LOS ANGELES — On October 30, the Manzanar Committee announced their Fourth Annual Manzanar Committee Student Awards Program, a creative works program in which K-12 students may submit essays, short stories, poetry, works of art, including drawings, collages, posters, and works involving technology, including animation, podcasts, movies, or videos. The awards program will recognize students... Continue Reading →
Manzanar Committee Seeks Community Support for Phase II of Youth Education Project
LOS ANGELES — On September 3, the Manzanar Committee announced the launch of Phase II of their pilot project aimed at educating college-age youth about the unjust incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II, and providing them with tools to help them teach that critical history to others. The Committee... Continue Reading →
Tule Lake Committee Files Lawsuit Seeking Injunctive Relief To Stop Transfer Of Tulelake Airport To Modoc Tribe Of Oklahoma
The following is a press release from the Tule Lake Committee. On August 23, the Tule Lake Committee filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, in Sacramento, seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the city of Tulelake from giving the Tulelake airport to the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma... Continue Reading →
The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 – A Long Time Coming
August 10, 2018 marks the 30th anniversary of the enactment of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (download a PDF of the actual bill), the legislation that provided redress and reparations for the forced removal and unjust incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese/Japanese Americans in American concentration camps, and other confinement sites, during World War... Continue Reading →
Manzanar Committee Mourns the Loss of Friend and Ally, Congressman Ronald Dellums
LOS ANGELES — The Manzanar Committee mourns the passing of former member of the United States House of Representatives Ronald V. Dellums (D-Oakland/Berkeley), who passed away on July 30 at his home in Washington, D.C., at the age of 82. Already a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War, the Oakland, California native quickly established himself... Continue Reading →
Honoring The Powerful, Immeasurable Legacy Left By Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga
I’ve been “forced” to recall how I got started as a community activist quite a bit lately. Indeed, back in June, when NCRR (Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress; originally the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations) held their event to launch their new book about their incredible, highly impactful history, it reminded me of... Continue Reading →
Manzanar: One Weekend, One Incredible Experience
by Erica Wei Leading up to the weekend of the Keeping Japanese American Incarceration Stories Alive trip to the Manzanar National Historic Site, I was actually very reluctant about going. I thought about dropping from participating several times. This was two weeks before final exams and it was one of the last weekends I could... Continue Reading →
Two Reflections on Visiting The Manzanar National Historic Site
Editor’s Note: Moet Kurakata and Lauren Matsumoto were participants in the Manzanar Committee’s pilot project, Keeping Japanese American Incarceration Stories Alive, which took a group of college students to the Manzanar National Historic Site for a two-day, intensive, placed-based learning experience about the unjust incarceration of Japanese and Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World... Continue Reading →
Memory Transfer
by Brian Kohaya This tryptic features Pat Sakamoto, a former Manzanar incarceree, and Lauren Matsumoto, a granddaughter of former incarcerees. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which forced 120,000 people of Japanese descent to incarceration camps spread throughout the United States. A few months later, Pat was born. She grew up... Continue Reading →
