Official Web site of the Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee, sponsor of the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969.
LOS ANGELES — The Manzanar Committee extends its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Jim Matsuoka, long-time social justice activist, and a founder of the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations (NCRR; now known as Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress), who passed away on October 21, 2022, at the age of 86,... Continue Reading →
by Bruce Embrey The new 56th edition of the AP (Associated Press) Stylebook which will be published on June 1, 2022, will include an important terminology update. In a pre-publication e-mail, their “Style Tip of the Month,” the AP stated, “Though ‘internment’ has been applied historically to all detainments of Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals... Continue Reading →
LOS ANGELES — The Manzanar Committee congratulates and extends its best wishes to Bernadette Johnson, Superintendent, Manzanar National Historic Site, upon her retirement from the National Park Service on November 8. Johnson, who served as Superintendent at Manzanar beginning in June 2014, is finishing her career after 31 years of federal service. She has previously... Continue Reading →
LOS ANGELES — The Manzanar Committee mourns the loss of one of its own, member James (Jim) To, 64, who passed away on May 25. To, a product of the University of California, San Diego, where he completed his undergraduate work, and the Asian American Studies Master of Arts program at the University of California,... Continue Reading →
LOS ANGELES — On March 29, the Manzanar Committee announced that it has joined leaders from the Paiute, the Shoshone, the Timbisha Shoshone, and the Friends of the Inyo in opposing exploratory drilling and the proposed construction of an open-pit, cyanide heap leach mine at Conglomerate Mesa in Inyo County. The Manzanar Committee’s mission leads... Continue Reading →
The following is an official statement of the Manzanar Committee. At the end of World War II, our community was at a crossroads. Faced with the monumental task of rebuilding lives after the so-called “resettlement,” Japanese Americans had to navigate relating to a country that had just locked them away for no other reason than... Continue Reading →
LOS ANGELES — The Manzanar Committee mourns the passing of former Manzanar Committee member Takayo Rose Matsui Ochi on December 13, just two days before she would have turned 82 years old. Ochi, a native of East Los Angeles, was three years old when she, along with her parents and three siblings, were among over... 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 →
For 2020, given the stay-at-home and social/physical distancing requirements throughout the country due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic, the traditional 51st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, where thousands of people gather at the Manzanar National Historic Site on the last Saturday in April, was cancelled. That is, the traditional Manzanar Pilgrimage has been cancelled. As such, the... Continue Reading →
Manzanar Committee 