National Historic Site, February 18-19, 2012, when he discussed Manzanar in a local, Owens Valley-related context, while highlighting universal themes such as fear, friendship, loss, and loyalty. The lectures were held in honor of the Day of Remembrance.
Dr. Hansen has graciously shared his presentation with us.
by Dr. Arthur A. Hansen
As probably many of you here today are well aware, the year 2012 marks the 70th anniversary of the signing on February 19, 1942, by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of Executive Order 9066. It was this presidential order that set in motion the forced mass eviction of over 100,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry, or Nikkei—two-thirds of them U.S. citizens—from their West Coast homes and communities, and their subsequent incarceration in U S. Government-sanctioned confinement centers, such as the one here in the Owens Valley at this very Manzanar site. Read more of this post
National Defense Authorization Act: Nikkei Community Must Redouble Efforts To Defend Constitutional Rights
January 25, 2012 1 Comment
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Manzanar Committee Co-Chair Bruce Embrey, shown here during the
42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage
on April 30, 2011.
Photo: Gann Matsuda
LOS ANGELES — President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on December 31, 2011, allowing indefinite detention without charge or trial to be codified into law. As a result, Americans citizens and others could be subjected to imprisonment without ever being charged or convicted of a crime. This provision of the NDAA denigrates the very foundations of this country, and undermines the Bill of Rights. Without question, it threatens the very foundation of our democracy.
Seventy years ago, 110,000 members of the Japanese American (Nikkei) community, our families and friends, were subjected to imprisonment without ever being charged by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, when he signed Executive Order 9066. The Nikkei community was denied habeas corpus, rounded up by the United States military and incarcerated behind barbed wire in desolate places.
Indeed, indefinite detention is an indelible part of our experience. In this sense, the Nikkei community is part of the democratic conscience of the United States. Read more of this post
Filed under Commentary, Manzanar, Manzanar At Dusk, Manzanar Pilgrimage, News Tagged with Barack Obama, Bruce Embrey, civil rights, discrimination, Executive Order 9066, Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi, Japanese American, Japanese American Incarceration, Japanese American Internment, Manzanar At Dusk, Manzanar Committee, Manzanar Pilgrimage, Min Yasui, Minoru Yasui, National Defense Authorization Act, President Barack Obama, President Obama, racism