National Defense Authorization Act: Nikkei Community Must Redouble Efforts To Defend Constitutional Rights

January 25, 2012 Leave a Comment

Manzanar Committee Co-Chair Bruce Embrey, shown here during the
42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage
on April 30, 2011.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

by Bruce Embrey

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

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Manzanar Committee Statement On The Passing Of Civil Rights Champion Gordon K. Hirabayashi

January 4, 2012 2 Comments

Gordon K. Hirabayashi.
Photo: University of Alberta, Edmonton

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee extends its deepest sympathies to the family of Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi, 93, a hero in the Japanese American community, who died on January 2, 2012, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

A native of Auburn, Washington (just northeast of Tacoma), Hirabayashi defied Executive Order 9066, the United States Government’s decree on February 19, 1942, that resulted in the mass roundup and incarceration of over 110,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry in American concentration camps during World War II.

Indeed, Hirabayashi, along with Fred Korematsu and Minoru Yasui, chose to defy the government’s orders, and filed a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the incarceration. The case eventually made it to the United States Supreme Court. Read more of this post

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Mako Nakagawa Delivers Keynote Address At 42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage

May 15, 2011 7 Comments

The following is the text of the keynote address delivered at the 42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage on April 30, 2011, by Mako Nakagawa.

Mako Nakagawa delivered the keynote address at the
42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage on April 30, 2011,
at the Manzanar National Historic Site.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

Good afternoon.

I am very pleased to be able to join you on this wonderful occasion. We stand here today on sacred ground. If we listen, we can hear the cries of pain and agony, feel the confusion and worries, soak in the laughter and hope, and be touched by the strife to maintain collective dignity and courage. This land holds many, many stories which we must not let fade without being recorded.

The Manzanar Committee chose four Champions of Civil Rights as the theme for this year’s Pilgrimage. These people were not born super heroes. They were simply ordinary people who managed to accomplish extraordinary feats in the protection of our civil rights who were true to themselves and true to their own unique convictions.

They had courage under pressure. Everyone here today benefited from their efforts. Some may not recognize the names of Fred Korematsu, William Hohri, Frank Emi and Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, but we are all in for a treat when we read about them in our program. Let the stories of these great role models inspire you. These three men are now deceased but their names will live on. Read more of this post

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Lessons From Japanese American Internment Can Be Taught At Any Time

May 4, 2011 Leave a Comment

The following is a letter from Karen Korematsu, Co-Founder of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute For Civil Rights and Education. It was intended to be read during the 42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, held on April 30, 2011, where her father was honored. However, the letter was not received in time. As such, we are publishing it here.

April 30, 2011

Manzanar Pilgrimage

Dear Teachers, Students and Community Members,

On Sunday, January 30, 2011, we celebrated California’s first Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution. This is the first statewide day to be named after an Asian American in United States History. Read more of this post

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Two Views On Frank Seishi Emi: A True American Hero

December 4, 2010 8 Comments

LOS ANGELES — Last April, at the Manzanar At Dusk program that follows the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, when participants broke up into small groups to share their stories and insights about Manzanar, the Japanese American Internment experience, and how it remains relevant today, one thing struck me…

For the first time in the history of the program, we did not have enough former Japanese American concentration camp prisoners to go around.

Glen Kitayama (far left) joins NCRR members, including Frank Emi (second from right)
during a Los Angeles press conference hailing the signing of the
Civil Liberties Act of 1988 on August 10, 1988.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

At this event, young people, mostly college students, gather to share their feelings and insights about what they experienced at the Pilgrimage, and about the issues surrounding the camp experience. But, most of all, they come to the event to hear the stories directly from those who were forced to live behind barbed wire for more than three years, deprived of their constitutional rights. Read more of this post

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Los Angeles’ 2010 Day of Remembrance Scheduled For February 20

February 12, 2010 Leave a Comment

The following is a press release from the National Coalition for Civil Rights and Redress. Original story: DOR Press Release, Jan. 10. 2010.

Poster Art For 2010 Day of Remembrance
in Los Angeles by David Monkawa.
Photo: NCRR

Korematsu v. United States is the theme of the 2010 Day of Remembrance in Little Tokyo on Saturday, February 20 at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM), 100 East Central Avenue, Los Angeles. The annual community program commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942 and the subsequent incarceration of over 110,000 Japanese Americans during World War II based on the government’s claim of military necessity.

During 1942, Fred Korematsu, a U.S. citizen, disobeyed the government’s order to evacuate and stayed in San Leandro, California. He was arrested and sent to camp. With the help of attorneys Ernest Besig and Wayne Collins of the Northern California American Civil Liberties Union, Korematsu challenged the government’s actions and took his case to the Supreme Court.

In 1944, the Court held that the evacuation and internment of Japanese Americans was justified by national security. In the 1980’s Korematsu challenged the court’s earlier decision through a writ of coram nobis. U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Patel vacated Korematsu’s wartime conviction based on the government’s omission of relevant information during the 1944 case. Read more of this post

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Landmark Korematsu Case Re-Enacted At Riverside Appeals Court

August 25, 2009 Leave a Comment

The following was written by Manzanar Committee member Joyce Okazaki.

RIVERSIDE, CA — On August 13, 2009, an overflow crowd gathered at the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District in Riverside, which held its first in a series of reenactments in honor of the 80th anniversary of the Court and to honor the 100th birthday of retired Associate Justice John G. Gabbert. The inaugural historic oral argument was Korematsu v. United States. Read more of this post

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Fourth Appellate District to Launch Lecture Series on Historic Cases: Japanese American Internment Case To Be Argued by Constitutional Law Scholars

July 21, 2009 Leave a Comment

The following is a press release from the Judicial Council Of California Administrative Office Of The Courts

RIVERSIDE, CA — To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the creation of the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, in 1929 and to honor of the 100th birthday of retired Associate Justice John G. Gabbert, Presiding Justice Manuel A. Ramirez and the associate justices of Division Two today announced the first of the Justice John G. Gabbert Historic Oral Argument and Lecture Series, a series of reenactments of historic oral arguments of cases that shaped and defined the country. Read more of this post

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