LOS ANGELES — On June 25, the Manzanar Committee, sponsors of the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969 and the more recent Manzanar At Dusk program for the last 21 years, denounced the policies and actions by President Donald Trump and his administration that have either separated children of immigrants entering the United States from their... Continue Reading →
Some Thoughts About NCRR’s Impact As They Publish a New Book About Their History
As the movement for redress and reparations for the more than 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated or otherwise forcibly removed from the West Coast during World War II began to gain steam in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, different views on how to win redress emerged. Some might say that... 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 →
Manzanar Committee Denounces President Donald Trump’s Pardon of Former Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio
LOS ANGELES — On August 28, the Manzanar Committee denounced President Donald Trump’s pardon of Joe Arpaio, former Sheriff, Maricopa County, Arizona. Arpaio was found guilty of contempt of court by United States District Court Judge Susan Bolton on July 31, 2017, after he ignored and willfully violated Federal court orders requiring the Maricopa County... Continue Reading →
Manzanar Committee Statement on Racism, Xenophobia, and Terrorism In Charlottesville, Virginia
LOS ANGELES — On August 12, the Manzanar Committee, sponsor of the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage and Manzanar At Dusk programs, repudiated the violence, fueled by racism and xenophobia, that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier today, not to mention President Donald Trump’s failure to condemn those who were ultimately responsible for the violence and terrorism that... Continue Reading →
Coming Together to Stand Up – Reflections on the 48th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage/2017 Manzanar At Dusk
by Bruce Embrey In the days and weeks leading up to Saturday, April 29, the day of the 48th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, the phone calls and e-mails poured in. There was no doubt that 2017 was the 75th year since our families, our community, were forced from their homes into horse stalls and barracks sparked... Continue Reading →
Every Day at Manzanar National Historic Site
by Patricia Biggs, Park Ranger (Interpretive staff), Manzanar National Historic Site. Manzanar National Historic Site has become an intense place to work lately. Every day, at least one visitor (usually more) tells me that he/she is worried that the same racist, knee-jerk reaction discriminating against a minority group is happening again. Every Day. And, if... Continue Reading →
Manzanar Committee 