Official Web site of the Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee, sponsor of the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969.
Voting Rights: A Cornerstone of Our Democracy Voting is central to our democracy. The ability to have a voice in choosing who represents us, who makes decisions that impact our lives, our families, and communities, is a cornerstone of our democracy. Voting is key to the realization of the promise of the Constitution of the... Continue Reading →
The following is being reprinted from the August 26, 1942 edition of the Manzanar Free Press (camp newspaper). The sending of over two thousand absentee ballots to Japanese evacuee citizens in assembly and relocation centers has brought divergent views, mostly critical, in the metropolitan newspapers of Los Angeles. The majority of the people interviewed by... Continue Reading →
The following was originally published in the printed program for the 49th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, April 28, 2018. by Jim Matsuoka In 1942, we were thought to be unassimilable and a threat to American society. Time and historical fact has shown otherwise, but we know the consequences of being seen as a statistical mass of... Continue Reading →
The following was published in the printed program for the 44th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage (2013). It was reprinted from the article, “The Great Unknown & the Unknown Great: African American Attorney was Defender of Japanese Americans During World War II,” Nichi Bei Times Weekly, June 7, 2007. by Greg Robinson Hugh MacBeth, Sr. (pictured above),... Continue Reading →
by Glen Kitayama I met Lane back in 1989, when I was a young graduate student at UCLA, working with NCRR (at the time, the National Coalition for Redress/Reparations; now Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress) and researching the Redress Movement. At the time, Lane was a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. As... Continue Reading →
Democracy is a fragile concept. Only as good as the people who practice it. — Sue Kunitomi Embrey LOS ANGELES — The Manzanar Committee condemns the Trump Administration and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) move to send federal agents into major cities around the country. It is a blatant attack on the movement for... Continue Reading →
In response to recent racist incidents at Charles H. Wilson Park in Torrance, California, more than 100 joined together at the park on July 11 to protest the inaction of the Torrance city attorney, who declines to file charges for the Wilson Park incidents, citing insufficient evidence. Members of the Manzanar Committee participated in the... Continue Reading →
Nikkei Rising, featuring the voices of younger Japanese Americans, is presenting the Yon-Say podcast as part of Tadaima! A Community Virtual Pilgrimage. For those who may not be aware, “Yon-Say” is a play on words off of the term, yonsei, which means fourth generation Japanese American. In episode 3 of their podcast, entitled, “An American... Continue Reading →
LOS ANGELES — The Manzanar Committee condemns the current wave of racist violence directed against the African American community, especially the recent murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd. As survivors and descendants of America’s World War II concentration camps, we stand with the Black community and raise our voices and channel our... Continue Reading →
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