The ?? ?? ???Los Angeles Day of Remembrance Committee announced that the annual DOR will be held on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 2 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum, 100 N. Central Ave. (at First Street) in Little Tokyo.
DOR commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Executive Order 9066 authorized the U.S. military to remove persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast and set into motion their incarceration into concentration camps during World War II. This year’s theme, “Rooted in Resistance: Fighting for Justice During World War II,” reinforces the importance of standing up for justice in times of great moral crisis.
The DOR Committee wishes to highlight these acts of resistance through the voices of scholars, poets, activists, and educators so that we can broaden our views on the overall effects of the incarceration on the community. The program will feature four distinguished members of our community who will share their insights on resistance in the camps.
Diana Emiko Tsuchidais the creator of Tessaku, an oral history project and journal series dedicated to preserving and sharing stories of the Japanese American incarceration and World War II experience. National Public Radio, NBC, Smithsonian Magazine, TEDx, and the forthcoming documentary “Snapshots of Confinement” have featured her work.
She is proud that her Kibei grandfather was a vocal resister against the incarceration. Because of his principled stance, he was sent to the Citizen Isolation Center in Leupp, Ariz., and was later imprisoned at the Department of Justice camp at Crystal City, Texas.
Dr. Takashi Hoshizakiwas one of 63 members of the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee who refused induction into the military during World War II. Inspired by Fair Play Committee leader Kiyoshi Okamoto, he believed that his constitutional rights as an American citizen were being violated while incarcerated at Heart Mountain.
For his actions, authorities removed Hoshizaki from the camp, and he was later imprisoned at McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary in Washington state along with other younger members of the Fair Play Committee.
After the war, President Harry Truman pardoned the Fair Play Committee, and Hoshizaki eventually served in the Army after being drafted in 1953.
Soji Kashiwagiis the founding executive director and playwright of the Grateful Crane Ensemble. His plays on the Japanese American experience have been featured at JACL conventions in Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Chicago and at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Mich.
His late father, noted San Francisco author, activist, poet, and actor Hiroshi Kashiwagi, was a “No-No Boy” at Tule Lake who proudly stood up for his rights as an American citizen during World War II. Through his work, the younger Kashiwagi writes, speaks, and educates others about his father’s experiences and others who protested the so-called “loyalty questionnaire” and its impact on the Japanese American community.
Kyoko Nancy Odawas born on May 20, 1945, in Tule Lake Segregation Center. Her father, Tatsuo Ryusei Inouye, was a resister who was thrown into the stockade by the authorities. While imprisoned, he kept a diary that was later translated and turned into a book, “Tule Lake Stockade Diary,” thanks to his daughter’s efforts.
Since 2013, she has been president of the Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition, where she has been educating others about the camp in Tujunga and was instrumental in having the site recognized as a Los Angeles Historical Cultural Monument.
DOR Committee Chair Matthew Weisbly expressed the wishes of the committee: “This year’s theme reflects a lesser-known story of the incarceration, about those who resisted their circumstances and sought to exercise their rights as Americans. The draft resisters, the renunciants, those who answered ‘no-no’ to the loyalty questionnaire, these Japanese and Japanese Americans chose a difficult path because it was their way to fight for justice.
“We are honored to be joined by so many wonderful speakers this year who will help highlight our theme and share their stories with our attendees.”
Richard Katsuda, co-chair of Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress (NCRR) and long-time member of the DOR Committee, added: “The Japanese American community has often negated or even erased actions of dissent and resistance that many of the incarcerees took in the concentration camps. Maybe this was because of the ongoing huge collective trauma from the World War II incarceration, where many felt compelled to bury those stories that they considered negative.
“The DOR Committee wishes to bring out these acts of resistance so that the community can learn about them and thus broaden their views on the overall effects of the incarceration experience on the community.”
The Los Angeles DOR Committee is a coalition of organizations, including: Go For Broke National Education Center, Japanese American Citizens League-Pacific Southwest District, Japanese American National Museum, Little Tokyo Service Center, Manzanar Committee, Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress, Nikkei Progressives, Organization of Chinese Americans-Greater Los Angeles, and Progressive Asian Network for Action.