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
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
National Defense Authorization Act: Nikkei Community Must Redouble Efforts To Defend Constitutional Rights
January 25, 2012 Leave a Comment
Follow @manzanarcomm
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 Manzanar, News, Commentary, Manzanar At Dusk, Manzanar Pilgrimage Tagged with Manzanar Pilgrimage, Manzanar Committee, Manzanar At Dusk, Bruce Embrey, Japanese American, Japanese American Internment, civil rights, Fred Korematsu, racism, discrimination, Executive Order 9066, Gordon Hirabayashi, Minoru Yasui, Barack Obama, President Barack Obama, President Obama, Japanese American Incarceration, Min Yasui, National Defense Authorization Act